Manhattan-based developer and owner Tishman Speyer Properties bought 200 Park Avenue for a staggering $1.7 billion. The wall-like office tower is also known as the MetLife Building, which is visibly written along the building’s top floors. It’s unclear if Tishman Speyer plans to rename the building.
With a total of 2.8 million sq. ft., the sale price works out to roughly $600 per sq. ft. In 1981, Pan Am sold the building to MetLife for $400 million. MetLife will post a 400% profit on the sale, based on those numbers. On Wednesday, MetLife pocketed $916 million for another Manhattan tower, One Madison Avenue, located twenty blocks south of the MetLife Building. The property was developed in 1963 for $100 million. A heated bidding war broke out over this property. Private investors such as Joseph Chetrit and Lloyd Goldman reportedly bid against REITs like SL Green and Reckson Associates. Still, Tishman Speyer prevailed in the bidding, snagging the 58-story skyscraper that rises due north of Grand Central terminal in Manhattan.
While the MetLife Building has fetched one of the highest prices of any Manhattan property, many New Yorkers still despise the property. Bob Davies, a commuter on his way into Grand Central Station last Friday afternoon, summed it up this way: “It blocks [Park] avenue completely, and it’s ugly too. It sold for how much?” He shook his head when he got the answer.