The General Motors Building

New York

Macklowe Properties acquired this 2,000,000 square foot trophy property in September 2003 for a purchase price of $1.4 billion, which represented the largest single-asset real estate transaction in the United States at the time. Macklowe completed a comprehensive $150 million repositioning program to reenergize the GM Building into one of Manhattan’s most recognizable and iconic trophy office buildings.

By redeveloping the Fifth Avenue Plaza to provide for Apple Inc.’s revolutionary belowstreet flagship store design, and extending the Madison Avenue facing storefronts to the street line to create additional space for high end, exclusive retail stores such as Bally’s, Porsche Design and FAO Schwartz, Macklowe has secured long-term, cash flow and added significant value to this property.

As part of its plan to provide the building’s high-end corporate tenants with the luxury surroundings that they demand, Macklowe implemented a comprehensive refurbishment of the building’s lobby and public spaces, thereby restoring the building to its original grandeur. This was accompanied by the implementation of an extremely “hands on” and tenant-service focused building management program,

All of these improvements have contributed to the GM Building’s ability to achieve some of the highest rents in Manhattan, at rates that were previously thought to be unattainable. - MP