What office tower/skyscraper has the most prestige? Talking about tenant prestige, industry prestige, and overall exterior prestige.
I'll start.
345 Park Avenue, NYC - Blackstone HQ, DB (brings down prestige), KPMG, NFL, Bristol-Myers, Piper Jaffray, and JP Morgan
Who you got? What offices do you think are up there? Doesn't have to be NYC
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I rather like the Helmsley and MetLife (PanAm) buildings as they are situated off the grid in Midtown, where the grid is god. 30 Rockefeller Center, room 5600 is a F-you address as well (or was) There are few good addresses downtown, as it's a warren of small streets. You can't actually work at 11 Wall under most circumstances (and most that do are doing so for the cost of the desk) but it's a great address.
Helmsley is pretty baller. No idea how that even got that way.
Not NYC, but in LA, I like 100 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA. It's where Wilshire hits Ocean, with sweeping views of the sea. Otherwise Salesforce Tower, SF
[Edit: I edited to 100 Wilshire from my erroneous 2001 Wilshire, which was an error]
I would have ventured the Union Club as the most prestigious in NY.
Went there once. In awe at how gorgeous it is.
King: Thurston Howell III's bamboo hut on a certain "uncharted desert isle."
Lady-in-Waiting: 666 Fifth Ave. (Kushner!). What could be more prestigious than serving as the future corporate HQ of Antichrist, Inc?
Equities in Dallas
Solow Building!
Yeah the Solow building is sick. I first set foot in it in 2006, my first time in NYC to walk to a conference room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking Central Park. Stunning.
I was visiting an alum in trading at BofA when they were still there.
Gotta love how Sheldon Solow would rather keep vacancy in the building vs rent out space to tenants he doesn't deem prestigious enough, lol
I don't know of any building that has more prestige in terms of tenants (Apollo, KKR, Silver Lake, Providence, Sculptor, Tiger Global, and Coatue are all there)
Quite a few are leaving right?
Seagram building 9 W 57th St. 767 fifth Avenue (GM Building) 666 5th Ave 888 7th Avenue
Ding ding ding!
As fucking stupid as this thread is, this is the only guy commenting that knows what he's talking about. Other buildings mentioned are just corporate shackles. These buildings house the most "prestigious" hedge funds, PE firms, and think tanks.
55 West 81st Street, Upper West Side on the 11th floor of the American Gardens Building
555 California St. SF. most prestigious building in the city. KKR, Goldman, Dodge & Cox, McKinsey, UBS, Alliance Berenstein, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Vornado, could go on.
It's actually known as the banker building lol
The black figure in front of it is known as "The Banker's Heart"
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/banker-s-heart
Damn
Agreed.
One funny thing about this building. Even given all of the prestigious companies there, I am told that the top floor houses a gaming company, "Supercell"
Good to see them put my gems to good use
Interesting, didn't know JPM had a 345 Park office. Any idea what teams sit there?
Familiar with 277 and 270 park.
Can't confirm. Saw a tenant list online and mentioned them, could be inaccurate for all I know
Could also be random back office or retail people
Anywhere next to Grand Central Terminal.
One would be the Grace Building. Best views of Lower Manhattan from Midtown (if you're high enough). Plus, on the other side, there is a spectacular view of Central Park/UES.
This is one of the most WSO things I have ever seen. Now we are talking about the prestige of buildings we can work in.
I'm so proud that we're finally talking about the prestige of buildings. My industry has finally made it.
One of those days where it's like, why not
Judging by your username, isn’t this a topic you want to keep tabs on?
Every monkey just wants a nice place with a view.
200 West Street
London-wise Berkeley Square would be up there. Kinda hard to single out individual offices due to the relative lack of high rise buildings, especially in the West End.
Little saint james
Based and ep-pilled
390 park lever house
Bank of America tower for actual aesthetics(not the prestige of the bank)
425 park (under construction). Will have citadel there in the penthouse
The BofA corporate headquarters in Charlotte is quite nice in terms of the construction and Art Deco design
It's beautiful as is DEC. Sadly, the new additions to the skyline have been duds thus far.
Surprised no one has said the UBS building in Stamford, CT. Although I hear they're converting it into a dave and busters
yeah, I used to work there. Stamford is so f*ing boring, and it's a drag to get back and forth to NYC. Just far enough that no one was happy. A bunch of MDs with families used to live in Stamford. But basically no young person would, and they had to schlep from NYC and back each day. Brutal. Forces you to own a car in NYC.
