Englewood Construction completes 43,000 s/f renovation of American Girl Place Store

Englewood Construction has completed a major interior renovation of the American Girl Place Store at 609 Fifth Ave. This marks the third American Girl Place store in less than seven months that the Schiller Park, Ill.-based contractor has worked on. In late 2008, Englewood Construction completed the build out of the American Girl Place flagship store in Chicago as well as the construction of the American Girl Boutique store in Bloomington, Minn. "Working with American Girl on these three stores has been a win-win for everyone as the same key players on both sides of the table have been involved with each project," said William Di Santo, president of Englewood Construction. "It's like having a great dance partner - we both know each other's steps. And with this New York store, we were right at home on Fifth Avenue as our team has a long track record with retail construction in iconic shopping districts." Spanning 43,000 s/f over three floors, the renovated American Girl Place store in New York City is the second-largest American Girl Place store in the country. Only the Chicago flagship store at 52,000 s/f is larger. The New York location boasts prime Fifth Ave. exposure, as well as an entrance from 49th St. One highlight of the newly renovated New York store is Avenue AG, a main street-style shopping experience featuring apparel and accessories for girls and their dolls. The store also includes additional retail space, an American Girl café that seats 180 for dining and parties; a doll hair salon; and a photo studio. "This is only the second American Girl Place store in the country to feature the new Avenue AG shopping concept and it was a large part of the renovation," said Di Santo. "But because the American Girl team launched Avenue AG in Chicago, which we worked on as well, there was never any doubt that everything would go smoothly because we were already familiar with the concept." New York City-based Gensler Architects served as architect for the New York store, as well as the Chicago location.