The city is set to decide whether the Graybar Building and four other Midtown East commercial properties are worthy of landmark status. If granted, they would be immune to the massive rezoning plan proposed for the area.
The rezoning could prompt developers to buy buildings without landmark restrictions in order to launch future projects. Of the five buildings, SL Green owns two: the Graybar, its 1.2-million-square-foot headquarters tower at 420 Lexington Avenue, and 125 Park Avenue. The landlord is seeking an option to convert the Graybar into five commercial condominiums, The Real Deal reported last week.
The other three buildings up for review are hotels. The Lexington, the Beverly Hotel and the Shelton exist within a subdistrict of Midtown East in which the city is weighing granting landmarks to sell any unused air rights they have. The proposed rezoning would take effect in 2017. [Crain’s] — Mark Maurer