Park Avenue Tower

Park Avenue Tower (also 65 East 55th Street) is a building located between East 56th and East 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The office building developed by Park Tower Realty opened in 1986 and has a height of 171 metres (561.0 feet). Park Avenue Tower has 36 floors, which can be reached with seventeen elevators. Designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects in postmodern style, Park Avenue Tower is made of stone, steel and glass.[2] The floor plan of the building is a square with flattened corners and the tower narrows as it increases in height. There is a pyramid-shaped structure on the roof of the building that is not visible from the street.[3]

Park Avenue Tower
65 East 55th Street
Location in New York City[1]
Park Avenue Tower (New York City)
Park Avenue Tower (New York)
General information
StatusOpened
LocationMidtown Manhattan, New York
Coordinates40°45′39.35″N 73°58′19.5″W
Completed1986
OwnerBlackstone Group
Height
Architectural171 m (561.0 ft)
Technical details
Floor count36
Floor area55,000 m2 (592,015.1 sq ft)
Design and construction
ArchitectMurphy/Jahn Architects
DeveloperPark Tower Realty

In front of the Park Avenue Tower main entrance on East 55th Street is a Privately Owned Public Space with six polished granite planters.[4] The building can be accessed through four entrances, one on East 56th Street and three on East 55th Street. The entrance on East 56th Avenue and the middle entrance on East 55th Avenue lead to the multi-story lobby. The walls of the lobby are made of granite and marble.[5] The east entrance on East 55th Avenue used to lead to the office of law firm Paul Hastings, which had an area of 23,500 m2 (252,951.9 sq ft) and was spread over sixteen floors.,[6] though Paul Hastings has since relocated to the MetLife Building.[7] The fourth entrance leads to Restaurant Aquavit, a restaurant with two Michelin stars.[8]

History

In 2007, Macklowe Properties bought the Park Avenue Tower along with five other buildings in New York for $7 billion from the Blackstone Group, which had acquired the building by acquiring Equity Office Properties, the previous owner. One year later, in the summer of 2008, the building, along with the 21-story 850 Third Avenue, was sold to Shorenstein Properties for $930 million, as Macklowe Properties faced challenges during the credit crisis.[9] At the end of 2013, it was announced that Grocon wanted to buy the Park Avenue Tower for $500 million, which later became $775 million.[10] In the spring of 2014, that deal was canceled when Grocon could not raise sufficient funding. Grocon had secured a $530 million loan from Jones Lang LaSalle, but could not obtain further funding. In July 2014, the building was sold again to a previous owner, Blackstone Group for $750 million[6][11]

Location

Park Avenue Tower is located in Midtown Manhattan between East 55th Street and East 56th Street. The building has access to four subway stations in the immediate area. The four include Fifth Avenue-59th Street which is three blocks to the north and two blocks to the west for lines N, Q and R; 57th Street two blocks to the west for Line F; Fifth Avenue/53rd Street three blocks to the south and one block to the west for Line E and M; Lexington Avenue/59th Street two blocks to the east and three blocks to the north for Lines 4, 5, 6, 6d, N, Q and R.

Park Avenue Tower borders three buildings, namely the Café Cosí in the northwest, the New York Friars Club in the southwest and 430 Park Avenue in the east. On the other side of East 56th Street is 432 Park Avenue, while on the other side of 55th Street are Park Avenue Place, the Heron Tower and 410 Park Avenue. Other striking buildings in the immediate vicinity of Park Avenue Tower are the 58-story Trump Tower, the 42-story Fuller Building, the 50-story General Motors Building and the 52-story Four Seasons Hotel New York.

Appendices

References
  1. National Geodetic Survey datasheet KU3602. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
  2. "SkyscraperPage.com – Park Avenue Tower". Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  3. "Emporis – Park Avenue Tower". Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  4. Kayden, Jerold S. "Privately Public Owned Space – 65 East 55th". Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  5. "42Floors – 65 East 55th Street". Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  6. Weiss, Lois (1 July 2014). "Schwarzman's Blackstone buys Park Avenue Tower for $750M". New York Post. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  7. "Paul Hastings To Move To Smaller, Tech-Focused NY Office". Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  8. "Aquavit". Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  9. Burr, Andrew C. (1 July 2008). "Shorenstein Takes Two Former Macklowe Towers". CoStar. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  10. Ghigliotty, Damian (5 December 2013). "Million Acquisition Financing for Park Ave Tower". Commercial Observer. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  11. Hui-yong, Yu (2 July 2014). "Blackstone Said to Buy Park Avenue Tower for $750 Million". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
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