The Sheffield and Saks Fifth Avenue Join Forces on Unique Residential Program

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Writer

New York–The Sheffield, the recently repositioned upscale condominium property at 322 West 57th St. in Manhattan, continues its move even further up the luxury ladder with the formation of a new partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue that offers residents a one-on-one relationship with the world renowned store.

The partnership with The Sheffield is the first of its kind for Saks Inc.’s The Fifth Avenue Club at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. The 58-story condominium property is the one and only luxury residential development to have an exclusive partnership with the Club. “We initiated the concept and Saks loved the idea and wanted to create a package for us,” Jacqueline Urgo, president of The Marketing Directors Inc., tells MHN. Marketing Directors orchestrated the re-launch of The Sheffield on behalf of the building’s original developer, Rose Associates Inc.

“The re-branding and repositioning was to create a couture-designed location with a couture amenities package, and we wanted to extend the concept to a retail icon like Saks, which is commonly frequented by the residents at The Sheffield,” she says. “We really wanted to play up the couture element–we even had a brochure designed like a high-end fashion magazine–to further enhance the image of the building and accommodate the personal lifestyle of the residents.”

The premier Saks package encompasses a long list of offerings that includes shopping privileges, personal styling consultants and private seasonal designer collection previews. But the package is not a one-size-fits-all deal, as every single one of The Sheffield’s dwellers has the opportunity to couple with his or her own personal styling consultant to create a one-one-relationship that is tailored to each individual resident.

The April 2010 re-launch of The Sheffield has proven successful, as has the Sheffield-Saks program, which was introduced during the holiday season. “Since we’ve been involved, we’ve had 83 sales, and 13 contracts are currently in progress,” Urgo notes. “Fourteen of the sales were in December, which is unprecedented in the current market.”