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Woof, woof: The Invisible Dog has come home. The computer graphics post-production company Invisible Dog has come back to the neighborhood where it opened its doors back in 1969.
"It used to be that you had to be in midtown or down in SoHo, but I'm ecstatic in this neighborhood," says Invisible Dog partner Lou Addesso, who now hangs his hard disks at 440 Park Avenue South, near 29th Street. "The area is very good as far as casting and having taping studios." v
Companies like Mr. Addesso's are turning Park Avenue South into the city's hottest office market. In the past two years, the area--even above 23rd Street--has become increasingly desirable because of its access to mass transit, relatively low rents and lively neighborhood amenities.
But as its popularity zooms, the area is beginning to lose some of its bohemian charm. Now that CS First Boston has announced that it is renting 1.1 million square feet at 11 Madison Ave.--a block-square building bounded by Park Avenue South and Madison Avenue, and 23rd and 24th streets--the district will probably become more corporate and straight-laced.
Already some of the smaller non-profit and creative businesses that help give this former B-list neighborhood its appeal have been forced to relocate because of rising rents.
Rents rising for two years
But higher prices show how increasingly desirable the neighborhood has...