Eat, Sleep, Live Luxury: Lvmh Is Building Whole Cityscapes Centered On Their Designer Stores

Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty ImagesLuxury powerhouse LVMH is investing billions in real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported.The company's strategy involves purchasing older properties and creating new city centers.The company spent $2.1 billion last year acquiring properties in Paris ahead of the Olympic games.Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the brand behind some of the most well-known names in fashion, wines, and spirits, is reshaping older neighborhoods across the globe into luxury plazas and shopping centers.According to The Wall Street Journal, the parent company of brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Fendi, as well as private equity firm L Catterton, is betting billions on in-person shopping by buying old shopping centers, hotels, and warehouses and turning them into mixed-use centers focused on their brands.According to the report, much of the strategy involves buying property in sometimes historic neighborhoods — like the Pont Neuf neighborhood in Paris, which sent lawsuits LVMH's way from historians concerned about the integrity of the 150-year-old La Samaritaine department store — and transforming them into affluent neighborhoods by working with world-class architects like Frank Gehry to construct shopping centers.Michael Burke, head of LVMH Fashion Group, told the Journal, "We're creating a city.""We take something that does not exist and when we're done a city center has been created with the residential, retail, and cultural aspects to it," Burke told the outlet.