Tabletop industry giants call 26th and Madison home.

It's better to lead than to follow. That's how tabletop industry giants, Oneida and Mikasa, felt during recent lease negotiations.

Oneida decided to remain at 41 Madison Avenue and continue to build its business at Manhattan's premier office building for the tabletop industry after the giftware industry was forced out of 225 Fifth Avenue by the conversion of the property to residential condos.

The tabletop giants had been solicited on several occasions to move their New York operations to 7 West 34th, the newest location to be turned into a hub for companies in the gift and tabletop industry.

Despite the intense entreaties from the new industry building eight blocks north, the tabletop industry remains firmly entrenched at the intersection of 26th Street and Madison Avenue. A few of the players in the industry did, in fact, move to 7 West 34th Street. Oneida, however, signed a lease for 13,000 s/ f of space at the 42-story modern glass and steel building with assistance from Newmark's Moshe Sukenik, executive managing director and Chris Mongeluzo, senior managing director. It will share the space on the 12th floor with its Sakura brand during construction of its new, expanded 4th floor showroom, after which both brands will combine under one roof.

"This lease shows that the tabletop industry remains anchored at the intersection of 26th Street and Madison Avenue for the long term," said Sukenik of the enduring viability of the building as an industry location. Other tenants felt the same way and only recently moved to 41 Madison Avenue, including The Ambiance Collection, Anchor Hocking, Certified International, Martin's Herend Imports, Metro Marketing, Mottahedah, Over and Back, Prima Donna Designs, Royal Bohemia Crystal. The property is owned and managed by Rudin Management Company.

Meanwhile, Mikasa marked its territory directly across the street. Sukenik also worked with Mikasa on its 21,000 square-foot lease of prime office and showroom space at 51 Madison Avenue, better known as the New York Life Building, a one-million-square-foot office tower.

The company is completely renovating 13,000 s/f on the ground floor and mezzanine level of the 40-story tower, which will be its showroom space, and it also will occupy 8,000 s/f on the 24th floor for executive offices. The ground floor of this landmark headquarters building has dramatic 30-foot ceiling heights. New York Life Insurance, which owns 51 Madison Avenue, had been the sole occupant of the office space in the building and decided for the first time to lease to outside third parties nearly 300,000 s/f on the upper floors. Mikasa will be the first office tenant to take occupancy under this leasing program.

Oneida Ltd. is the world's largest manufacturer of stainless steel and silverplated flatware for both the Consumer and Foodservice industries, and the largest supplier of dinnerware to the foodservice industry. Oneida is also a leading supplier of a variety of crystal, glassware and metal serveware for the tabletop industries.

Mikasa has long been recognized as the leader in tabletop fashion in dinnerware, crystal stemware, barware, flatware and decorative accessories.