GM enthusiasts may already be familiar with the automaker’s headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, which is sometimes referred to as “The GM Building” by visitors. But the real “GM Building” happens to be in the New York City.
Located at 767 Fifth Avenue, the 50-story, 705-foot (215 meter) office tower faces Fifth Avenue at 59th street. It’s one of the only structures in Manhattan to occupy a full city block, and offers nearly 1,774,000 rentable square fleet on 84,350 square feet of land. Formerly the site of the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, the building was architected by Edward Durell Stone & Associates in partnership with Emery Roth & Sons; construction started in 1964 and was completed in 1968, and the building originally contained a showroom of GM vehicles on its street-level lobby, which is now occupied by the flagship toy store of FAO Schwarz.
Unfortunately, The General sold the tower for roughly $500 million in 1982 amid financial difficulties, but kept some employees there. Since that time, GM’s presence in the building named after itself has continued to decline, with the structure having become a preferred location of hedge funds and financial firms who pay over $100 per square foot for their spaces. Most recently, the building’s newest most famous tenant became Apple, opening an Apple Store in the retail space of the building’s plaza. Other prominent tenants of the General Motors Building in the NYC include the Estée Lauder Companies, international sports, entertainment & media giant IMG, the hedge fund York Capital Management, the holding company Icahn Enterprises, and the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
Apple Store entrance in front of the GM Building
For its part, General Motors is reported to have seven years remaining on its lease for the three floors it currently utilizes in the building, paying in the vicinity of $95 per square foot. In 2008, the automaker signed a 10-year contract to lease a 135,000 square foot space at 153 E. 53rd Street, between Third and Lexington avenues to relocate its operation.
Ironically, the tower continues to bear the automaker’s name, even though its contractual naming rights for the properly expired in 2010. However, current owner (Boston Properties) continues to call it the GM Building.
Ever visited the “original” GM Building? Tell us about your experience in the comments, below.
Photo Credit: Flickr user micurs.
Comments
Didn’t know that. When it comes to architecture, the Chrysler building in NYC has GM beat.
The Flatiron. 🙂
Didn’t know this either, although I knew the building by name.
Chrysler Building is beautiful indeed, with its Art Deco style.
The “original GM Building” is on West Grand Blvd. in Detroit.
GM had its first assembly plant in New York too in 1914. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Tarrytown_Assembly
Too bad GM’s poor management over the years led them to bankruptcy, losing great properties/presence like this.
Or, it could be having too many factories for the available platforms.
If one platform can spawn 6 different varrations (thus 6 different cars), then GM wouldn’t need 6 seperate factories to build it; they would only need 2. Gone are the days of 1 platform for 1 factory.
Tarrytown was doomed to be needless extra anyway given what flexible platforms mean to the industry as a whole.
I am a born New Yorker (Lower East Side) and I didn’t know this. I plan to visit NYC soon, so I wonder if it still has a showroom (I want to see the Volt), or do I need to see somewhere else.
My Father worked in the GM building in NYC for years. I used to love going in on the weekends with him and looking out the windows over the Central Park Zoo. I have wonderful memories of that building.
This is actually the second GM building in NYC. The original was at Broadway at 57th, now called 3 Columbus Circle. Can’t quite figure out why GM located to NYC. Perhaps because of access to global capital. Many Detroit firms had offices north of the theater district. BF Goodrich and others. Or perhaps it was because Arthur P. Sloan was a metro NYer (raised in Park Slope in Brooklyn) and couldn’t imagine himself moving to the midwest?
I worked for GM 1969/1976.I worked in the mailroom , which was located two floors below the lobby.It was called the sub-basement.I later worked on the 12th floor for GMODC , General Motors Overseas Distributors Corp. In the parts dept.At that time GM had floors 1/26.I remember there was a Russian Co.That leased some space, and also Revlon Cosmetics was a tenant.Revlon had sales for their employees around Christmas and GM Employees were also invited.There was also a pretty good cafeteria with great corn muffins, they were huge, Lol.I have some good memories working there and would love to stop by when in New York to see what it looks like now.