Lipstick building
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Lipstick Building, also known as 885 Third Avenue and 53rd at Third, is a 453-foot (138 meter) tall
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...
at
Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Squ ...
between
53rd Street 53rd Street is a Midtown Manhattan, midtown cross street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, that runs adjacent to buildings such as the Citigroup Center, Citigroup building. It is 1.83 miles (2.94 km) ...
and
54th Street 54th Street is a two-mile-long (3.2 km), one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan. Notable places, west to east Twelfth Avenue *The route begins at Twelfth Avenue (New York Route 9A). Opposite the intersection is the Ne ...
in the
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 Buildi ...
neighborhood of
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 ...
. It was completed in 1986 and has 34 floors. The building was designed by
John Burgee __NOTOC__ John Burgee (born August 28, 1933) is an American architect noted for his contributions to Postmodern architecture. He was a partner of Philip Johnson from 1967 to 1991, creating together the partnership firm Johnson/Burgee Architect ...
and
Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the po ...
for
Hines Interests Hines Interests Limited Partnership is a privately held company that invests in and develops real estate. The company has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,450 properties, comprising over 485 million square feet. The company currently manage ...
and was developer
Gerald D. Hines Gerald Douglas Hines (August 15, 1925August 23, 2020) was an American real estate developer based in Houston. He was the founder and chairman of Hines, a privately held real estate firm with its headquarters in that city. At the time of his d ...
's first project in New York City. The building's nickname is derived from its shape and color, which resembles a tube of
lipstick Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates bac ...
. The building has a nearly elliptical massing, with setbacks above the 19th and 27th stories, as well as a two-story granite penthouse. The structure is actually polygonal; both the base and the setback sections have over a hundred sides. The building stands on a double-height column at the base, and the facade is made of red Imperial
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
and stainless steel. On the northeast side of the building is a nine-story-tall rectangular annex. The building has of rentable space, some of which was built in exchange for improvements to the
Lexington Avenue/51st Street station The Lexington Avenue/51st Street station is a New York City Subway station complex on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IND Queens Boulevard Line. The station is located on Lexington Avenue and stretches from 51st Street to 53rd Street in Midtow ...
. To brace the building against winds from the north, structural engineer Irwin Cantor designed a tube support system and a central core for the building's
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
. Hines Interests bought the site from Citigroup in 1981 and hired Burgee and Johnson to design an elliptical office building for the site. Construction started in May 1984 and the building was completed two years later. In the first several years of the building's history, the office space was generally profitable. Hines sold the building in 2004 to
Tishman Speyer Tishman Speyer Properties is an American company that invests in real estate. History The firm was founded in 1978 by Robert Tishman and Jerry Speyer. In March 1988, the company announced its first project in Europe, the construction of a 70-s ...
, which resold a partial stake to Prudential Real Estate Investors. Metropolitan 885 Third Avenue LLC then acquired the building in 2007 under a complex financing agreement in which the underlying land was sold separately to SL Green. After Metropolitan went bankrupt in 2010, Inversiones y Representaciones Sociedad Anónima and the
Marciano Investment Group Marciano is both a surname and a given name. It originates from Latin ''Marcianus'' or ''Marcian'' (Saint Marcians) or "Martians" or ''Martianus''. Also from the cult of Roman god Mars. Notable people with the name include: Surname: * David Ma ...
assumed ownership. Ceruzzi Properties and SMI USA acquired the land in 2015, and SL Green took over the building in 2021.


