International TOBY Award is won by 1251 Avenue of the Americas.

New York City's 1251 Avenue of the Americas has been selected as "The Office Building of the Year" (TOBY) by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International in the Renovated Building category.

The 54-story office tower owned by Mitsui Fudosan  (New York), Inc. received both the BOMA New York and BOMA Regional awards before advancing to the BOMA International competition. 1251 was the only New York building to win in the Inter national competition this year. The Awards were announced on June 25th at the Building Owners and Managers Association International Convention and The Office Building Show held in Philadelphia, PA.

"Winning the International competition is a major achievement," said Gregory J. Sutherland, senior vice president of Mitsui Fudosan and the prime mover behind the building's renovation and re-leasing effort. "Receiving this prestigious award tells us that our efforts to set a new standard in transforming a classic 20th Century institutional corporate headquarters into a 21st Century workplace are succeeding."

Repositioning 1251 for the Future

Mitsui Fudosan purchased 1251 Avenue of the Americas in 1986 as its flagship property in the North American market. In 1989, it began the multi-million dollar modernization of the Rockefeller Center office tower. At that time, 1251 had only a handful of large tenants, including Exxon, which built 1251 as its world headquarters in 1972 and leased 70 percent of the building for its own use.

A major objective of the multi-million dollar capital improvement plan was to prepare 1251 to meet the needs of a new tenancy of major international financial and service firms. This entailed not just upgrading infrastructure systems - heating/cooling, electrical, security, and communications systems - but also addressing key features that are important when positioning a building to attract new tenants, such as the lobby and elevators.

Major Aesthetic and Functional Renovations

During the past eight years, major aesthetic and functional renovations have been undertaken throughout the building. The modernization program has included an elegant redesign of 1251's lobby (one of the largest in the city) by the firm of Rosen Johnson Architects, a complete redesign of the elevator cabs and upgrading of all 1251's operating systems. The facade of the building has been cleaned and re-caulked; an asbestos removal program was implemented; the East Rockefeller Center Concourse entry was renovated to match the lobby; a new office and retail mezzanine was added; and the lobby entry into the retail shops and restaurants have been aesthetically transformed.

All this work was done while the building was fully occupied and with little disturbance to existing tenants.

At the same time that these capital improvements were in progress, an extraordinary amount of office space was changing hands. "At one point, 1251 had 18 floors (over 720,000 square feet) with tenant construction and asbestos abatement underway, while significant other capital infrastructure projects were in the works," recalled Christopher N. Perez, vice president of Mitsui Fudosan. "This award culminates eight years of effort by many employees, contractors and professionals dedicated to making 1251 best in its class."

1251 Avenue of the Americas is owned by 1251 Americas Associates, L.P., a limited partnership of Mitsui Fudosan and managed by Rockefeller Center Management Corporation. The original architect was Harrison, Abramovitz and Harris and the renovation architect was Rosen Johnson Architects PC.