299 Park Avenue

299 Park Avenue
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Commercial/Office
Location	299 Park Avenue Manhattan, NY 10171 USA
Coordinates	40°45′22″N 73°58′28″W / 40.756173°N 73.974493°W / 40.756173; -73.974493Coordinates: 40°45′22″N 73°58′28″W / 40.756173°N 73.974493°W / 40.756173; -73.974493
Construction started	1965
Opening	1967
Owner	Fisher Brothers (50.5%), Rockpoint Investments (49.5%)
Height
Roof	175 m (574 ft)[1]
Technical details
Floor count	42[1]
Design and construction
Architect	Emery Roth & Sons
Developer	Fisher Brothers

299 Park Avenue is an office building in New York City located on Park Avenue between 48th and 49th streets. The building is home to the New York headquarters of UBS Investment Bank which occupies approximately two-thirds of the floors.^[2]

History

Entrance to UBS Investment Bank's New York offices at 299 Park Avenue

The building, which was designed by Emery Roth & Sons, was opened in 1967 and stands 42 stories tall and approximately 175 m (574 ft). 299 Park is a large black skyscraper with alternating shiny and matte thin stainless steel mullions emphasizing its height. The building contains approximately 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m²) of space.^[3]

The building was constructed on the location of the original Park Lane Hotel.^[4] The building was originally constructed over the primary rail tracks for Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, which made the building's construction and engineering highly complicated. The foundation of the building was constructed through "ladder tracks", two layers of railroad tracks, not in platform position. The construction was completed without interfering with the operation of the railroad. In 1980 and then again in 1981, the building suffered damage from large fires—the 1980 fire caused injuries to 125 firefighters.^[5]

For much of its history, the building was commonly referred to as the Westvaco Building and was the headquarters of Westvaco. Today, the company's successor, MeadWestvaco, continues to use the building as a regional office. The building was also the home of law firm Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates^[5] prior to leaving the building in 1983.^[6]

Since its construction, 299 Park has majority owned and controlled by Fisher Brothers, a real estate investment group, that developed the site in the 1960s.^[7] Fisher Brothers occupies the top two floors of the building for its headquarters. Prior to the financial crisis of 2008, UBS had owned a 49.5% interest in the building. The bank began an auction for its minority interest in the building in 2009 and sold its interest for $335 million in early 2010, implying a total valuation of just over $675 million. The buyer was Rockpoint Investments, a real estate investment firm.^[3][8] UBS also sublet a portion of its space in the building in 2009.^[9]

Tenants

• American Securities
• Cerberus Capital Management
• Consulate-General of Japan in New York
• FBR Capital Markets
• Freeman Spogli & Co.
• Leerink Partners
• GE Capital
• MeadWestvaco
• National Bank of Kuwait - New York Branch
• Sagent Advisors
• Hycroft

References