Modern Spaces Heads Up Repositioning and Rebranding Efforts at Former Lower East Side School
Modern Spaces has been tapped as the exclusive rental and marketing agent for the building located at 371 Madison Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood. The building will be repurposed from luxury condos to rentals and will undergo a rebranding campaign.
By Joshua Ayers, Senior Editor
New York—Queens-based brokerage firm Modern Spaces has been tapped as the exclusive rental and marketing agent for the building located at 371 Madison Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood. The building, which is owned by Thomas Sung, will be repurposed from luxury condos to rentals and will undergo a rebranding campaign.
“Before, it was high-end luxury,” Eric Benaim, CEO and president of Modern Spaces tells MHN. “Now, we’re trying to target an artsty, trendy renter. It’s in the Lower East Side, a very edgy, trendy type area. It’s not really geared toward the finance kind of person.”
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2012 that Sung had purchased the former Public School 12 building at a city auction in 1983 for $535,000 and had teamed up with designer Matt Bolla to update the interiors into a luxury condominium project. The attempt to sell the individual units had little success.
Benaim tells MHN that Modern Spaces was retained about “four or five months ago” and that efforts have already started on the redesign and rebranding.
“We have big plans for this building, including redesigning, adding new amenities and marketing to young professionals in the area,” Benaim says. “We are confident that these new ideas and strategies will highlight the former school to renters looking to live in the Lower East Side.”
Although Benaim did not reveal the building’s new name, he did mention that there are a host of redesigning efforts, both physically and virtually, in store for the property. These changes include working with the developer to create a new website, the creation of a 5,000-square-foot amenity lounge and two more amenities that have yet to be revealed.
A majority of the floor plans are presented in a duplex arrangement, with some of them including ceilings as high as 20 feet. Current amenities include a nearly Olympic-sized pool, a fitness center and two private courtyards.
“We’re excited about the project,” Benaim says. “It’s our first project in Manhattan.”
