Marketing the Mart

The Casual Showrooms at the  Merchandise Mart are 100% leased after MMPI's Whitney Gillespie recently repped the building in five new leases. Whitney lists about 300k SF of furniture showroom space on the 15th, 16th, and 17th floors to mostly mid- to high-end outdoor furniture manufacturers. The average showroom takes up about 9k SF. Recent leases include  Actiwin, Homecrest, Leisure Design, and NorthCape International. Three more tenants, Patio Renaissance, Suncoast Aluminum Furniture, and Treasure Garden expanded their showrooms.
With  NeoCon coming up in June and International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market trade show in September, attendees will be able to see the expanded outdoor furniture and accessories offerings in the building. And Whitney hopes more designers will take permanent space in the Mart. She says the market for outdoor furniture is picking up with more people taking  stay-cations this summer. Many of her showroom clients have been experimenting with more durable fabrics and multi-use furniture that can be used indoors or out. Indoor furniture that's waterproof? Those of you who regularly spill beer on your La-Z-Boy are actually just ahead of your time.

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