Sotheby's auction house on the auction block?Sotheby's 10-story office building at 1334 York Ave. is reportedly on the auction block. A source with ties to the firm claims that former Sotheby's chairman A. Alfred Taubman Adolph "A." Alfred Taubman (born 1924)[1] is an American real estate developer, industrialist, and philanthropist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a Metro Detroit area suburb. He became rich developing shopping malls, and his company is Taubman Centers Inc. , who owns the building, is actively seeking a buyer. The source added that the Hospital for Special Surgery, which leases space directly across the street from Sotheby's, is interested in buying the building. A spokesman for Taubman Centers Taubman Centers is an owner of United States upscale regional malls and has headquarters in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The Taubman Asia subsidiary is headquartered in Hong Kong. Taubman was founded in 1950 by real estate pioneer A. Alfred Taubman. Inc., the mall company Taubman founded 51 years ago, did not return a call for comment. It was unclear at deadline whether Taubman Centers or Taubman, personally, owns 1334 York Ave. Taubman resigned as chairman of Taubman Centers last year after being convicted of conspiring with rival auctioneer AUCTIONEER, contracts, commerce. A person authorized by law to sell the goods of others at public sale. 2. He is the agent of both parties, the seller and the buyer. 2 Taunt. 38, 209 4 Greenl. R. 1; Chit. Contr. 208. 3. Christies' in a price fixing price fixing n. a criminal violation of federal anti-trust statutes, in which several competing businesses reach a secret agreement (conspiracy) to set prices for their products to prevent real competition and keep the public from benefiting from price competition. scheme. The conviction alleges that Taubman stole $400 milion worth of commissions between 1993 and 1999. In April, Taubman was sentence to one year and a day in jail. His lawyers argued that the sentence was too harsh because Taubman is 76 year old and in failing health. He is now appealing the sentence. A spokeswoman for the Hospital for Special Surgery declined to comment on the hospital's interest in the building However, she was unaware of any plans to acquire the building. The circa 1921 building underwent a gut rehab three years ago that added 6 floors. A Kodak warehouse previously occupied the space, and Sotheby's flagship has been here for the past 20 years. By all accounts, the space is tailored for a ritzy ritz·y adj. ritz·i·er, ritz·i·est Informal Elegant; fancy. [After the Ritz hotels, established by César Ritz (1850-1918), Swiss hotelier. auction house. The facade of the building consists of a nine-story glass atrium atrium (ā`trēəm), term for an interior court in Roman domestic architecture and also for a type of entrance court in early Christian churches. The Roman atrium was an unroofed or partially roofed area with rooms opening from it. overlooking York Avenue York Avenue is a short north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It runs from 59th Street north to 91st Street on the Upper East Side. It is known for its upscale apartments, much like the rest of the Upper East Side. . Next to the first floor lobby is a restaurant called BID which opened on Sept. 10 of last year. The building houses five sale rooms encompassing 75,000 SF of exhibition space. The firm's main auction facility can seat as many as 1,200 people. A dozen separate skyboxes --designed for discreet bidding--overlook the meizanine. With such customized space, it is hard to imagine just any other tenant occupying it. Millions, went into configuring it, and millions would likely be necessary to convert it into less conventional office space. Sotheby's arch-competitor Christie's is one potential candidate, considering the- dearth of surplus space it has (and apparently needs) at Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center, complex of buildings in central Manhattan, New York City, between 48th and 51st streets and Fifth Ave. and the Ave. of the Americas (Sixth Ave.). The project was sponsored by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. . But Christie's is also coping with some belt tightening of its own, making such a lease on York Avenue unlikely. As one source pointed out, there is the chance that Taubman intends to market an empty building. "Is (Taubman) trying to sell it empty? Or is he going to arrange for Sotheby's to continue lea sing space here? These are some important questions, if he is looking to sell the building," said real estate consultant Peter Pattison. Pattison. conjectured that if Sotheby's were forced to move from this building, the outcome could be devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . |
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