Site

The Lipstick Building is at 885 Third Avenue in the
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 Buildi ...
neighborhood of
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 ...
. It takes up the western part of a city block bounded by
Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Squ ...
to the west,
54th Street 54th Street is a two-mile-long (3.2 km), one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan. Notable places, west to east Twelfth Avenue *The route begins at Twelfth Avenue (New York Route 9A). Opposite the intersection is the Ne ...
to the north, Second Avenue to the east, and
53rd Street 53rd Street is a Midtown Manhattan, midtown cross street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, that runs adjacent to buildings such as the Citigroup Center, Citigroup building. It is 1.83 miles (2.94 km) ...
to the south. The "L"-shaped land lot covers with a frontage of on Third Avenue and a depth of . Other nearby buildings include 599 Lexington Avenue to the southwest, the
Citigroup Center The Citigroup Center (formerly Citicorp Center and also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue) is an office skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1977 to house the headquarters of Citibank, it is tal ...
to the west, and
919 Third Avenue 919 Third Avenue is an office building in New York City, New York, USA, built in 1971, and is located at the intersection of Third Avenue and East 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The building is tall with 47 floors, and is tied with four o ...
two blocks north. An entrance to the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
's
Lexington Avenue/51st Street station The Lexington Avenue/51st Street station is a New York City Subway station complex on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IND Queens Boulevard Line. The station is located on Lexington Avenue and stretches from 51st Street to 53rd Street in Midtow ...
(served by the ) is next to the building. The entrance cost the building's developer $7 million and was built to increase the amount of space in the building. Under normal
zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
regulations, the maximum
floor area ratio Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. It is often used as one of the regulations in city planning along with the building-to-land ratio. The ...
(FAR) for any building on the tower's site was 15. The developers received a bonus of 20 percent for improving the subway entrance, bringing the FAR to 18. The entrance consists of a staircase and escalator. There is also a landscaped planter next to the subway entrance, adjacent to the building's curved promenade. Prior to 885 Third Avenue's construction, the site had contained low-rise buildings.
Citicorp Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...
, which occupied 601 Lexington Avenue immediately to the west, bought the site in mid-1980 for $7.2 million. Citicorp had intended to erect a residential building there. Within a year, the bank decided to sell the site due to an increase in real-estate values.


Architecture

The Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue was designed by
Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the po ...
and
John Burgee __NOTOC__ John Burgee (born August 28, 1933) is an American architect noted for his contributions to Postmodern architecture. He was a partner of Philip Johnson from 1967 to 1991, creating together the partnership firm Johnson/Burgee Architect ...
for developer
Gerald D. Hines Gerald Douglas Hines (August 15, 1925August 23, 2020) was an American real estate developer based in Houston. He was the founder and chairman of Hines, a privately held real estate firm with its headquarters in that city. At the time of his d ...
. Structural engineer Irwin Cantor, mechanical engineer
Cosentini Associates Cosentini Associates is an engineering firm that provides consulting engineering services for the building industry. Company history Cosentini Associates was founded in 1952 by William Randolph Cosentini as W.R. Cosentini and Associates. Wil ...
, landscape architects Zion and Breen Associates, and lighting consultant Claude Engle were also involved in the building's development. It is 34 stories tall and measures to its roof. Though the building was officially known as Fifty-third at Third, its unusual
massing Massing is a term in architecture which refers to the perception of the general shape and form as well as size of a building. Massing in architectural theory Massing refers to the structure in three dimensions (form), not just its outline from ...
and the facade's color led to its popular name, the Lipstick Building. It is one of several buildings in New York City that were nicknamed based on their appearance. As of 2020, due to a legal technicality, the building and the underlying land have separate owners, and the land itself is divided into two ownership sections. A plot on Third Avenue, covering about 21 percent of the site, is owned by a limited liability corporation and leased to SL Green, the owner of the rest of the site.


Form and facade

885 Third Avenue has a nearly elliptical massing because, at the time of the building's development, the
New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
was considering rezoning Midtown Manhattan. The massing contrasted with those of older buildings, which were typically designed with rectangular forms. The elliptical shape allows pedestrians on 53rd and 54th Street to cut across the corners, and it permits additional light and air into the building. Burgee said the design created "a memorable landmark along the blandness of Third Avenue", while Johnson said the shape was "appropriate for quirky Third Avenue but not for the more serious
Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...
". Critics compared the building's massing to a tube of lipstick and to a luxury liner. The building is divided vertically into three sections. To comply with zoning laws, the Lipstick Building contains setbacks above the 19th and 27th stories, above which the elliptical massing continues. Although the building appears to be elliptical, the base and both setback sections are actually polygonal, as the outer walls are composed of facets measuring wide. The lowest section contains 180 sides; the midsection above the 19th story has 164 sides; and the top section above the 27th story has 156 sides. There is also a two-story mechanical space atop the roof, which is clad in granite and shaped like an ellipse. The northeastern part of the site contains a rectangular nine-story annex, the base of which contains a restaurant space. At the base, the building is supported by 28 stainless steel and granite columns, each high. The columns protrude in front of the glass-walled lobby. The tops of the columns contain steel bands. Behind the columns is an arcade that wraps around a 300-degree section of the building's perimeter. There are plantings adjacent to the arcade on both 53rd and 54th Streets. The exterior of the building is a continuous wall of red Imperial
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
and stainless steel. The ribbon windows are surrounded by gray frames. There are red
spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
panels between floors, which are framed by strips of stainless steel.


