MetLife has extended its 400,000-square-foot lease through 2038 at its eponymous skyscraper at 200 Park Avenue in Midtown East, Manhattan.
Under the new 11-year lease agreement, which was announced by Irvine Company and Tishman Speyer, MetLife will maintain its substantial footprint in the building, occupying the entire third and sixth floors, along with parts of the mezzanine, fourth, and fifth floors. The company initially consolidated its New York City offices to the 58-story tower in 2017.
200 Park Avenue, co-owned by Irvine Company and Tishman Speyer, has undergone a substantial renovation to rejuvenate its 3.1 million square feet of space. Upgrades include lobby renovations, enhanced connection to Grand Central Terminal, new outdoor gardens and customer lounges, a fitness center, and event spaces.
Currently, the MetLife Building is 96 percent occupied, with over 800,000 square feet of new leases, extensions, and renewals since 2020. Designed by Pietro Belluschi, Walter Gropius, and Emery Roth & Sons in the International style, 200 Park Avenue first opened in 1963 as the Pan Am Building. MetLife acquired it in 1980 and added its logo to the top in 1993. Tishman Speyer and Irvine Company have been the owners since 2005, with MetLife retaining naming and signage rights.
The lease extension was facilitated by Tishman Speyer’s Megan Sheehan and Sam Brodsky, representing the co-owners, while a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Patrick Murphy and Peyton Horn represented MetLife.
“MetLife’s continued presence at 200 Park Avenue is a testament to the connection between the iconic building and one of the world’s leading financial institutions,” said Roger DeWames, division executive vice president, Irvine Company Office. “We are proud to extend our partnership with MetLife as the next chapter of 200 Park begins.”
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Many are still annoyed that this building blocked the view on Park and loomed over Grand Central. Of course, there seems to be some evidence, mostly elevator placement, that suggests something tall was originally planned at Grand Central, though no drawings have ever come to light.
Was the flat roof of the MetLife building intended as a helicopter landing pad?
It was! There was a time when the Heliport at the Pan-Am building (The Building was built for Pan-Am Airways) offered regular service to various locations. You can research it online.
Also, the entire area North of Grand Central over the yards was specifically designed to have tall towers built overhead so it is entirely possible this building was part of the plan. But I have never liked this building and wonder how much longer its useful life will be, perhaps 2038 will mark the end of this monolithic monstrosity and a new grand plan can develop.
I was 15 y/o when the Pan Am Bldg opened. I went with my friend to see it; the Q26 to Main St and then the Flushing IRT. I also remember that the helicopter service ended after a mishap on the roof, which involved a copter. WHAT A TREMENDOUS IDEA. Why not have a helo roof with tens of thousands of people passing on the sidewalks and streets below. And don’t think that it was emblematic of the times. The spire on the Empire State was intended to be a gateway to boarding and debarking from one of the giant dirigibles at the time. Easy. Go to the 86th Fl observatory and then take an elevator to the 102nd Fl indoor platform. From there, walk along a barricaded platform between the 102nd Fl and the dirigible. Good luck with that. I’m now 75 years old. I’m still waiting for flying cars as were depicted in Back to the Future Part II, as if that would be a problem solver. Indeed, I remember well the turbo car that was driven along an open “bobsled” like trench at the ’64-’65 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows.
Yeah, I remember now..the helicopter on the Pan-Am roof was “city of the future” stuff..Still waiting!
Bring back the Pan Am building, Camelot and Fun City.
I’m really glad most all NYC towers don’t have signage at the top, like some cities do. I wonder why this tower and a few others were allowed signage.
Well, 500 Fifth Ave. at 42nd had its numbers posted high up, as well as, the notorious 666 Fith Ave. Both had their numbers removed and the last is using a different address after a major renovation.
How quickly they forget. The heliport disaster atop the (then) Pan Am Building is very well known and influential in the ban on rooftop helipads in many cities. 5 people were killed, including one woman on the street below hit by a fragment of a blade.
This ugly building has been hated by a great number of New Yorkers ever since it first squatted its unnecessarily broad bottom right in the middle of the iconic view of Park Avenue going north above Grand Central.