Phillips on the Move

I have reported in the past that auction house Phillips de Pury was opening a location in mid town Manhattan at 450 Park Avenue Erica Orden and Kelly Crow writing for the Wall Street Journal report on the move and the strategy behind it. The new location is going to be an additional Manhattan location for Phillips in addition to its NY Headquarters in the meatpacking district of the City. The 25,000 three floor space on Park Avenue will included sky boxes and additional exhibition space while catering to younger affluent and new art collectors.

Orden and Crow report

The expansion signals more than Phillips's desire for additional square footage. Since it was acquired in October 2008 by Russian retailing giant Mercury Group, the London-based auctioneer has added sales and retooled its catalogs to appeal to wealthy people who are newcomers to the art market. Its forthcoming Midtown location will put Phillips in closer proximity to its bigger rivals, Sotheby's and Christie's, as well as to a pool of current and potential buyers who don't typically troll the narrow industrial blocks on the western edge of lower Manhattan where Phillips has conducted auctions for the past seven years.

Chairman Simon de Pury said the expansion is an attempt to gain greater visibility.

"Everybody drives down Park Avenue a few times a day around there," he said. "The location is as optimal as can be."

The hyper-local strategy comes at a time when collectors from Hong Kong to the Hamptons are skipping far-flung art events and doing more of their shopping close to home. Phillips, with its two salesrooms, aims to sort its goods to suit them. The modernist Midtown venue will include the ground floor of the building, and will host the house's single-owner sales, evening auctions and jewelry sales. The company's red-brick Meatpacking District location, which overlooks the High Line promenade, will remain home to administrative offices, as well as design and photography sales. It will also continue to host its new slate of theme sales, which offer artwork grouped by topical categories like "Sex" or "Film."

"While downtown is a space where contemporary-art lovers frequent, there are still a lot of clients based uptown, so this will be a small convenience for them to have more access to us," said Mr. de Pury.

To read the full article, click HERE.