"This rare opportunity to recreate a Plaza District office building from scratch will allow us to provide space to an upscale, yet limited, tenant roster of 17 or fewer boutique firms," says David Sigman, SVP of LCOR. Tenants are expected to take a full floor once construction completes and the building opens again for occupancy.

The 17-story building on the corner of 55th Street will be completely stripped to the structure and then developed into a class A office building. A floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall will be installed, as well as new, top quality electrical, HVAC and mechanical systems. Once renovations are complete, executives at LCOR say the building will qualify for LEED gold standard.

"And as a green building, tenants can enjoy improved indoor air quality, which can boost employee productivity and reduce absenteeism," Sigman says. "The increase in energy efficiency can reduce their costs further. The LEED certification will be a win for the building's tenants and for the earth as well."

In November, LCOR leased the building for 75 years. After construction, which the demolition phase began in March, the building will be 140,000 sf. The first tenants are slated to be able to move in by spring 2008. Jones Lang LaSalle's Peter Riguardi, Frank Doyle, Lisa Kiell and David Kleiner will exclusively lease the office space; while CB Richard Ellis' Susan Kurland will handle the retail leases.

"545 Madison will offer the kind of top-tier quality space that only a handful of buildings in the city possess," Sigman says. "The building is destined to become the new jewel of Madison Avenue."