50 United Nations Plaza is a high-rise residential building in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The 44-story tower was designed by the architectural firm

Foster and Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide ...

, making it the first residential building in the United States designed by Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank. It includes 87 apartments.

History

The vacant lot was acquired by Zeckendorf Development for US$160 million in 2007. On November 14, 2012, Zeckendorf family announced the beginning of construction, alongside Israeli billionaire investor

Eyal Ofer Eyal Ofer (born 1950) is an Israeli billionaire real estate and shipping magnate, and a philanthropist. He is the chairman of Ofer Global, Zodiac Group and Global Holdings. Biography Eyal Ofer was born in 1950 in Haifa, Israel.Karmin, CraigDevel ...

as a partner.

Tenants

The government of

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

acquired four apartments in April 2015. By July 2015, the penthouse, which has an outdoors swimming-pool, was listed on the real estate market for US$70 million. After previously leasing a penthouse at the

Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...

hotel for its

Ambassador to the United Nations A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nati ...

, the United States government relocated the ambassadorial residence to 50 United Nations Plaza. The United States initially rented a 40th floor penthouse apartment, but later purchased a different penthouse on the 37th floor. Nikki Haley was the first ambassador to reside in the 40th floor penthouse, which rented at $58,000 per month. The 37th floor five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath penthouse was purchased in May 2019 for $15.85 million. On March 15, 2019 the British Government acquired a penthouse in 50 United Nations Plaza, for their trade commissioner for North America and consul general in New York, Antony Phillipson, for $16m.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:50 United Nations Plaza Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Manhattan Residential buildings completed in 2015 Foster and Partners buildings Residential skyscrapers in Manhattan