Inside the reawakening of NYC’s Fifth Avenue with swanky housing, shopping and offices

Call it the Tiffany effect.

When Holly Golightly, portrayed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” sauntered down Fifth Avenue in her Givenchy evening dress, she stopped to peer longingly in Tiffany’s window, yearning for the good life among high society.

Over the past couple of years, that very block of concrete and dreams has transformed into a portion of Billionaires’ Row, where the global elite has spent the better part of a decade snapping up the priciest homes in the city — as well as the nation.

The Fifth Avenue stretch from the Plaza Hotel at Central Park’s southeast tip through the 50s has made a big splashy New York comeback — and is once again bursting with high-end luxury stores attracting big spenders, as well as places where they can kick up their feet at night.

Last year, construction was completed on the Mandarin Oriental Residences, Fifth Avenue, which boasts serviced apartments, a private rooftop restaurant overseen by Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud, a private rooftop pool and cabanas, as well as a sauna- and steam room-equipped fitness center.

Several years earlier, in January 2020, sales launched for the condos at the Aman New York hotel and residences, situated at Fifth Avenue and East 57th Street in the Crown Building, the original home of the Museum of Modern Art.