450 Park Avenue, Office skyscraper on Park Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, United States.
450 Park Avenue, also called the Franklin National Bank Building, is a 33-story office tower rising 390 feet (120 m) on Park Avenue between East 56th and 57th Streets. Its steel skeleton carries concrete floors, and the facade is clad in black granite and glass. A privately owned public plaza with benches sits beside it.
450 Park Avenue was designed by Emery Roth & Sons and developed by Peter Sharp. In June 2007 Somerset Partners bought it for $509 million, or $1,566 per square foot, then the highest price per square foot paid for a US office building; the firm moved its head office there in mid-2008. Crown Acquisitions and Oxford Properties bought it for $545 million in February 2014.
The building's name recalls the Franklin National Bank, which commissioned it; the bank failed in 1974. The adjacent plaza is a privately owned public space with benches, one of many such spaces created under Midtown zoning rules. The building also houses a branch of the Phillips auction house, which opened on the first three floors on 30 October 2010 and held its first auction on 8 November that year.
Located between East 56th and 57th Streets, the building offers easy access to four major subway stations and numerous bus routes in the area. The central position makes it straightforward to navigate the neighborhood on foot and reach other Midtown attractions nearby.
The auction house that opened on the first three floors on 30 October 2010 was a branch of Phillips de Pury, and its first sale there took place on 8 November 2010. The space covers almost 334,000 sq ft (31,030 m2). The building's other name, Franklin National Bank Building, recalls an earlier tenant.
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