430 Park Ave. a cinderella story

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 5, 2001 by Parke Chapman

A Park Avenue office building will get renovated this fall in an effort to transform it into a Class A trophy.

430 Park Avenue--presently a distressed, class "B" office building--is the glass box office building located between 55th and 56th streets. The 80-year-old building's mechanical and electrical systems will be upgraded, it's retail level will be consolidated and the exterior of the building will be dramatically changed. The renovation is expected to be done by March 2002. Mercedes-Benz has leased the entire ground floor retail space, and plans to convert the southern half into an exotic car museum. The building consists of uniform 16,400 SF floorplates, with the exception of the penthouse that has only 14,500 SF.

This isn't the first time that 430 Park Avenue has seen extensive work. Back in 1953, the building was converted from a residential hotel into office space. And in 1955, an automobile showroom was built on the north side by renowed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

"This is the third incarnation of 430 Park," said broker John Isaacs, a senior director of Cushman & Wakefield. "From soup to nuts, this renovation will make this building the most technologically advanced building on Park Avenue.

According to Isaacs, the 19-story, 277,00-SF property is empty. The Bank of Montreal net-leased the building for the past 25 years, but the lease expired in June. The building will see no commercial rent for 12 months beginning October. This freed the building's owner, a partnership between Ostreicher Realty and Midwood Management, to proceed with this redevelopment.

A local builder, HRH Construction, will manage the project. As such, they will add new glazing on the avenue side along with a green-tinted glass curtain wall system over the north and south street sides. The building will also get a modernized elevator system, separate air conditioning systems on every floor and upgraded telecommunications equipment.

"With the new facades, new systems, and new commercial and retail spaces, we axe in essence managing the creation of a new, Class 'A' building," said Brad Singer, president of HRH.

Since the building began as residential space, the service core is centrally located, thus providing open floor plans and windows on all four sides. Ceiling heights range from 12 feet on most floors to more than 16 feet on the 18th floor. These are high ceilings by commercial standards. The architecture firm that will work with HRH is Moed de Armas & Shannon, which has done similar work at 540 Madison Ave., 245 Park Ave., and 300 Park Ave.

"430 Park Ave. is a fabulous opportunity for us. The greatest challenge for us will be to reengineer the curtain wall," said Dan Shannon, a partner at the architectural firm.

The "glass curtain" that Shannon mentioned is a 4-inch-think layer of insulated glass that will cover the north and south sides of the building. All of the glass in the building will also be replaced.

The Boston Consulting Group has already signed a lease for the top five floors and the penthouse. Another firm, Stanfield Capital Partners, has leased out the 11th floor. The remainder of the building has not yet been leased.

"These are very small floors, so it's doubtful that any major financial services firms will want to be here," said Peter Pattison, a real estate consultant.

Despite the limited floorplates, Pattison praised the address as ideal for luring smaller, boutique-sized firms.