Features

The building has of space. The site could accommodate 500,000 square feet of usable floor area without any zoning bonuses, but
Hines Interests Hines Interests Limited Partnership is a privately held company that invests in and develops real estate. The company has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,450 properties, comprising over 485 million square feet. The company currently manage ...
was allowed to add in exchange for improvements to the adjacent subway entrance. The building's lobby contained floor tiles decorated in a checkerboard pattern, as well as a glass-mosaic ceiling. Part of the lobby was converted into a cafe in 1992. When 885 Third Avenue opened, it had four elevators with marble paneling. Each elevator cab used a different color of marble (green, brown, red, or rose). The elevators are placed on the east (rear) side of the building, allowing the rest of the tower to rise with setbacks. 885 Third Avenue's superstructure is made of reinforced concrete. It includes a tube support system and a central core that tapers at the upper levels. Due to the building's unusual shape and its location on the east side of Third Avenue, winds from the north would cause an extremely large amount of eastward pressure. As a result, structural engineer Irwin Cantor decided to add the central core, which absorbs most of the structural loads. The central core contains the elevators and emergency staircases. Also as a result of the building's unconventional shape, the office space and mechanical equipment had to be adjusted to fit the elliptical form of each story.


History


Development

In January 1981, Gerald Hines bought the site of 885 Third Avenue from Citicorp for $28 million. The land had cost over , a record price for land in Midtown Manhattan. This price did not include the cost of a leasehold in the middle of the block, which was acquired separately. At the time, Hines had developed 273 projects across the United States, but he had never before developed a structure in New York City. According to Hines, "We would like to do something that we're proud of and that the city would look favorably on." The site could be developed with an office building of up to . That April, Burgee and Johnson presented designs for an elliptical building on the site, but construction was not projected to begin for several years, since existing tenants' leases had yet to expire. By August 1981, the details of the project had still not been finalized. Kenneth Hubbard, who led Hines's New York City office, said the elliptical massing was the only certainty in the design. In 1983, Hines Interests announced it would start constructing a 25- to 30-story building the following year, with of space. At the time, a Hines spokesman said to ''The New York Times'': "We have no tenants yet. Do you know any?" Hines Interests paid $1 million to relocate one resident on the site, Paul Brine, who was paying $90.14 a month for an apartment on the site and had refused to relocate. Hines Interests broke ground for the tower in May 1984, even though there still were no tenants; this contrasted with the firm's typical approach, where it signed a major tenant before starting construction. At the time, it was erecting an office building for
EF Hutton EF Hutton was an American stock brokerage firm founded in 1904 by Edward Francis Hutton and his brother, Franklyn Laws Hutton. Later, it was led by well known Wall Street trader Gerald M. Loeb. Under their leadership, EF Hutton became one of ...
at 40 West 53rd Street, and Hines Interests saw the two projects "as a similar commitment". There was still uncertainty over the building's height as the foundation was being built, as Hines Interests and its partner Sterling Equites wanted to increase the building's floor area ratio by 20 percent in exchange for improving the adjacent subway stations. This would allow the developers to add , for a maximum area of . The bonus was ultimately approved. The project architect was Ronnette Riley of Burgee Johnson Architects, who oversaw the building's development. To attract tenants, Hines Interests opened a marketing center on the 31st floor of the nearby
Seagram Building The Seagram Building is a skyscraper at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with minor assistance from Philip Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, ...
, where the firm exhibited scale models of 40 West 53rd Street and 885 Third Avenue. The developers predicted that they could charge for the space. Tenants paid a modified
net lease In the field of commercial real estate, especially in the United States, a net lease requires the tenant to pay, in addition to rent, some or all of the property expenses that normally would be paid by the property owner (known as the "landlord" ...
, but Hines Interests refunded any overpayments for taxes, utility costs, and operating costs.


