125 West 55th Street, also known as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, is a 23-story, office building located on 55th Street between the

Avenue of the Americas Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

(Sixth Avenue) and Seventh Avenue in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The building also has an entrance at 120 West 56th Street,125 West 55 Street Fact Sheet
" Macklowe Properties. February 26, 2007. Retrieved on February 24, 2011. across the street from the

Le Parker Meridien The Thompson Central Park New York is a 587-room hotel located at 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located near Central Park, the 42-story hotel building houses restaurants, a gym, and other retailers. History The hotel open ...

Hotel. The facility, with of rentable office space, was developed by The Macklowe Organization.Air France leases 29,500 sf at Avenue of the Americas Plaza
" ''

Real Estate Weekly ''Real Estate Weekly'' is a weekly American real estate magazine primarily covering New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in t ...

''. July 10, 1991. Retrieved on February 24, 2011. The building, designed by

Edward Larrabee Barnes Edward Larrabee Barnes (April 22, 1915 – September 22, 2004) was an American architect. His work was characterized by the "fusing fModernism with vernacular architecture and understated design." Barnes was best known for his adherence to st ...

125 West 55th Street
."

Boston Properties Boston Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in premier workplaces in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. As of June 30, 2022, the company owned or had interest ...

. Retrieved on February 25, 2011. and John MY Lee Architects, has floorplates.Deutsch, Claudia H. "Commercial Property: Avenue of the Americas; From Corporate Corridor to Boulevard of Barristers." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. April 4, 1993
1
Retrieved on February 24, 2011. The second floor of the building houses

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

's United States executive offices.

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...

houses its New York representative office in the building.

currently owns and manages the building. The building also houses offices of Katz Media Group, a division of

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

.Boston Properties scores 200,000 sf lease renewal at 125 West 55th Street
" '' The Real Deal''. Retrieved on February 25, 2011.

History

Development

The building, constructed by

Fisher Brothers Fisher Brothers is a real estate firm in New York City. It was formed by Martin Fisher in 1915, soon joined by his brothers Larry (born 1907), and Zachary (born 1910). The Fisher family has substantial real estate holdings in New York City and el ...

,Foderaro, Lisa. "A Trade-Up for St. Thomas Choir School." ''

''. August 23, 1987
1
Retrieved on February 24, 2011. cost $60 million in 1988 dollars. The

Saint Thomas Choir School Saint Thomas Choir School is a church-affiliated boarding choir school in Manhattan, New York, founded in 1919. The school is supported by the nearby Saint Thomas Church, an Episcopal church, continuing the Anglican tradition of all-male choral ...

previously occupied the site,Waite, Thomas L.
POSTING: Choir School Site; Offices by Macklowe
" ''

''. March 13, 1988. Retrieved on February 23, 2011. and moved into a new building at 202 West 58th Street. Construction on 125 West 55th Street began in 1988. In order to capitalize on a City of New York zoning bonus, the developers planned to have the building's foundation installed by May 13, 1988; buildings in the area installed before a deadline in the northern hemisphere spring of 1988 received a 20% increase in size in order to spur development of western

. The developers planned to have tenants begin occupying the building in May 1989. The building was completed in 1990.

Use

In 1991,

leased of space in the building. As of July 10, 1991, it was the largest lease in Manhattan in the year 1991. The airline had planned to move its

Northeast United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic list of regions of the United States, region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast ...

headquarters, its U.S. reservation center, and its

ticket office to the building beginning in 1992.Dunlap, David W. "Commercial Property: 125 West 55th Street; The Anatomy of a Macklowe Tower Leasing Coup." ''

''. November 24, 1991
1
Retrieved on February 25, 2011. The lease included of office space on the building's second floor and of retail space on the first floor.

had its previous ticket office at

666 Fifth Avenue 660 Fifth Avenue (formerly 666 Fifth Avenue and the Tishman Building) is a 41-story office building on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The office tower was d ...

and its previous reservation department at

888 Seventh Avenue 888 Seventh Avenue is a 628 ft (191m) tall modern-style office skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan which was completed in 1969 and has 46 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building. 888 Seventh Avenue is "L"-shaped in plan, with wings ext ...

, and wanted a larger ticket office facility and overhauled reservation department offices. It moved both departments into 125 West 55th Street.Dunlap, David W. "Commercial Property: 125 West 55th Street; The Anatomy of a Macklowe Tower Leasing Coup." ''

''. November 24, 1991
2
Retrieved on February 25, 2011.

opted to move into 125 West 55th Street instead of spending $2.5 million to upgrade the telecommunications systems and remove

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

at 888 Seventh Avenue; 125 West 55th Street came with the latest fiber optics systems and did not have

. Air France has since closed the street-level retail ticket office. AFOfficeNYC

Around the same time, Katz Media Group signed a lease for of space in the building. As of November 24, 1991, the Katz lease was the fourth largest lease in New York City. During that year the National Bank of Canada and Credietbank were tenants in the building. In the summer of 1992,

LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP was an international law firm of about 700 attorneys headquartered in New York City. The firm had specialities in energy, public utilities, and insurance. It was founded by Randall LeBoeuf Jr. In 2007, it merged ...

moved 1,200 employees into the building. The firm had consolidated from several previous locations, and occupied eight floors and the concourse level. The 20-year lease was for of space. The LeBouef deal, signed in 1991, was that year's second largest lease in New York City as of November 24, 1991.

acquired the building in 2008, for $444 million. In 2010, Katz Media Group renewed its lease until 2027, giving Katz more than one-third of the building space, with about . In 2010

MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...

refinanced a portion of the debt of the building. As of 2011 the building was worth $345 million. In 2011 a former deputy of Harry Macklowe, former head of the Macklowe Group, filed a lawsuit against Macklowe, saying that Macklowe did not share the proceeds of the sale of 125 West 55th Street.

Design

Thomas L. Waite of ''

'' said in 1988, before the completion of the building, that the blue glass sheathing around it "may give it a pastoral sheen." Waite said that the design of 125 West 55th Street is similar to that of the Metropolitan Tower.

Tenants

Au Bon Pain Au Bon Pain (, meaning "at (or 'to') the Good Bread") is an American fast casual restaurant, bakery, and café chain headquartered in Richardson, Texas and operates 175 locations in the United States, and Thailand. The company is currently ow ...

has a location at 125 West 55th Street.125 West 55th St.

. Retrieved on March 2, 2011. "125 West 55th St. 125 West 55th St. New York, NY 10022" * Starbucks has a location on the 56th street side of this building, as does Chop't * Estatorio Milos is a seafood restaurant on the ground floor *

Macquarie Group Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia' ...

is housed on the upper floors * iHeartMedia and its subsidiary, Katz Media Group, are housed on floors 3-14 and 21

References

Notes

External links

*
125 West 55th Street
"

Macklowe Properties Harry B. Macklowe (born 1937) is an American real estate developer and investor based in New York City. Early life Macklowe was born to a Jewish family, the son of a garment executive from Westchester County, New York. He graduated from New Roc ...

*
Avenue of the Americas Plaza
"

Emporis Emporis GmbH was a real estate data mining company that was headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. On 12 Sept ...

{{Midtown North, Manhattan Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan Air France–KLM Midtown Manhattan 1990 establishments in New York City Commercial buildings completed in 1990