UPPER EAST SIDE — Park Avenue doctors are not the only ones keeping the Upper East Side looking youthful.
An architecture firm has given a facelift to 7,000 square feet of retail space in a 1931 stately brick 13-story co-op at 1200 Madison Ave., replacing a shoe repair, butcher, hardware store and others with hot new high-end boutiques.
The Spector Group created modern glass storefronts along almost the entire block East 87th and 88th streets, ushering in a new strip of luxury shopping on Madison Avenue that's been creeping up north of East 86th Street.
"We just cleaned the whole thing up. There's a lot more natural light. It has a nice sleek, clean design from top to bottom," said Scott Spector, a principal at Spector Group. " It enhances that part of the neighborhood, just with the light itself. Visually, you can see into the store. Before it was very closed off and dark."
It took the Madison Avenue building a little more than a year to lease out the other stores, with Ankasa, the purveyor of fine luxury bedding and hand embroidered pillows, opening in November. The entire block has turned over except for Blacker & Kooby Stationers, which has been on the corner of East 88th Street for 48 years — and will likely last only a few more, its owner said.
Jack Rogers, a women's clothing and shoe shop that started in Palm Beach in 1961 and was a favorite of Jackie Onassis, had only been selling in department stores before opening its first brick-and-mortar store at the Madison Avenue building earlier this year. Joie, which has been selling its women's clothing in Barneys and Bloomingdale's, also opened its first retail location in the building this year.
The building is also now home to J. Crew’s Crewcuts kids store and Margo Manhattan, the jewelry designer who created the original red ribbon lapel pin for AIDS awareness.
"It's become a big shopping destination," said Margo Manhattan, who relocated from SoHo to the Upper East Side, where most of her clients live.
"The whole street has opened up," she said, also noting how the shopping scene on this stretch of Madison Avenue has blossomed in recent years with new additions, such as Brooks Brothers, on East 86th Street.
Amid the changes, Fred Kooby knows his days are numbered at his stationary store, well known in the neighborhood for its custom printing for invitations.
After a deal with a bank fell through for his corner spot, Kooby was given a new lease, but only a short-term one, as his shop remains the one un-renovated space on the block.
Of his new neighbors, Kooby said, "It looks nice, but for someone living here, it's antiseptic."
"How many of the people [in the co-op] upstairs are going to buy jewelry? Maybe twice a year," he said. "Whereas this type of store, some people come everyday. You get personal attention. Some of my customers are like friends. They come and hug you."
The store won't stick around for long, though.
"We are staying for a few years, but not too many," Kooby said. "The world is turning all into chains. You go to Boston, Oshkosh, anywhere — you'll see the same stores, same food. It's all boring."
The co-op "spent some quality dollars to upgrade storefronts that will last another 30 years," Spector said, declining to offer a specific cost of the upgrades.
The co-op board of 1200 Madison Ave. was so happy with the results that they've already put Spector in touch with two other nearby buildings that may be interested in following suit, he said.
"It's gotten really hot," he said of the area.
A few blocks away on the less fancier Lexington Avenue, another building is hoping a new glass façade will help it find a new tenant.
When Emigrant Bank's lease ends this year after three decades at 1270 Lexington Ave., at East 85th Street, the Moin Development and the Moinan Group, are going to renovate the brick façade into an all-glass box to attract a new retailer.
With nearly 10,000 square feet on three levels, the corner spot will be one of the largest available spaces on the Upper East Side, according to Winick Realty, which is marketing the space.
"The new glass façade will allow all the retail to have significant visibility," said Winick's Associate Director Kelly Gedinsky. "It will be completely transformed."
