{"id":448478,"date":"2023-06-01T12:52:42","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T16:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/?p=448478"},"modified":"2024-10-25T13:33:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T17:33:19","slug":"sothebys-breuer-building-buy-whitney-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2023\/06\/sothebys-breuer-building-buy-whitney-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Sotheby\u2019s Buys Breuer Building From Whitney Museum for New HQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Upper East Side\u2019s landmarked, Brutalist building designed by Marcel Breuer \u2014 and former home of the <\/span>Whitney Museum of American Art <\/b>\u2014 will be sold to <\/span>Sotheby\u2019s <\/b>to become the auction house\u2019s new headquarters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s <\/span>paid a reported $100 million to the Whitney<\/span><\/a> for the <\/span>Breuer Building<\/b> at <\/span>945 Madison Avenue<\/b> with plans to move its headquarters from York Avenue after the property\u2019s current occupant, the <\/span>Frick Collection<\/b>, leaves in 2024, <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i> reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Sotheby\u2019s did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Whitney confirmed the sale but did not provide any more details. It was unclear who brokered the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The five-story building at the corner of Madison Avenue and East 75th Street was built in 1966 and designed by Breuer, a famed Hungarian-American architect, to house the Whitney Museum. The museum remained in the building until 2015, <\/span>when it moved to the Meatpacking District<\/span><\/a> to occupy a new $422 million property at <\/span>99 Gansevoort Street<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Whitney left, the<\/span> Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/b> signed an eight-year lease for the Breuer Building in 2016 \u2014 <\/span>at a reported annual cost of $18 million<\/span><\/a> \u2014 but transferred the last three years of the lease to the Frick Collection in 2018 after it faced financial difficulties, the <\/span>Times<\/span><\/i> reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Frick used the building as a temporary space while its <\/span>1 East 70th Street<\/b> home underwent renovations, later extending its sublease to 2024. Meanwhile, the Whitney <\/span>began talks with potential buyers to offload the Brutalist structure<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s eventually won and plans to relocate its headquarters from its longtime home at <\/span>1334 York Avenue <\/b>to the Breuer Building in 2025, according to the <\/span>Times<\/span><\/i>. Aside from the auction saleroom, Sotheby\u2019s will also have gallery and exhibition space inside the building.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the Breuer Building isn\u2019t the only real estate deal Sotheby\u2019s made in the city recently. Last year, <\/span>the auction house dropped $82 million<\/span><\/a> on the 240,000-square-foot <\/span>25-11 49th Avenue<\/b> in Long Island City, Queens, to house its processing and warehouse operations, <\/span>The Real Deal<\/span><\/i> reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at <\/span><\/i>nrizzi@commercialobserver.com<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Upper East Side\u2019s landmarked, Brutalist building designed by Marcel Breuer \u2014 and former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art \u2014 will be sold to Sotheby\u2019s to become the auction house\u2019s new headquarters. Sotheby\u2019s paid a reported $100 million to the Whitney for the Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue with plans to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141847028,"featured_media":448479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-06-01T16:52:45Z","apple_news_api_id":"5cce244b-8827-4546-a726-f74224168049","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-10-25T17:33:22Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AXM4kS4gnRUanJvdCJBaASQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[231408,425196646],"tags":[212849133,598380086],"industry_type":[598394823,598394859],"company":[],"market":[423636225,425197610,425197704],"sponsored":[],"coauthors":[598341804],"class_list":{"0":"post-448478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-channel","8":"category-sales","9":"tag-945-madison-avenue","10":"tag-breuer-building","11":"industry_type-special-purpose","12":"industry_type-museums","13":"market-new-york-city","14":"market-manhattan","15":"market-upper-east-side"},"acf":{"alternative_og_image":""},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2023\/06\/sothebys-breuer-building-buy-whitney-museum\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Sotheby\u2019s Buys Breuer Building From Whitney Museum for New HQ","url":"http:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2023\/06\/sothebys-breuer-building-buy-whitney-museum\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2023\/06\/sothebys-breuer-building-buy-whitney-museum\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-1231759719.jpg?quality=80&w=150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-1231759719.jpg?quality=80"},"articleSection":"Investments & Sales","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nicholas Rizzi"}],"creator":["Nicholas Rizzi"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Commercial Observer","logo":""},"keywords":["945 madison avenue","breuer building","investments & sales","channel","special purpose","museums","nrizziobserver","new york city","manhattan","upper east side"],"dateCreated":"2023-06-01T16:52:42Z","datePublished":"2023-06-01T16:52:42Z","dateModified":"2024-10-25T17:33:19Z"},"rendered":"