Cipriani's Lease at 200 Fifth to End in January

The landlord of the former International Toy Center, the historic property at 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue, is giving Cipriani the boot. According to The New York Post—and confirmed by representatives from the Cipriani Group—the lease for Cipriani 23rd Street will be terminated at the end of January. This mutual agreement comes after more than a year of squabbling and lawsuits between L&L Holding Company, the owner of the building, and the banquet hall operator.In a statement released earlier, Giuseppe Cipriani and David W. Levinson, chairman of L&L, "agreed that it is in their best interests to end Cipriani’s lease on January 31, 2009 so that L&L can complete its extensive renovations of the interior of the building and reposition the retail space on the lobby level." The plan for the site, 200 Fifth Avenue, is to convert it into an office building—one that will, according to the building's Web site, feature an environmentally sustainable design.

For the catering and venue organization, which currently occupies 7,500 square feet of space in the lobby and mezzanine level of the building, the dedicated event site will continue to operate until the end of the lease. Following that, the company will be "identifying new projects in New York City in line with Cipriani’s portfolio of historical landmark properties."