Steve Cuozzo
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The fancy Midtown block of East 56th Street between Madison and Fifth avenues finally reopened to vehicular traffic after a four-year shutdown \u2014 and nobody\u2019s happier than the owners of an office building that isn\u2019t even open yet.<\/p>\n
The closure was part of strict security measures around Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue at East 56th Street. Auto traffic on the side street had been banned since Donald Trump\u2019s presidential nomination in 2016. Sidewalk strollers faced an intimidating, fortress-like zone of steel and concrete barricades, NYPD and Secret Service sheds, and tank-size security trucks.<\/p>\n
The closure snarled car traffic for blocks around. But with Trump out of office, the NYPD reopened the block last week, to the relief of high-end stores Giorgio Armani, Armani Ristorante and Oxxford Clothes, all at 717 Fifth Ave.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was miserable,\u201d said an Oxxford manager who didn\u2019t want his name revealed. Employees of the third-floor Armani restaurant told The Post they dubbed Trump Tower across the street the \u201cBlack House\u201d over the loss of business.<\/p>\n
Armani wouldn\u2019t comment but a source said the elegant eatery lost 50 percent of its business immediately after the 2016 street shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany clients came by car or limousine and they couldn\u2019t get here,\u201d the insider said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe struggled after that to bring at least some of our business back.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/GucciStore.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)
The block\u2019s liberation was even more welcome to the owners of 550 Madison Ave. between East 55th and 56th streets, the vacant former Sony headquarters that Olayan America is spending $300 million to redesign.<\/p>\n
Olayan has been showing 550 Madison\u2019s 750,000 square feet to prospective tenants prior to completion of the tower\u2019s office floors later this year. But \u201cit changed the dynamic and the vibe to see the whole street on guard,\u201d said Erik Horvat, Olayan Group managing director and head of US real estate.<\/p>\n
In addition, the barriers would have blocked new storefront glass windows to be installed soon.<\/p>\n
Horvat added, \u201cIt\u2019s not a political statement to say that until November, nobody even knew if the street would be closed for four years more.\u201d <\/p>\n
Barricades, widespread debris and machine-gun-toting security men were \u201cinconsistent\u201d with the health-conscious image the building wanted to project, Horvat said. Its \u201cwellness\u201d features \u2014 prime selling points for the post-COVID-19 era \u2014 include 30 percent increased ventilation and a new, greenery-rich public garden with twice the space of the 1984 tower\u2019s original covered arcade. The project is aiming for LEED platinum and Well Building Standard gold status.<\/p>\n
The street reopening was 550 Madison\u2019s second stroke of fortune this week. The tower with its famous \u201cChippendale\u201d top popped up in the background of The Weeknd\u2019s Super Bowl halfime performance on Sunday \u2014 oddly, the only recognizable structure among dozens of imaginary ones.<\/p>\n
It came as a surprise to Olayan.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody asked me how much we paid for it, but we didn\u2019t have anything to do with it,\u201d Horvat chuckled.<\/p>\n