Italian jeweler and mosaic tile manufacturer Sicis has purchased 240 Fifth Avenue for $22.1 million. The five-story building, which contains 11,350 square feet of space, was last sold in 2012 for only $7.7 million.

Sicis creates watches and jewelry pieces decorated with micro mosaic designs, mosaics for floors, walls, and pool interiors, unique home furnishings, and artistic sculptures.

The property will serve multiple functions for Sicis. 240 Fifth Avenue offers Sicis enough space for an art gallery for new exhibitions, a “think tank” from which Sicis can build its brand, standard offices, and storage space.

With very special international brands such as Marimekko, Maison Kitsune, Porcelanosa,  Rizzoli, Iosselliani, Opening Ceremony, and now Sicis, NoMad’s reputation as a new international center for hotels and shopping is attracting huge retail activity. Asking rents are at $500 and rising, especially along Broadway and Fifth.

Virgin Hotel’s NoMad Center, two blocks from the new Sicis location, isn’t planned to open until 2017, but the commercial space is already being marketed. Neighbors in the NoMad area are looking at this large block of spaces as an opportunity to continue to solidify NoMad’s evolution as a source of artistic retail by bringing in highly creative stores.