650 Fifth Avenue facts for kids

Quick facts for kids 650 Fifth Avenue
General information
Status	Complete
Location	650 Fifth Avenue
Height	490 feet (150 m)
Technical details
Floor count	36

650 Fifth Avenue is a tall building in New York City, located near Rockefeller Center on 52nd Street. It has 36 floors and stands about 150 meters (490 feet) high. It was once known as the Piaget Building and the Pahlavi Foundation Building.

The building was designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates. It was built for the Pahlavi Foundation. This was a group run by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to support good causes for Iran in the U.S. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the new government of Iran wanted to control the Shah's property. The Pahlavi Foundation was then renamed the Alavi Foundation.

Over the years, many different companies and people rented offices in 650 Fifth Avenue. This included Ivan F. Boesky, a well-known Wall Street trader, and Marc Rich, a very rich oil trader who changed how oil was bought and sold around the world. The Alavi Foundation itself has its main office on the 24th floor of the building.

Who Owns 650 Fifth Avenue?

In December 2008, the U.S. government began looking into the ownership of 650 Fifth Avenue. They believed that Bank Melli, a bank from Iran, secretly owned 40 percent of the building. This would go against special rules called sanctions that limit business with Iran. The other 60 percent of the building was owned by the Alavi Foundation.

Bank Melli had helped pay for the building in 1978 with a large loan. The U.S. government said that the Alavi Foundation later gave 35 percent of the building to a company called Assa Company Limited. This company seemed to be independent but was actually controlled by Bank Melli. This made it a "shell company," which is a company that looks like a normal business but is really just a front for another group.

In 2012, the building's owners hired a company called CBRE Group. They spent $11 million to update the building's lobby and elevators. This was done to make it seem like Iran was no longer connected to the building.

In September 2013, a judge named Katherine B. Forrest made an important decision. She ruled that Assa Company Limited was indeed a front for Bank Melli, and therefore for the government of Iran. This meant that the Alavi Foundation should lose its ownership of the property. The Alavi Foundation said they would try to appeal this decision.

In June 2017, U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim announced that the United States was ready to take control of the skyscraper. This happened after a jury decided that the rules about Iran had indeed been broken. The building was estimated to be worth between $500 million and $1 billion.

Images for kids

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  The 650 Fifth Avenue building in New York City.

See also

In Spanish: 650 Fifth Avenue para niños