January 10, 2011 -
Spotlights
J. Tucci Construction Corp. recently completed renovations on the 2,300 s/f Louis Vuitton Store on the first floor at Saks Fifth Avenue, which they previously constructed in 2003. The store faces the 50th St. entrance of the landmarked Saks Fifth Avenue building, and re-opened recently.
J. Tucci was retained to renovate the space largely because the store's ceilings were very low due to an old elevator system with a complex steel infrastructure. Their team set up a temporary store for Louis Vuitton to operate in, and then proceeded to remove the old elevator system while adding in a new dumbwaiter for employees to access the store's Asset Protection Area.
"The store gained more open space when we removed the concrete wall behind the storefront windows," said Stamatios Saridakis, J. Tucci's project manager of the renovation. "The store is much better organized because employees can use the dumbwaiter to more efficiently store additional merchandise downstairs."
J. Tucci installed custom-built curved light fixtures from Lite Lab Corp. for the new store, as well as high-end custom millwork and solid teak wood flooring. The challenges of this project included tight deadlines, difficult delivery regulations and very specialized building materials that have long lead times. However, J. Tucci's expertise in the luxury retail sector and their highly skilled construction management protocols has been pivotal in circumventing these challenges.
According to the architect Larry Martin, "The complexity of the design requires Gertler & Wente Architects, LLP to work hand in hand with J. Tucci Construction and the millworker. Going beyond the typical coordination for a construction project, we are able to achieve extremely tight tolerances and precision fitting with a diversity of materials and construction elements."
The J. Tucci team takes pride in its commitment to its core values: Passion, Partnership and Professionalism. Based in New York, J. Tucci has built a strong reputation as a go-to source for challenging construction assignments. For over 25 years, the firm's track-record has been built around a strong history of successful, repeat assignments for a wide-range of retail, corporate, healthcare, residential, hospitality, educational, institutional, and specialty clients like restaurants, spas and health clubs, making J. Tucci a critical construction resource for any construction challenge.