Hines operation

The building was completed in 1986. 885 Third Avenue received mixed criticism in its early years and was nicknamed the "Lipstick Building" for its unusual shape, but the office space was profitable. About 65 percent of the building's space had been leased to a dozen tenants by mid-1986. Early tenants included a telecommunications center operated by Telecom Plus; First Interstate Bank Limited; ad agency Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopolus; brokerage firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities; and the
Nathan Cummings Foundation The Nathan Cummings Foundation was endowed by Nathan Cummings (1896–1985), founder of Consolidated Foods, later renamed Sara Lee. Cummings was also a prominent art collector and supporter of Jewish causes. In his lifetime, Cummings made c ...
. John Burgee and Philip Johnson relocated their firm's architectural offices to the tower, which Hines officials considered a "strong endorsement". By the end of the year, three-quarters of the building was occupied. Due to declining demand for office space, Hines Interests no longer expected to lease space to a few large tenants. An Italian restaurant named Toscana Ristorante opened on the 54th Street side of the building in 1987, while a cafe opened on the 53rd Street side in 1999. By the early 1990s, Johnson said of the building: "When you say you work in the lipstick building, people know exactly where you are." The Lipstick Cafe opened in the lobby in 1992. The next year, Toscana Ristorante was replaced with a restaurant called Vong, designed by David Rockwell and Jay Haverson. By the early 2000s, the office tenants included law firm
Bingham McCutchen Bingham McCutchen LLP was a global law firm with approximately 850 attorneys in nine US offices and five international offices. It ceased operations in late 2014, when several hundred of its partners and associate lawyers left the firm to join Phi ...
, law firm
Latham & Watkins Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2021, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world ...
, computer company
Unisys Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, e ...
, and financial firm
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
.


2000s

In January 2004, Tishman Speyer signed a contract to purchase the building. By then, landlords in New York City were buying up buildings in anticipation of rising rental rates. Later that year, Hines Interests sold the building to Tishman Speyer for $235 million. Latham & Watkins signed a 15-year lease for over half the building, or , in late 2004 amid growing demand for office space in Midtown Manhattan. TMW Property Funds, a fund managed by Prudential Real Estate Investors, bought a 49 percent interest in the building from Tishman Speyer in mid-2005 for $164 million. The sale valued the building at $335 million. Prudential represented a group of German investors in the transaction. By then, the building was 95 percent occupied. Tishman Speyer decided to place 885 Third Avenue for sale in March 2007. Prudential had wanted to sell the building, and real estate experts predicted the property could be sold for over $500 million. A consortium known as Metropolitan 885 Third Avenue LLC bought the building in July 2007 for $648.5 million, finalizing their purchase the next month. Following the sale, Israeli companies Tao Tsuot and Financial Levers collectively owned a 70 percent stake in the building. The remainder was owned by Metropolitan Real Estate Investments, Marciano Investment Group, and a third investor. The sale included an option for the owners to acquire the underlying land in 2020 or later. As part of the same deal, SL Green acquired a fee interest for 79 percent of the underlying land, as well as a leasehold for the remaining 21 percent of the site, for $317 million. SL Green owned 55 percent of the fee interest and leasehold, while its partner Gramercy Capital Corp. owned the remaining 45 percent. This deal was part of a complicated financing package for the building itself. The building's owners also acquired a $210 million first mortgage loan from the
Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...
(RBC), as well as a $60 million preferred equity loan from
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
. The site acquisition, first mortgage loan, and preferred equity loan amounted to $587 million in financing.
Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...
had offered to finance 90 percent of the building's purchase price but ultimately reneged from the deal. Although the majority of the space was already under long-term lease to Latham & Watkins, the new owners expressed confidence that the remaining space, which was occupied by a variety of small tenants, could be rented out at high rates. About 42 percent of the building's space was to become available for lease through 2013. Metropolitan refinanced the building in July 2008 with a bridge loan from Goldman Sachs. At the time, the building was 97 percent occupied, with only of vacant space available. Around two-thirds of the building was occupied by just one tenant, Latham & Watkins. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, which occupied three stories, folded in 2008 after its chairman Bernie Madoff was found to have operated a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Afterward, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
took over part of Madoff's space while it was investigating charges of fraud against Madoff. Brokers expressed concerns that the building's connection with Madoff would drive away tenants. Rental income at 885 Third Avenue declined in subsequent years, partly as a result of the Madoff scandal, but also because of increased vacancy rates caused by the
financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
. Wolfgang's Steakhouse took over Vong's former space in the building in late 2009.


