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  #1  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2010, 2:09 AM
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Smile NEW YORK | Sony Tower | 648 ft. / 197.5 M | 37 FLOORS | 1984

The Sony Tower ,formerly AT&T Headquarters, is located in the Plaza district along with 590 Madison Avenue and Trump Tower. Sony Tower was designed by the infamous Philip Johnson.



Photographed by Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation, LINK
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  #2  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2010, 9:48 AM
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The lobby here is also open to the public. It houses a food court, a Sony Style store and Sony Wonder Technology lab.
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  #3  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 1:04 AM
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I never really cared for this building. To me, it is midtown's 60 Wall Street.
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  #4  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 2:37 AM
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I love most of Philip Johnson's work, and this is no exception.
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  #5  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 2:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Guiltyspark View Post
I never really cared for this building. To me, it is midtown's 60 Wall Street.
Both are very ugly buildings.
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  #6  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 5:16 AM
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Sony is actually selling this building now, I think. There was something about it in the news the other day.
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  #7  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 5:24 AM
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Not a huge fan of the Post, but here's a story about the sale (Thanks Onn!):

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...#ixzz1xfdHV6MP

Quote:
SONY MULLS POSSIBLE OPTIONS, INCLUDING SALE OF HQ
By Claire Atkinson and Lois Weiss

Sony Corp., struggling to rebound from a record loss, is weighing options for its iconic Midtown skyscraper, including a potential sale, The Post has learned.

The Japanese electronics giant recently held talks with private-equity firm Blackstone Group about a potential real-estate transaction involving 550 Madison Ave., sources said.

While those talks ended without a deal, Sony is said to be considering all options for the 37-story tower that houses its US headquarters. Those include consolidating in less space and leasing the remainder, selling the building and then leasing back a portion, or selling it outright and moving to another location, sources said.

Sony executives did a walk-through at a 479,008-square-feet space in the Blackstone-owned former New York Times building in Times Square, according to sources. Blackstone’s real estate agents at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank have previously said the refurbished space could include naming rights. There are also 25,000 square feet of roof decks and terraces on six floors.

The owners are hoping to make the former Times building a hub for media and tech companies.

In addition to Sony, Microsoft and Viacom have also toured the space. One source close to Sony said the company had toured the Times Square building as a possible location for housing some staff but had already taken a pass on it.

The Sony Building, formerly the AT&T Building, is worth between $700 million and $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the structure.

“It’s a big asset on their balance sheet,” said one real-estate executive who declined to be identified.

One of the most noticeable skyscrapers in the city, the building, designed by noted architect Philip Johnson, is renowned for its trademark top, which has been likened to a Chippendale highboy.
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Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 7:50 AM
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Both are very ugly buildings.
How are they ugly?
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  #9  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 11:57 AM
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I like this building. Nothing great but much better than any glass/concrete box.

However i am pretty pissed this building removed the statue on top of the OLD AT&T building.

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Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 12:17 PM
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I think it's a great looking building. So distinctive and an nice alternate design at the top. Simple, and yet effective in making a break from the norm.
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  #11  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 10:40 PM
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How are they ugly?
I personally hate such cheap attempts at neo-art deco or whatever. They are incredibly tacky and look like something from China.

The Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis is a great example of how neo-art deco is done right, and it is one of the best buildings in the world. This tower, the one in downtown, and even the WFC, however cannot convey the beauty of the classical buildings around them.

I much prefer the modernist era from the 60s to 80s than the postmodernist era following it.
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Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 11:42 PM
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I agree that it look kinda cheap, but it's simple. Postmodernism has always been about simplifying the past architecture to make buildings more economically feasible while still having some design. At least it isn't, as DrNest put it, another glass box. They seem to be the only buildings getting built these days.
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  #13  
Old Posted Sep 26, 2012, 8:36 PM
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I like glass boxes far better than these. Probably because I'm a minimalist.
When I stayed in the USA I noticed there was quite a lot of ugly 30 story postmodernism lying around.
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Old Posted Sep 30, 2012, 11:44 PM
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I just don't like skyscrapers that look like furniture. I like skyscrapers that look like skyscrapers. But That is just me.
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  #15  
Old Posted Oct 1, 2012, 12:07 AM
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Always been a fan of this building - a hidden gem.
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  #16  
Old Posted Oct 1, 2012, 2:53 AM
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I think the problem people have with it is its girth and crown. BUT from street view it looks exquisitely nice, from street view I can't tell the difference between this and a prewar building.
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  #17  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2012, 3:23 AM
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http://news.yahoo.com/first-round-bi...--finance.html

First-round bids for NYC's Sony Tower due on Monday


By Ilaina Jonas
Dec 10, 2012

Quote:
First-round bids for Sony Corp's U.S. headquarters were due on Monday, in one of the most watched sales of a Manhattan office building this year.

