High-end Brit designer Dame Vivienne Westwood is stylishly upping her presence in New York.
In keeping with her edgy, fashion-forward style, Westwood has become a New York real-estate pioneer as well.
Her brand, which brought punk and new wave styles into fashion decades ago, just plunked down $13.5 million to buy a stunning, five-story 1915 townhouse that will be used to house a Vivienne Westwood retail store, showroom and corporate headquarters, sources tell On the Money.
The 12,000 square-foot townhouse at 14 E. 55th St. is next to the St. Regis Hotel. The seller was Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, which owns the St. Regis brand. Westwood had been looking for a New York flagship site for several years.
“They have a beautiful freestanding store on the West Coast but also wanted to be in New York. But they only wanted to own, not to lease,” the source said.
The neighborhood is not known for having a designer presence, but Ralph Lauren will soon be at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, and more upscale retail is slated to open at 555 Madison Ave. as well.
Neal Sroka, Vincent Santoro and Anita Grossberg of Douglas Elliman’s Sroka Worldwide Team represented Westwood. It was an off-market deal.–Jennifer Gould Keil
Listen, pal …
Zynga doesn’t need friends.
The gaming company has filed suit against the owners of Bang With Friends, the hookup Web app, claiming it infringes Zynga’s trademark for its “with friends” family of games.
Bang With Friends, whose app matches up Facebook friends anonymously for casual sex, registered its domain name last year, according to the complaint filed yesterday in federal court in San Francisco.
The company selected the name Bang With Friends for its application “with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind,” according to the complaint.
The name infringes a trademark covering games such as “Words With Friends” and “Chess With Friends,” according to the filing.
In addition to unspecified damages, Zynga seeks a court order barring the company from using the name Bang With Friends in connection with any social-networking applications in the US.–Post staff
Caddy shack
Cadillac is no longer your grandpa’s car — that’s the message the company is sending to lure sexy young potential buyers partying in the Hamptons this summer.
Cadillac is throwing money at a new strategy to attract a much cooler customer, including sponsoring on a seven-week music series at The Montauk Beach House through the rest of the summer, with big name singers and DJs including Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode.
Sound Waves @The House — with international musicians and fashion designers including Michelle Smith of Milly — is a pool party for the 20- to 30-year-old set where Cadillac is showing off the new “extended range” electric car it’ll try to sell soon for around $80,000.
The idea is not to promote specific models, but to try to get a younger crowd to consider the brand in a way that Audi and others have.
No one would think of Cadillac as being in that league now. Its average customer is in his or her 50s or 60s, with about a $150,000 income.
New York is a crucial market, the Hamptons are even more exclusive, and Montauk has its own hip vibe, says Melody Lee, Cadillac’s recently appointed director of brand & reputation strategy.
New York is currently the largest market for Cadillacs in the US.–
Julie Earle-Levine
Room upgrade
Could another Surf Lodge, the wildly successful Montauk hotel, be on the horizon?
Enter The Haven, formerly The Blue Haven, a 30-room motel popular with fishermen and families for 20 years.
Entrepreneur Eric Mourkakos’ family bought the motels five years ago; back then, the room rates were $90 midweek and $130 on weekends.
Now, it’s $200 to $250 midweek, and $250 to $350 on weekends. It even has a $750-a-night suite.
Mourkakos, 29, has sunk $300,000 so far into the harbor-front property to overhaul and relaunch it. He has already had a number of big names stay, including Willie Nelson’s entourage and a steady stream of models like Kelly Bensimon, as well as DJs and surfers.
Mourkakos owns New York City’s largest florist, Plant Shed New York Flowers, a third-generation company with a 10,000 square- foot space spread over three floors, which imports its own flowers and plants. –Julie Earle-Levine