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An even better reason for this building to go:

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/28/bu...s-shunned.html

Buildings With Asbestos Shunned

By ERIC N. BERG
Published: April 28, 1988

Only a few years ago, hardly anyone worried about renting or buying an office building that contained asbestos, the cancer-causing construction material.

But that has suddenly changed. Owners of asbestos-filled buildings are having more difficulty attracting tenants. Sellers have to offer steep discounts. And buyers are having trouble lining up lenders or investors.

The key reason for the turnabout is new state laws. Led by New York, 22 states have adopted anti-asbestos laws in the last year alone, raising the number of states regulating asbestos to 38, according to Asbestos Abatement Report, a newsletter. It is only a matter of time, experts say, before the remaining states pass asbestos laws, which typically require a landlord to remove asbestos before a building is demolished or renovated and regulate how it shall be removed.

[...]

Until it was outlawed in the early 1970's, asbestos was used to insulate, soundproof and fireproof buildings. The vast majority of buildings constructed in major cities between 1920 and 1970 contain asbestos. These structures include some of New York's most famous - from the Pan Am Building to Madison Square Garden.

Now, in the wake of the new laws, real estate professionals say prices for asbestos-containing office buildings have fallen 5 to 10 percent in Manhattan and even more in other cities. That can translate into tens of millions of dollars when such buildings command hundreds of millions of dollars.

''I don't know one who will buy a building with asbestos,'' said Mr. Haggarty of the dozen or so Japanese insurers he deals with.

Such companies as the International Business Machines Corporation and reportedly the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company will not lease office space in buildings containing asbestos.