The 20-storey tower at 529 Fifth Avenue stands out from the other buildings around Grand Central Station for the surreal pink designs of an Alice in Wonderland-inspired art exhibit installed to fill vacant retail space on its ground floor.
It is also remarkable as one among a small number of towers that have recently changed hands, giving a clue as to the value of Manhattan’s older offices now that the commercial real estate sector has emerged from a historic era of ultra-cheap money.
Silverstein Properties sold the building three months ago for $105mn. In price per-square-foot terms, that was even less than a plot of land across the street commanded in 2015.