Moinian welcomes first new tenant to Fifth Ave. tower.

Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (LIM), the College for the Business of Fashion, has announced plans to expand its campus with a fourth location at The Moinian Group's recently acquired 535-545 Fifth Avenue.

LIM recently signed a 15-year lease for a 30,160 s/f addition that will become the College's largest location and increase LIM's total campus to 80,000 s/f in midtown Manhattan.

John Monaco, senior leasing director, and Daniel Gohari, vice president and director of leasing of The Moinian Group, represented the owners in this transaction. Richard Gottlieb of the Hunter Realty Organization represented the tenant.

"We are proud to welcome LIM as the first new tenant at 535-545 Fifth Avenue, the latest addition to The Moinian Group's growing portfolio of quality office properties," said Monaco.

"This Midtown location will provide convenient access for LIM students to mass transportation, the Fashion District and the College's existing campus locations."

The College will occupy the entire seventh floor of both buildings, which will be connected to span an entire city block along Fifth Avenue from 44th to 45th Streets. The main entrance will be on 45th Street. The facility is slated to open in August of this year. This will be just in time for the beginning of LIM's Fall 2006 semester, for which the College is expecting enrollment to increase to approximately 1000 students from the current level of almost 800.

"This is a major milestone in an incredible period of planned strategic growth at LIM," said LIM President Elizabeth S. Marcuse.

"In order for us to continue to provide the fashion industry with the highly-educated and immediately employable graduates it needs, we know we must expand our programs and facilities to respond to industry demand. We are proud to offer our growing student body a centrally located, urban campus environment in the heart of the world's most exciting city."

A team of architects and engineers led by Butler Rogers Baskett, Architects and Gardiner & Theobald, Project Managers, have been hard at work for the last four months creating a state-of-the-art environment for working and learning. In keeping with the philosophy behind LIM's current locations, the new facility will house a blend of classrooms, studios, computer labs, student and faculty lounges, and offices for administration and student and academic affairs.

The LIM campus also includes the College's flagship location in an historic townhouse building at 12 East 53rd Street, space at 226 East 54th Street, and a facility at 216 East 45th Street that opened in 2004.

All four locations place students just steps away from New York's premiere shopping districts, top retailers, Seventh ("Fashion") Avenue and the headquarters of the world's top fashion, cosmetics, textile, advertising and publishing companies.

"LIM's location in midtown Manhattan is integral to the fulfillment of our educational mission," said Marcuse.

"We are here to provide students who seek careers in the business side of the fashion industry with a solid academic and experiential background through high quality in-class instruction and hands-on experience out in the field."

LIM is a four-year private college accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

LIM offers students a Bachelor's degree that combines liberal arts with hands-on exposure to fashion merchandising, visual merchandising, marketing, and management and provides a well-rounded education through the use of in-class instruction and in-the-field training.

LIM was founded in 1939 and has been witness to every significant change in the retail and fashion industries for seven decades.