Burberry to take 68,348 s/f at 444 Madison Ave. for U.S. headquarters

British fashion house Burberry plans to move its U.S. headquarters to 68,348 s/f at 444 Madison Ave. in mid 2009. The building will feature illuminated, building-top Burberry signage in three directions with the Burberry logo etched in the glass at the front entrance of the building. Burberry will occupy four contiguous floors of the 42-story Art Deco tower. A team from Studley represented Burberry: David Goldstein, executive vice president; Daniel Horowitz, executive managing director; and Jeffrey Peck, corporate managing director. Paul Amrich, executive vice president of CBRE, and Patrice Hayden, vice president, acted on behalf of the landlord, Westbrook Partners. "There's no question that being able to display the Burberry logo in lights over Midtown was a key driver in the transaction," said Goldstein, who added that zoning restrictions, written more than 20 years ago, now prohibit the use of illuminated signage atop New York City skyscrapers. 444 Madison's signage represents an existing non-conforming use and is permissible under a grandfather clause in the law. Newsweek's logo originally adorned the top of the Art Deco tower, followed by New York Magazine's. Attorneys in the transaction were: Robert Grant, Esq., Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP for Burberry and Greenberg Traurig, LLC for the landlord. Burberry, which is headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange, was founded in 1856. Studley is a leading commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation. Founded in 1954, Studley pioneered the conflict-free business model of representing only tenants with their commercial real estate transactions. Today, with 19 offices nationwide and an international presence through its London office and AOS Studley, a partnership with Paris-based AOS, Studley provides strategic real estate solutions to top-tier corporations, not-for-profit organizations and law firms. Information about Studley is available at www.studley.com.