Earlier this year, the 380,000-sf Gift Building in the Flatiron District was sold to a joint venture partnership comprised of affiliates of Olympus Real Estate Partners, the Milestone Group and Murray Hill Properties. It has served as an international showroom venue for the gift industry for more than 50 years.

The 225 Fifth Avenue Association, which represents approximately 115 gift industry companies currently located at the site, is being advised by Cushman & Wakefield's Robert Baraf, executive director, David Rosenbloom, senior director, and Jonathan Rosner, managing director. Baraf tells GlobeSt.com that the four sites--each approximately 400,000 sf--are in Midtown, on the West Side and in Lower Manhattan. He says working with the needs of such a large client base has been a "challenge, but they recognized the need to be a critical mass." Baraf adds that others potential tenants, not currently housed at the Gift Building, have expressed interest in being part of a gift-mart concept.

Baraf says a decision is expected quickly and that the sites in question are now empty and can easily be retrofitted. He expects the tenants to be in their new home "within the year." David Zrike, president of the 225 Fifth Avenue Association, calls the new space search a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a world-class mart in New York to rival peers in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta." He also anticipates that the new mart is likely to double or triple the current size.