A Spanish kitchen and bathroom tile company has purchased a historic Madison Square Park building for its U.S. headquarters. According to the Wall Street Journal, Porcelanosa paid $40 million for the 15,000-square-foot building at 202 Fifth Avenue, between 25th and 26th streets. The building is engraved with a Commodore Criterion sign. The signage was a remnant of its former tenant, the Commodore Manufacturing Corp., which recently moved its headquarters to Brooklyn.Porcelanosa, a four-decade-old Spanish company with $1.5 billion in revenue from 400 showrooms in 80 countries, including 18 in the United States, has the rights to rename the building.
Financial turmoil in Spain has led the country to expand in the U.S. of late, as revenues in America are expected to reach $80 million in 2012 up fro $60 million last year and the firm plans showrooms elsewhere in the country. Poreclanosa will spend about $10 million to renovate the building and expects to open it in the spring of 2014. [WSJ]