It was a legacy ownership from when UBS bought O'Connor. The building was put up there because of tax breaks to get financial institutions to settle in CT. But now how do you use a trading floor that's big enough to house an aircraft carrier? Laser tag and paintball zone maybe? Lease it to the US military to have them practice wargames and indoor speops training? World's largest and least happy call center? A continuously-running circus? Jeff Bezos' East-Coast house?
I knew the firm that bought it, and I asked one of the principles there. He had some vague ideas but nothing made sense. Distressed price tho, so they bought
Lol, I 100% agree with what your saying about Stamford. My previous firm had a presence there, which led to me having to take the train from NYC a few times per month. O'boy, I was equally shocked how boring and uninteresting that place is each time I stepped off the train.. Maybe it's improved with all the new luxury development that is UC/recently delivered, but still struggling understand how anyone young would want to live there, despite the favorable living costs..
Didn't they share it with RBC?
Not when I was there. All UBS, top to bottom. Maybe things changed later?
Few years late but wasn’t it RBS nor RBC?
.
My thought for Boston as well. Current tenants:
Bain Capital EY Mercer John Hancock ArcLight Great Hills Partners Latham & Watkins Kirkland & Ellis
Casa Rossa in Amsterdam is fairly prestigious (I'm led to believe). If you can make it there...
Chicago:
10 S. Dearborn (sleek building, multiple white shoe law firms)
Aon Building (only building still standing that was designed in the same architectural style as the World Trade Center - gets heritage points for this)
150 N. Riverside Plaza (William Blair)
Sears Tower (Morgan Stanley building their Chicago headquarters there, second tallest building in the US, formerly tallest building in the world)
Board of Trade Building (old home of CBOT - strong heritage)
Not to be rude but other cities comp terrible with NYC. William Blair's bldg has some kind of Hyatt office in it, assuming it's not even Hyatt's HQ. WB's interior is very nice, but I mean...a floor or 2 at 200 West is more expensive real estate
https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/how-much-office-space-costs-in-fam…
The Empire State Building, New York City, New York: $68 to $75 per square foot annually The Empire State Building, one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks, has appeared in movies such as “King Kong” and “Sleepless in Seattle.”
Standing 1,454 feet tall from base to antenna, it was the world’s tallest building when it was completed in 1931. Today, it’s the 39th tallest structure on the planet.
As of 2017, the asking rent for lower floors was $68 per square foot (PSF), with mid-rise spaces going for $72 PSF and tower floors for $75 PSF.
If you opt to rent offices in the Empire State Building, you’ll be joining tenants like LinkedIn and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The Shard, London, England: $916 to $1570 a month per desk Rising to a height of 1,016 feet, London’s Shard, which was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, is one of the tallest buildings in Europe. The global consulting firm Protiviti and the Kraft Heinz Company are among the tenants that occupy its 72 habitable floors.
On the 24th and 25th floors, startups and small-to-medium enterprises can rent serviced offices, which boast amenities such as high-speed internet, meeting spaces, and a receptionist. Prices are calculated based on number of desks rather than square footage and range from £700 to £1200 ($916 to $1570) per month.
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: $381,160 to $598,965 per year You can work in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, at a cost. Some spaces in the Burj, which stretches to an incredible 2,716.5 feet, cost upwards of 1,400,000 to 2,200,000 dirhams ($381,160 to $598,965) a year.
Spread out across its 163 floors, the Burj contains luxury apartments in addition to commercial real estate. It also holds multiple world records, such as tallest elevator in a building and highest restaurant from ground level.
Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California: $62.5 to $89 per square foot annually It’s not only its triangular shape that sets the Transamerica Pyramid apart from other buildings in San Francisco. The 853-foot triangular structure, which was designed to withstand earthquakes, gets its resplendent white hue from a coating of crushed quartz.
One World Trade Center, New York City, New York: $69 to $80 per square foot annually Counting its observation deck and antenna, One World Trade Center — the tallest building in the U.S. — reaches a height of 1,776 feet to commemorate the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Rental prices range from $69 to $80 per square foot per year.
All of what you posted is basically the big4 accounting of buildings. Buildings that kids at random state schools think are the best since its all they know. The target school kids that have been groomed properly are all targeting the gm building, solow building, 375 park etc.
ok bro was just posting some perspectives. Isn't that what this thread is all about? You say I didn't mention the Solow building, when I mentioned above that I walked in it in 2006, which was probably when you were in grade school.
