Chrysler Building to get its crown polished after being sold
The distinctive Manhattan skyescraper will undergo a major renovation and provide a new supply of offices.
Chrysler Building to get its crown polished after being sold
The Chrysler Building, one of the most recognizable towers on Manhattan’s skyline, is set for a major renovation as part of a multi-million-dollar sale agreement.
Opened in New York nearly 100 years ago, the skyscraper will have its Art Deco crown polished and restored in a refurbishment that will also include work on the building’s 77-storey façade.
Developer Tishman Speyer has assumed the lease from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a private college.
Tishman Speyer and its partners will put $235m (£178m) into the project, which will also upgrade the 61st floor, home to large eagle gargoyles and an "upscale" lounge.
The developer plans to use most of the building, which is near Grand Central railway station, as office space. It is adopting what it describes as a "prebuild approach" that will let firms move into their new premises quickly.
Tishman Speyer said the area "has one of the lowest office availability rates in Manhattan", adding: "Construction of new office supply in the neighbourhood has been virtually nonexistent for decades."
The renovation will also cover interior work, including upgrades to the building’s mechanical, elevator, electrical and air handling systems.
At 1,046ft (319m), the Chrysler Building was once the world’s tallest building - until it was overtaken less than a year later by the nearby Empire State Building.
Funded by Walter Chrysler, the motor magnate, construction on the skyscraper began in 1928 and was finished two years later.
Architect William Van Alen based the eagle gargoyles on hood ornaments from the 1929 Chrysler car.
The Cooper Union college, whose alumni include inventor Thomas Edison, has owned the land beneath the Chrysler Building since 1902.
The land was left to it by the children of Peter Cooper, a manufacturer and industrialist who founded the college in 1859.
Under the deal, Tishman Speyer will make ground lease payments to Cooper Union, which the college wants to use to fund "a bold plan to restore full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduates".
Cooper Union president Steven McLaughlin said: "The significance of this agreement is ultimately about what it makes possible for generations of Cooper Union students."