2010s to present

Metropolitan 885 Third Avenue LLC defaulted on its first mortgage loan in 2010, and RBC sued that June to foreclose on the building. Metropolitan filed for bankruptcy that November. Argentine group Inversiones y Representaciones Sociedad Anónima (IRSA) and the
Marciano Investment Group Marciano is both a surname and a given name. It originates from Latin ''Marcianus'' or ''Marcian'' (Saint Marcians) or "Martians" or ''Martianus''. Also from the cult of Roman god Mars. Notable people with the name include: Surname: * David Ma ...
acquired majority ownership of the building in a deal that valued the building at $395 million. SL Green consolidated its ownership of the underlying land, which was valued at $352 million. Despite the Madoff controversy, the building was still more than 90 percent occupied after IRSA and Marciano's acquisition. Some vacant office space was used for an art show in 2011, and the lobby hosted an exhibition on Philip Johnson's work the next year. A cafe had opened within the building's lobby in 2010; it was replaced in 2014 by the Crimson & Rye restaurant, operated by chef Charlie Palmer. To attract tenants, IRSA and Marciano hired architectural firm
Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965. In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...
to redesign some of the office space. The owners then leased out the space as prebuilt offices, each with a few thousand square feet. Herald Square Properties, the building's managing agent, reported in 2014 that there was demand for full stories within the building. By the next year, the building was 97 percent leased, including all of Madoff's old space. SL Green sold a controlling stake in the ground lease to Ceruzzi Properties and SMI USA for $453 million in October 2015. The sale, which helped fund SL Green's purchase of 11 Madison Avenue, was finalized the next February. Ceruzzi, SMI USA, and SL Green owned 78.9 percent of the site, sharing the remainder with another owner. Ceruzzi leased the land back to IRSA and obtained a $272 million, four-year loan from
Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...
in 2017. The building continued to attract tenants such as hedge fund
Alden Global Capital Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. Its managing director is Heath Freeman. By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers. The company ...
and law firm Noerr. Latham and Watkins announced in 2018 that it would relocate to 1271 Avenue of the Americas, vacating a majority of 885 Third Avenue's office space. Amid a weakening Argentine economy, IRSA and Marciano opted not to exercise their option to buy the land under 885 Third Avenue in 2019. Instead, Ceruzzi placed the land for sale the same year. Due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in 2020, IRSA failed to make payments on the ground-lease loan, which was sent to a
special servicer Loan servicing is the process by which a company (mortgage bank, servicing firm, etc.) collects interest, principal, and escrow payments from a borrower. In the United States, the vast majority of mortgages are backed by the government or governme ...
in June 2020. Further disputes arose when 3 Company LLC, which owned 21 percent of the site, attempted to raise the annual ground rent for its portion of the site fivefold, based on an appraisal conducted before the onset of the pandemic. SL Green filed a lawsuit claiming that the parcel had not been properly appraised. Ceruzzi narrowly avoided defaulting on the loan, which SL Green acquired in March 2021. Later that year, SL Green announced on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that it would renovate the lobby; the firm had begun leasing out space in the building by early 2022.


Impact

''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' cited 885 Third Avenue as an example of Johnson's "tangential approach", referencing an interview for
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
's ''
American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the ...
'' television series in 1986, in which Johnson described his approach to architecture: "Sometimes you have to be tangent to the world or you'll go crazy."
Vincent Scully Vincent Joseph Scully Jr. (August 21, 1920 – November 30, 2017) was an American art historian who was a Sterling Professor of the History of Art in Architecture at Yale University, and the author of several books on the subject. Architect Phil ...
wrote for ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
'' that the building was "whirly Houston type", either honoring the Southwest or referencing Third Avenue's reputation as a "frontier street". ''The New York Times'' compared the lobby of the nearby
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 ...
, redesigned in the late 1990s, to the design of 885 Third Avenue. The ''
New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' wrote in 2012 that the building "isn't just an intriguing structure; it's a perfect example of modernist architecture". Conversely, Carter Wiseman described the building as "campy absurd" in an ''
American Heritage American Heritage may refer to: * ''American Heritage'' (magazine) * ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' * American Heritage Rivers * American Heritage School (disambiguation) See also *National Register of Historic Place ...
'' article in which he criticized Johnson as the "most overrated architect". Michael Sorkin criticized the design, saying: "At the level of shape, the building is just fine, a good shape and distinct. But the project loses it in the details." Eric Nash wrote in 2005 that "discontinuity is emphasized at every level", from the columns at the base to the interior layout of the building.


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * *


External links

* * * {{Midtown East, Manhattan 1986 establishments in New York City John Burgee buildings Midtown Manhattan Office buildings completed in 1986 Philip Johnson buildings Postmodern architecture in New York City Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan Third Avenue