The 37-story, 800,000 square-foot Sony Tower is expected to fetch between $800 to $1,000 a square foot, according to two real estate sources, who asked not be named because the bidding process is ongoing.

Sony is expected to move out of the building over the next three years, leaving the new owner to find tenants.

The tower at Madison Avenue between 55th and 56th streets was built as the headquarters of what was then the world's biggest corporation, telephone company AT&T Corp. The building was completed in 1984.

Sony bought the building in 1992. Twenty years later, the Japanese company's market value has declined and last month ratings agency Fitch its debt to "junk" status, which could push up its borrowing costs and make asset sales more attractive.
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  #18  
Old Posted Dec 25, 2012, 12:50 AM
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/ny...ture.html?_r=0

Future of Corporate Tower May Hinge on a New Use




By CHARLES V. BAGLI
December 24, 2012


Quote:
The AT&T Building, a lavish $200 million headquarters with a seven-story arch at 550 Madison Avenue, was a symbol of a resurgent New York when it opened in 1983 after a decade of municipal woes and corporate flight. The 37-story rose-granite tower, now known as the Sony Building, is on the auction block for as much as $1 billion. About 20 prospective buyers submitted bids last week, hoping to turn the building into condominiums, a luxury hotel, a chic retail arcade or maybe even office space for small, high-end firms. But not a corporate headquarters.

The potential evolution says a lot about a city and a neighborhood where Calvin Klein, Armani, Hermès, Dior and Gucci are paying some of the world’s highest retail rents. On 57th Street, developers of two projects are vying to build North America’s tallest, most gilded residential tower, with condos selling to princes and billionaires for tens of millions of dollars each. The Sony Building between 55th and 56th Streets, with its wood-paneled board rooms and sweeping white marble staircase, may be more suited today for tenants like hedge funds, which do not flinch at rents above $120 a square foot.

“This building has the right height and the right location to be a success,” said Mitchell Moss, an urban planner at New York University. “The only question is, what goes inside the building? The underlying appeal of that neighborhood has gotten so strong that it’s too expensive for a corporate headquarters.”

Developers turning in their first-round bids included Vornado Realty Trust, Boston Properties, Mitsubishi Trust, Mitsui Fudosan and RXR Realty, according to prospective buyers and to real estate executives. Others bidding were Steven C. Witkoff, Harry B. Macklowe and Edward J. Minskoff, they said.

When the building was under construction in 1981, New York City was struggling to stave off an economic malaise, the loss of industrial jobs, and long-term decay. AT&T’s headquarters, like the IBM Building under construction a block away and Trump Tower around the corner on Fifth Avenue, offered signs of a renaissance.

But AT&T, which was in the midst of divesting itself of all the regional telephone operating companies, soon leased nearly half of the tower to Sony. The Japanese company eventually bought the building in 2002 for $236 million. Sony is not the dominant force in consumer electronics that it once was. Last April, the company said it would cut 10,000 jobs. Soon, it put the tower up for sale.

Sony’s real estate broker, Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured, gave prospective buyers a 216-page confidential offering memorandum entitled, “The Icon at 550 Madison Avenue.” Sony plans to remain in the building for three years, before moving to a new location. Many buyers said the Sony Building, now 30, will have to be gutted, which would cost tens of millions of dollars. They are considering a mix of uses, including hotels and high-end shops.

Mr. Witkoff confirmed that he had submitted a bid, with plans to convert the top of the tower to condominiums. “There’s no way that you can make sense out of this deal if it’s office space,” he said. “In my opinion, the only way it works is if the top goes residential. You’ll get the highest numbers from condominiums.”
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Old Posted Dec 25, 2012, 3:00 PM
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I suppose such a transformation would make sense considering where the money is right now for these developers, yet I'm still somewhat surprised - this tower is not that old. The fate this tower may face could be very telling of the fate of many of these 30-60 year old office towers throughout the city.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 7:25 PM
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The price tag has hit $1.1 billion.


http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/n...1-billion.html
Quote:
Jan 18, 2013, 9:45am EST
$770 million gain on HQ sale
Sony makes good TVs, and you might want it to be your real estate advisor, too

Sony Corp will sell the 37-story Manhattan tower that houses its US headquarters to Chetrit Group at a price about four times what the company paid for it in 2002, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg reported that the $1.1 billion price tag will net Sony about $770 million, and that the move is just one of many cost-cutting actions the company has taken since reporting a record loss almost a year ago.
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