P l a n N Y C | Planning Information Portal

One Madison Ave Clocktower

Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding LLC have entered into joint venture arrangement with SL Green Realty Corporation to convert the 700-foot-high Metropolitan Life office tower at One Madison Avenue to either residential condominiums or a high-end hotel. Schrager recently described the project as “very high-end hotel, more like a private club.” While the interior is to be gutted, the exterior of the north tower, familiar to many because of its huge clock and its cupola of Italian gold leaf, cannot be altered because of its designation as a national landmark.

One Madison Avenue occupies the southeast corner at 24th Street and is part of a full-block property that SL Green acquired last year from MetLife for $918 million. The remainder of the block is a 14-story office building. SL Green will retain ownership of the 1.2 million square foot south annex which is leased through 2020 to Credit Suisse First Boston. CSFB will have a 50% ownership stake in whatever SL Green eventually decides to develop. The right to participate with SL Green in the building's development opportunities was awarded to CSFB at no charge, but the bank will have to vacate its offices within the clock tower to allow that portion of the building to be converted into residential condos. Although SL Green has no intention of converting the south Annex into apartments, the deal includes air rights over the south building that should enable it to build another tower, next to the 96-year-old north tower, that would house an additional 470,000 square feet of apartments. The landmarking of the adjacent tower would not prevent the use of these air rights.