NEW YORK | 522 Fifth Avenue | FT | FLOORS

[voyager8907]

Because just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's worth it for Amazon to demolish usable office space?

[Mulan]

I don't think a "supertall" will be created here. Are there any nice discussions about whether something is planned here? Robert I know your comments, that's all I'm saying.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by ChiND

Why wouldn't Amazon want to redevelop that crappy building?

It will most certainly be redeveloped, but not likely in the way you are suggesting. Amazon has a space crunch in Manhattan, as we know...


https://www.curbed.com/article/amazon-buying-leasing-midtown-return-office-space.html

Amazon Is Gobbling Up Midtown




By Kim Velsey

Last week, Amazon bought 522 Fifth from Aby Rosen’s RFR — a 600,000-square-foot office building that Rosen purchased from Morgan Stanley in March 2020, but which couldn’t find another full-building tenant for after the investment company’s departure. It’s just five blocks north of Amazon’s main headquarters in the old Lord & Taylor building, which it opened in 2023. The new building is also right around the corner from its latest office lease, which it signed just last month for 330,000 square feet across nine floors at 10 Bryant Park (according to CoStar, that’s one of the biggest Manhattan office leases this year).

While many companies have ordered their employees back to the office since the pandemic, they have also cut back on office space — stranding employees without enough desks. But Amazon seems committed to avoiding that problem, at least in Manhattan, where it’s been on a real-estate spree in the last six months. Since November, the company has signed leases on nearly one million square feet of office space, including another one just a few blocks away on Park Avenue.

Most of the office space (with the exception of a lease at 5 Manhattan West) is in Midtown East, along the Bryant Park/Grand Central corridor, Manhattan’s most historically popular office district. All together, the neighboring offices constitute a kind of de facto Amazon campus.

While the company’s New York headquarters at the historic Lord & Taylor building has, among other perks, a dog run and a fair amount of outdoor space, including a sunken rooftop terrace, it’s not clear what the amenities will be like at 522 Fifth, which was built in 1896 and was last renovated in 2016.

https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/off...ce-lease-this-time-on-park-avenue-128410

Amazon Taking Another 200K SF Of Manhattan Office Space

March 10, 2025

Amazon signed a sublease deal for 193K SF at 237 Park Ave., the New York Business Journal reported.

It is unclear when Amazon will move into the 21-story, 1.2M SF office tower, which is owned by a partnership of RXR and Walton Street Capital. The building was reportedly 97% occupied as of September, and its website shows listings for just 34K SF of available space.

JPMorgan Chase, which occupies 21% of the building, is due to relocate to its brand-new headquarters at 270 Park Ave. The switch is expected to take place prior to its December 2025 lease expiration, according to Morningstar.

The deal is Amazon’s third New York City office lease signed in just the past few months.

The firm took on almost 304K SF at 330 W. 34th St. in October last year via a sublease agreement, Commercial Observer reported at the time. The lease accounts for almost half of the 683K SF Chelsea property owned by Vornado just steps away from Penn Station.

https://allwork.space/2025/02/amazon-exp...tan-lease-in-another-wework-partnership/

Amazon Expands With 112K SF Manhattan Lease In Another WeWork Partnership
Amazon can optimize its office space without committing to a long-term lease, while the landlord retains options if the occupancy doesn't meet expectations.


by Emma Ascott
February 10, 2025

Amazon is expanding its presence in Manhattan by leasing an additional 112,000 square feet at 5 Manhattan West, a 1.8-million-square-foot office building owned by Brookfield Properties.

In short, Amazon has large space needs in Manhattan. Typically, a company with those space needs looking to build a ground up tower would build where they could consolidate some of those needs into a single tower. This site doesn't really offer a great deal for expansion beyond it's current allocated square feet, and that's partly because 520 Fifth Avenue consolidated its lot with surrounding properties to build out.







They could tear down this building to build a new one, but that seems unlikely.

It's more likely you would see the redevelopment of the current building, much as Amazon did with the former Lord & Taylor building.

Just last year RFR was trying to do just that...

[ChiND]

522 is not a nice tower. MS didn’t think it was good enough. Amazon obviously has very deep pockets. Also, an iconic building would be a good investment for them. Lastly, by the time it’s completed, their lease at HSBC would be almost over.

[ChiND]

According to TradedNY, Amazon paid $456m for it.

[ChiND]

I know that some disagree, but I am confident that Amazon will redevelop 522 Fifth into a very nice, new tower. The present structure is utterly drab and well below Amazon’s standards. This stretch of Fifth is transforming from a caterpillar into a butterfly. 520 Fifth’s great success and the development of 570 likely will precipitate a lot of new development.

“Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down this…”

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by ChiND

I know that some disagree, but I am confident that Amazon will redevelop 522 Fifth into a very nice, new tower. The present structure is utterly drab and well below Amazon’s standards. This stretch of Fifth is transforming from a caterpillar into a butterfly. 520 Fifth’s great success and the development of 570 likely will precipitate a lot of new development.

“Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down this…”

I doubt Amazon cares whether the building is 'utterly drab' especially since they will probably start laying off employees due to AI. If they really cared, they would have leased in a brand-new building or even bought a new building, as they obviously have the financial means.

[ChiND]

We'll see.

[ChiND]

I can see Amazon building a new tower on this site. They just signed another lease.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companie...id=68a39587fa704d6d8816f818541d433f&ei=9

Amazon Expands Space at WeWork’s Offices in Midtown Manhattan
Bloomberg Aug. 18, 2025

Amazon.com Inc. signed a new lease with WeWork Inc. that will allow the retailer to expand its presence in midtown Manhattan.

The tech giant agreed to take an additional 259,000 square feet (24,000 square meters) at 1440 Broadway, according to a person familiar with the matter. The new deal brings Amazon’s total footprint at the building to roughly 560,000 square feet, said the person, who asked to not be named as the deal is private.

[NYguy]

From an interview with Abby Rosen....


https://commercialobserver.com/2025/10/aby-rosen-rfr-manhattan-art-chrysler-seagram-2025/

By Max Gross
October 28, 2025

You guys had a big sale to Amazon at 522 Fifth Avenue. Tell us a little bit about that.

We bought 522 also five and a half years ago. It was a sale-leaseback with Morgan Stanley’s private wealth office. The retail was owned by Deka Immobilien. We started our redevelopment plan. Then the note was sold to somebody else — and SL Green came in and bought the note to redevelop it with us — and we were ready to go. Amazon knocked at our door, saying, “Do you want to sell it?” And I said, “I want X.” They said, “What about Z?” We agreed to 450 million bucks.

And nine days later it was out the door — signed.

Oh, my God.

When Amazon wants something, they’ll get something done. We have a lot of Amazon relationships back on the West Coast. We own a lot of properties with them, and they were as great of a buyer as you will ever see. Smart, educated, knowledgeable. The real estate team was fantastic, and it was painless, which was nice to say in today’s environment.

We paid SL Green off — they made a hefty profit and we moved on, and there’s nothing wrong with a good sale.

[Busy Bee]

This is the world of ick that Dump comes from FYI.

[ChiND]

Even if Amazon does not occupy this space, they’d be crazy not to redevelop this sub-par building into something amazing. This area is rapidly gentrifying after languishing for years as Shlock Central.

https://nypost.com/2026/03/22/business/520-fifth-ave-quickly-reaches-40-leased/

The office building “hiding in plain sight” is already more than 40% leased after just nine months of marketing….

Asking rents in the tower developed by Rabina range from the high $100s per square foot to over $200 psf.

9 14 49 33 50