666 Fifth Avenue

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name = 666 Fifth Avenue


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location = 666 Fifth Avenue, New York City
coordinates = coord|40.760163|-73.976204|format=dms
status =
groundbreaking =
constructed = 1957
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demolished =
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roof = convert|483|ft|m|abbr=on
top_floor =
floor_count = 41
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floor_area = convert|1500000|sqft|m2|abbr=on
architect = Carson & Lundin
engineer =
contractor =
developer = Tishman Realty and Construction
owner = Kushner Properties
management =
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666 Fifth Avenue is a 41-story [ [http://www.tishmanspeyer.com/properties/Property.aspx?id=41 Official Tishman description] ] office building on Fifth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets in New York City. It has been described by Calvin Trillin as looking like the box the Chrysler Building came in.

In December 2006, Tishman Speyer Properties along with the German investment firm TMW announced the sale of the building to the Kushner Properties for $1.8 billion, the highest price ever paid for an individual building in Manhattan [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/nyregion/07building.html?ex=1167282000&en=248cf09eb4b49b07&ei=5070A Big Deal, Even in Manhattan: A Tower Goes for $1.8 Billion, New York Times, December 7, 2006] ]

The deal turned heads since the building at convert|483|ft|m|abbr=on is not even on the list of tallest buildings in New York City. However it is considered a trophy building because of its location on Fifth Avenue across from Rockefeller Center.

The Tishman family via Tishman Realty and Construction built the convert|1500000|sqft|m2|sing=on tower in 1957. It was designed by Carson & Lundin and the building was called the Tishman Building. One of its most famous exterior features was the prominent 666 address emblazoned on the top of the building. The other distinctive exterior features are embossed aluminum panels.

The original design included lobby sculptures by Isamu Noguchi including the "Landscape of the Cloud" which consists of sinuously cut thin railings in the ceiling to create a cloud effect. The cloud is also carried into a floor to ceiling waterfall.

For many years the building was open to the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue with a glass enclosed store used for years by Alitalia Airlines. The penthouse was occupied by the Top of the Sixes restaurant.

Tishman Realty dissolved in 1976 and the building was sold for $80 million.

In the late 1990s Japanese firms bought both Rockefeller Center and 666 Fifth. The new owner of 666 Fifth was Sumitomo Realty and Development Company. Among the firm's major changes included replacing The Top of the Sixes restaurant with the Grand Havana Room, which is a cigar bar private club.

Brooks Brothers and National Basketball Association store became the initial ground floor tenants. Polished gray columns were placed in the lobby near the elevators and the changes were made to the subway entrance at the base of the building. The building is on the E and V. The building has also become an attractive location for law firms, hosting the New York offices of Vinson & Elkins, Fulbright & Jaworski, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

The newly reconstituted Tishman Speyer bought the building for $518 million in 2000. At about the same time Tishman also bought Rockefeller Center. Shortly after the purchase Tishman enclosed the atrium and added a third tenant Hickey Freeman. [ [http://www.thecityreview.com/fifth666.html The Midtown Book: The Tishman Building] ] . The enclosure cut off the Fifth Avenue entrance. Access is now via 52nd or 53rd Streets. In 2002 the 666 address in the side of the building was replaced with a Citigroup logo. Citigroup is now the building's largest tenant. [ [http://nreionline.com/news/Top_Price_for_Top_of_the_Sixes/ Top Price for Top of the Sixes - National Real Estate Investor - December 12, 2006] ]

The 2006 sale was third blockbluster deal involving Tishman in two years. In 2005 Tishman bought the MetLife Building for $1.72 billion setting the previous record. A month before the 666 sale, Tishman bought Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.4 billion which was the biggest real estate deal in history in the United States.

References

External links

* [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=tishmanbuilding-newyorkcity-ny-usa Emporis profile of building]