Furniture company packing up Merch Mart showroom, headed for Fulton Market

After 80 years at the Merchandise Mart, furniture company Herman Miller is heading to Fulton Market.

The Michigan-based retailer plans to occupy an entire new 45,000-square-foot complex proposed for 1100 West Fulton Street, according to Crain’s. The proposal by Fulton St. Companies does not yet have City Council approval, but Herman Miller is planning to relocate there late next year.

Fulton St. Companies, formerly known as Base Capital Group, plans to add a third story to an existing building at the corner of Fulton and Aberdeen Street and build a five-story office and retail building on an attached vacant lot, according to a zoning application submitted in March. The firm bought the property from Sterling Bay in March 2018 for $6 million, property records show.

The site is across the street from a hotel and office development Fulton St. is proposing with architecture firm Hartshorne Plunkard for 1033 West Fulton Street. Both proposals are set for zoning approval later this month.

Herman Miller’s decision to move comes about a year after Knoll, another furniture retailer, moved from Vornado Realty’s Trust’s Merchandise Mart to the new office building at 811 West Fulton Street. Developer Shapack Partners is now seeking to sell that building for $49 million.

The new building would join a flurry of new office and retail development just west of the Google offices at 1K Fulton, including a redevelopment proposal by McCaffery Interests at 1115 West Fulton and a new office building proposed by Murphy Development Group at 318 North Carpenter Street.

[Crain’s] — Alex Nitkin