Archinect - News

The Chrysler Building sells for a mere $150 million

2019-03-11T17:35:00-04:00

Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding is purchasing the Chrysler Building, one of the world’s most recognizable skyscrapers [...] One source with knowledge of the talks said that sale price was higher “but not much higher” than the bids in the $100 million-range [...] The price is several notches lower than the $800 million the Abu Dhabi fund paid Tishman Speyer for a 90-percent stake in the tower in 2008.

When the Chrysler Building, arguably one of New York City's most beloved architectural landmarks, came up for sale again earlier this year, speculations emerged what the value of such an iconic, yet aging, real estate trophy would be.

The WSJ now confirmed that the 1930s Art Deco skyscraper changed hands "for a little more than $150 million"—a tremendous loss from the $800 million the tower's last owners, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, paid for a 90-percent stake back in 2008.

Amazon likely to move into the Chrysler Building

2019-01-15T13:30:00-05:00

Amazon could be a new tenant in the Chrysler Building, already increasing its upcoming presence in New York. The tech giant, which is bringing half of its second headquarters to Long Island City, is close to signing a lease for about 10,000 square feet in the famed property, according to the New York Post. The building’s owners, Tishman Speyer and Abu Dhabi Investment Council, are putting the landmark tower at Lexington Avenue and East 42nd Street up for sale.

The intention of the Chrysler Building owners to sell the iconic property at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue made headlines last week. Securing a commercially attractive retail tenant, such as Amazon, would certainly improve the aging skyscraper's market value.

The Chrysler Building is up for sale, but what is its real value?

2019-01-11T13:40:00-05:00

Abu Dhabi, the Persian Gulf Emirate that’s the Chrysler Building’s majority owner, is considering a sale of the 77-story tower after about a decade of ownership, people with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. Abu Dhabi Investment Council, the government’s sovereign wealth fund, paid $800 million for a 90 percent stake in 2008.

Roughly ten years after changing ownership to an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, the iconic Chrysler Building is back on the market again. But what is a trophy worth?, asks Bloomberg.

Gorgeous automobile-inspired facade details, symbols of a bygone industrial era. Image via Wikipedia.

Strictly going by cold, hard math, the 1.2 million-square-foot Art Deco property, which for a brief moment in the 1930s was the world's tallest building, could be valued at up to $1.8 billion (and that is without the land underneath the tower which is owned by the Cooper Union school and leased for a whopping $32.5 million annually). And the sentimental value could add a special trophy premium that not all buildings in New York City get to enjoy.

The cost to maintain the aging skyscraper and to bring its amenities and infrastructure up to competitive standards that could attract technology-reliant tenants however pulls the realistic asking price further down again.

NYC's 10 largest property owners controlling the city landscape

2018-09-17T14:53:00-04:00

Earlier this month, The Real Deal put out a monster analysis looking at the biggest property owners across the city based on square footage, along with their annual net operating income. Their thorough analysis is definitely worth a read, but right here we’re going to give you a breakdown of the top 10 biggest property owners in the city, and some of the projects you might recognize them for.

Curbed New York has put together a list of the top real estate players in NYC along with some of their notable projects in the city. Below are the top 10 property owners controlling NYC's built environment:

1. The City of New York
2. Vornado Realty Trust
3. SL Green Realty
4. Tishman Speyer
5. Blackstone Group
6. Related Companies
7. Columbia University
8. Brookfield Property Partners
9. RXR Realty
10. New York University

London’s Walkie Talkie Tower, previously titled "UK's worst building of the year", sells for a record $1.7 billion

2017-07-27T12:46:00-04:00

The price, a record for a single U.K. office property, is remarkable given that the building will face ongoing maintenance costs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Tim Leckie wrote in a client note. LKK, which sells Chinese herbal medicines, paid a 13 percent premium to book value for the property even as Land Securities’s shares trade at a 26 percent discount, he said.

Land Securities Group Plc and Canary Wharf Group Plc agreed to sell the Rafael Viñoly-designed Walkie Talkie for 1.28 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) to Hong Kong-based LKK Health Products Group, founded in 1992 by the Lee Kum Kee family, whose primary business sells a variety of condiments.

Asian investors have poured into London’s office market in the year since the Brexit vote, capitalizing on the weak pound to buy towers for record-high prices. Hong Kong real estate developer C C Land Holdings paid 1.15 billion pounds for the Cheesegrater tower in May.

In China, 70% of millenials own property

2017-04-06T17:44:00-04:00

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably read some think piece about how millenials aren’t buying homes. Sometimes this is construed as a cultural thing, but it probably has more to due with coming of age during and after the Great Recession.

In any case, according to a BBC article, that’s not universally the case. In China, 70% of millennials own their own home and 91% plan to buy one in the next five years. Meanwhile, in Mexico, 46% of millennials own property and, in France, 41% do. The US edges out the UK and the UAE for the fourth spot, with 35% owning property.

Could property ownership be automated?

2016-10-17T13:25:00-04:00

What’s extraordinary about a smart contract is that it gives blockchain the power to not only record property rights but enforce them. Once deployed, a dozen lines of computer code can fulfill the same role as the county records office, the courts and the police. You can have “the function of a trusted bureaucracy without the expense of putting together a trusted bureaucracy”, Waldman explains.

The homeowner posts a price for the rental. The renter sends the money through her smartphone. Inside the front door is a very small computer connected to the internet. The computer knows when the renter is allowed to enter and unlocks the door for her when she pushes a button on her phone.

Smart contracts run on blockchain ledgers, the same technology that enables Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For more on the possible spatial ramifications of this technology, check out some past Archinect coverage:

Google acquires LinkedIn's HQ in huge, unexpected property swap

2016-07-13T18:13:00-04:00

[Google and LinkedIn] announced a large, surprising property swap encompassing over three million square feet of existing and future real estate... From Google, LinkedIn is picking up seven buildings...In return, Google is getting LinkedIn’s Mountain View headquarters office and...four different surrounding properties that enable Google to follow through on its ambitious plan for a new, green, crazy-futurist campus.

Following an unsuccessful bid last year, this is good news for Google as they continue to push toward making their dream campus a reality. Unleash the “crabots”.

Previously on Archinect:

California homeowners tend to renovate rather than relocate – here's why

2016-05-06T15:23:00-04:00

California may be a capital of cosmetic surgery, but it’s not just noses and eyelids falling under the knife. A hot housing market is driving buyers to pay exorbitant sums for old, frumpy houses, knowing they’ll pay plenty more to remake them to modern tastes. Others currently own dowdy houses and choose to renovate rather than relocate.

"While the dynamic is playing out in a number of U.S. cities, California’s plight is particularly intense because of Proposition 13, a 1978 amendment to the state constitution. It set property taxes based on 1975 assessments and capped future property-tax increases at 2% a year."

The issue with this, according to the Wall Street Journal, is that when a home is sold in the state, taxes increase because the property is reassessed to its new sale price. This incentivizes homeowners to renovate instead of move, thereby keeping the amount of home listings low and prices high.

More news from the Golden State:

Foster + Partners' get the go-ahead on controversial Whiteleys renovation

2016-04-01T04:31:00-04:00

Foster + Partners’ plans for the overhaul of London’s Grade II-listed Whiteleys shopping centre have got the go-ahead – despite opposition from locals. Westminster City Council approved the contentious scheme last night, but will now look into setting conditions concerning the scale of two residential towers that form part of the proposal, alongside a gym, hotel, cinema and new shops.

For more on listed projects, take a look at previous coverage here: