299 Park Avenue facts for kids

Quick facts for kids 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; -73.974493
Construction started	1965
Opening	1967
Owner	Fisher Brothers (50.5%) Rockpoint Investments (49.5%)
Height
Roof	175 m (574 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	42
Design and construction
Architect	Emery Roth & Sons
Developer	Fisher Brothers

299 Park Avenue is a tall office building in New York City. It is located on Park Avenue in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan. The building stands between 48th and 49th streets.

Building History

The entrance to UBS Investment Bank's New York offices at 299 Park Avenue.

A famous architecture firm, Emery Roth & Sons, designed this building. It opened in 1967. The building has 42 floors and is about 175 meters (574 feet) tall. 299 Park Avenue is a black skyscraper. It has shiny and matte metal strips (called mullions) that make it look even taller. Inside, there is about 1.2 million square feet (111,484 square meters) of space.

The building was built where the old Park Lane Hotel used to be. Building it was very complex because it stands over the main train tracks for the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line. The foundation was built around two layers of railroad tracks. The construction team managed to finish the building without stopping the trains.

In 1980 and 1981, the building had large fires. The 1980 fire caused injuries to 125 firefighters.

For many years, people called the building the Westvaco Building. It was the main office for a company called Westvaco. Today, Westvaco's successor company still uses the building for a regional office. A law firm, Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates, also had offices here before moving in 1983.

Ownership and Changes

Since it was built, the Fisher Brothers company has owned most of 299 Park Avenue. They are a real estate investment group that built the site in the 1960s. Fisher Brothers uses the top two floors of the building for their own main office.

Before the financial crisis of 2008, a bank called UBS owned almost half of the building (49.5%). In 2009, UBS decided to sell its share. They sold it for $335 million in early 2010. This sale suggested the whole building was worth over $675 million. The buyer was Rockpoint Investments, another real estate company. UBS also rented out some of its space in the building in 2009.

Companies in the Building

Many different companies have offices at 299 Park Avenue. Some of the well-known tenants include:

• American Securities
• Capital One
• Carlyle Group
• Cerberus Capital Management
• FBR Capital Markets
• Freeman Spogli & Co.
• GE Capital
• Gener8 Maritime
• Leerink Partners
• Sagent Advisors
• UBS Wealth Management
• Traxys North America

See also

In Spanish: 299 Park Avenue para niños