1982: Largest mortgage for an office building
Twenty-six years ago this month, Corporate Property Investors granted the General Motors Corporation a $500 million mortgage on the G.M. Building at 767 Fifth Avenue – the largest loan ever placed on an existing office property in the city. In return, G.M. agreed to pay the private real estate company $50 million in interest per year on the loan for 10 years, and gave C.P.I. the option to purchase the building at the end of the loan period, which it did.
The transaction stirred controversy, because while C.P.I. paid $500 million up front for its future purchase of the building, G.M. avoided paying capital gains tax. This prompted unsubstantiated threats of litigation from Mayor Ed Koch.
Crude estimates at the time put the building’s actual value closer to $200 million, according to one New York Times article. The article suggested that the record mortgage had been inflated to compensate for the small interest rate of 10 percent.
The 50-story building broke another record in 2003 when Harry Macklowe purchased it from Donald Trump for $1.4 billion, what was then the highest amount paid for an office building in the United States. Then, in 2006, the 1.9 million-square-foot building tied with 9 West 57th Street for the city’s highest office rents at $175 per square foot, according to the July 2006 edition of The Real Deal.
1951: Oldest building renovated
A special service on St. Paul’s Day, January 25, 1951, commemorated the restoration of St. Paul’s Chapel on Broadway, between Fulton and Vesey streets. The chapel is the oldest building in continuous use in Manhattan and the only remaining pre-Revolutionary church.
The project, completed in 1951, included the repainting of the chapel’s interior with a color scheme of white, blue and gold, restoring the building’s Colonial period appearance, as well as the rebuilding of the chapel’s organ and the restoration of its 14 Waterford crystal chandeliers to their original condition when installed in 1802. Floodlights were also installed to illuminate the church’s spire at night.
Built in 1766, the chapel is part of the Trinity Church parish, an Anglican church formed by a royal charter from William III in 1697.
At the time of its construction, St. Paul’s Chapel sat on the northern border of the city, and was built as a “Chapel of Ease” for parishioners of Trinity Church who lived farther north. What is today the church’s front entrance on Broadway was originally the rear of the structure, as it was built to face the Hudson River. The church was also the site of the Thanksgiving service that followed George Washington’s presidential inauguration in 1789. The chapel and its churchyard were designated landmarks in 1966.
1930: Chrysler honors builders
In January 1930, Walter P. Chrysler, founder and president of the Chrysler Corporation, spoke at a New York Building Congress event to honor those working on the nearly completed Chrysler Building. When it was opened to tenants in May of that year it was the tallest building in the world, standing at 1,046 feet. It retained this distinction for only a few months before being surpassed by the Empire State Building.
The art deco building at 405 Lexington Avenue began as a project by William H. Reynolds, the developer of Dreamland at Coney Island. Then in 1927, Chrysler purchased the entire project, including the architectural plans and preconstruction lease agreements.
Chrysler broke ground on the project in September 1928. The tower was erected at the same time as 40 Wall Street, with which it competed for the title of tallest building.
Chrysler added decorative details to the plans, including stainless steel eagle heads and the signature spire, known as the vertex. The building’s top floors were reserved for the Cloud Club, a private dining hall, and a visitor center that served as an observation room. The tower’s original plans also called for lighting in the vertex to illuminate the exterior, but the feature wasn’t installed until 1981.
The Chrysler Building’s façade and lobby were landmarked in 1978. Tishman Speyer Properties and the Travelers Insurance Group bought the tower in 1998, and in 2001 the German investment group TMW purchased a 75 percent stake in the ownership of the building.