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When Newmark & Co. took over management of 100 E. 42nd St. two years ago, one of its first moves was to put up scaffolding around the building, which stands across the street from Grand Central Terminal.
A sign that hung on the side announced the new leasing agent and blared the building's address. Its new address, that is. Overnight, the 74-year-old property had become 125 Park Ave.
"People thought the scaffolding was for cleaning and construction," says William Cohen, executive vice president at Newmark & Co. Real Estate Inc. "But most of that was already done. It was advertising. Just by virtue of that billboard, people began to refer to the building as 125 Park."
As rents rise for prime office space in Manhattan, landlords are searching for quick new ways to turn ho-hum buildings into marquee properties. Whether it entails a lobby facelift, a complete regutting or the addition of a fancy address, repositioning has become the favored means of hiking up rents...