Sony Building (New York)

In October 1978, AT&T received permission to add another 7,611.4 m² or four more floors to the proposed building, in exchange agreeing to leave an open space for the public and for the communications museum. The firm received an additional 4,000 m² or two floors as a bonus for creating a 1,300 m² indoor passage along Madison Avenue, where retail stores will be located.

On January 1, 1984, AT&T decided to search for a tenant to lease an area of ​​28,000 m² or 7-24 floors, almost half of the building, with an initial price of $ 60 per square foot. The company was planning to relocate 1,500 workers, most of whom were headquartered on Broadway, 195, but economic conditions allowed only 600 workers to be moved to Madison, 550, and the rest to Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

The Spirit of Communications , a 9,100 kg bronze statue that stood for 64 years at the former AT&T Leadership Building on Broadway, 195, was dismantled and relocated to Madison 550 in 1983. A figure of 6.7 m high, modeled in 1916 by the American sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman , holds electric wires in one hand, stretched out into the sky, and in the other a coil of cable wound around the torso of the statue. After AT&T left the building, the statue was moved beyond Basking Bridge in 1992.

In 1984, the company announced that it would not build a museum, promised in exchange for a bonus in the form of additional space. Such a change in plans was caused by an upcoming court decision to dissolve Regional Bell Companies and a subsequent decrease in the company's share in the building. Faced with stiff opposition from the city, AT&T lost ground and set about building a three-story exhibition complex next to the pedestrian area behind the building.

AT&T received $ 42 million in tax credits on condition that the company’s management would remain at 550 Madison Avenue and would not give up space to other tenants. However, having significantly lost in size, AT&T signed a lease agreement for 20 years of its office on Madison 550 and moved to Sixth Avenue 32, between Walker and Lispenard Streets. Thus, Sony got the opportunity to rent a building. AT&T returned $ 14.5 million to New York in compensation for tax credits granted during the 1987 agreement.

In 1992, Sony confirmed plans that required the approval of the New York City Planning Commission, according to which the company received space on the other upper floors of the building, and pledged to organize retail trade. In exchange, the company also had to expand the pedestrian crossing with a glass roof, adding, in addition, tubs for plants and benches for pedestrians. Sony expected that the upcoming conversion of 810.8 m² of public space into retail stores would bring about $ 200 per square foot - the New York Times also confirmed the same estimate. The company noted that the space was not used for public purposes because it was “dark, windy and noisy” and that turning it into commercial pavilions would create a “retail sequel” to Madison Avenue.

By 1996, Sony had combined most operations with the Sony Music Entertainment department at Madison Avenue 550, about which the New York Times noted the following: "such a multidisciplinary and thoughtful space is fully consistent with existing requirements and requirements." In the same year, Sony acquired another building, opposite the first, at 555 Madison Avenue, with a total area of ​​41,300 m², built in the 1960s and undergoing reconstruction, which affected the lobby, windows, bathrooms and other parts in connection with renting a room Sony. The company signed a lease agreement until 2013 of 8400 m² on the sixth-ninth floors and instead of the estimated 8400 m² on the second-fifth floors in 1995. The average rental price was $ 34 per square meter at the time of conclusion of the contract. Sony connected the two buildings using a fiber optic link under Madison Avenue. Next, microwave communications equipment was installed on top of the building at 555 Madison Avenue.

Limited AT&T ultimately sold Sony's building in 2002 for $ 236 million.