But, speaking of iconic - I don't think it gets much better than the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai. Maybe just for company events:
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/china/grand-hyatt-shanghai/shagh/spec…
chillin at the Cloud 9 bar with the views of a lifetime. ![https://www.asia-bars.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cloud-9-grand-hyat…] [https://www.asia-bars.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cloud-9-grand-hyat… https://www.asia-bars.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cloud-9-grand-hyat…
Wait ... is this some humble brag of yours about being at a target? lol
Target school kids target buildings now? Most logical people I know target companies, but maybe I'm old school.
Also, haven't you heard? Brick and mortar space and expenses surrounding it is on the decline. More brick and mortar expenses means less profit.
this point is extremely accurate, basically this thread is full of people who have no clue about what a dope building is or what building makes a statement for a business address.
PSF rents in top buildings pushes above 150 a foot and you basic big 4 bois have no idea what the real top buildings are.
For example my dentist is in the Empire State building - anyone who works in high finance knows these are all sh*t product. Have fun sharing the elevator with people getting their root canal on one side and the herd of tourists going to see the roof deck with a dripping sabrett in their hand on the other side.
I agree with including the Shard in this list. Perhaps not the most "prestigious" but the building has become a part of London's skyline in the same way as the London Eye or Tower Bridge. Pretty cool to have an office in a city/national "Landmark". Guy I know works at Arma Partners there and said the view is INSANE.
The White House
Actually it's somewhat disappointing compared to other seats of government. It's got some good understated elegance, and a great brand (and hence prestige I suppose) but when you compare it to other grandiose seats of government globally, it really is quaint.
Great point, however, I think the founders intended it to be that way. They didn't want a grandiose executive office building like the ones of royalty in Europe. Architecture aside, there is no denying that the White House is the most prestigious and powerful building in the world today.
I cringed when I saw the title
666 5th Ave - millenium's hq and owned by kushner maybe the most infamous
Have you been inside? It's dark, low ceilings and tricky floor plans..
Not to mention it has been a historically bad deal
Sansome Street: Citi 555 Mission Street: Deloitte, Greentech Advisors, FTP, AT Kearney, Allianz 560 Mission Street: JP Morgan and EY to name a couple
50 Cal Street has PJ. 555 Mission has Zoosk as well.
JPM > all of 555 Mission
Toronto, for any Canadians on here (in no particular order):
Brookfield Place - 161 & 181 Bay St. TD Tower(s) - 66 Wellington & 222 Bay St. Royal Bank Plaza - 200 Bay St. First Canadian Place - 100 King St. W.
Agree.
Brookfield houses Onex Partners, BCG, BAML, and MS from my knowledge.
And I'm pretty sure TD Tower has Goldman and JPM.
Solow building = Prestige
Chanel Sycamore partners KKR Apollo Silver Lake Providence Equity
Seagram Building and Grace Building are also legit
Nice first post.
Can we also pay attention to the massive 9 at the entrance? This building has the address in a one digit sculpture in front of it. Pretty iconic.
wiki:
"The large red sculpture of the digit 9 in front of the building was included in the project as a response to the complaints that the building's sloping reflecting walls revealed unappealing sides of the neighboring historic buildings that were previously obscured. The brightly colored sculpture was to distract the eyes of passersby from noticing these walls. This famous New York sculpture was designed by graphic artist Ivan Chermayeff."
![https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Manhattan_-9…] -- [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Manhattan-9… https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Manhattan-_9…
Had no idea Chanel employees posted on WSO.
Also, add Och-Ziff and Coatue. But agree that Solow building is the most "prestigious" office building in NYC based on quality of the tenants.
Didn’t you know Chanel is the height of prestige?
Also can add Tiger Global to the list
You think DB brings down the prestige of 345 park but not kpmg? Lol
And since nyc has been discussed extensively, gonna throw these out there: Cheung Kong Center, 2 IFC, ICC all in Hong Kong
Cheung Kong: highest mix of prestigious tenants but relatively “least luxurious” building
2 IFC: most iconic, and 2nd tallest building in HK, featured in the Dark Knight, best office location in HK
ICC: tallest building in HK, newest and most luxurious of the 3, sits on top of the best mall in HK as well as airport express, only downside is that it’s in Kowloon not central
100 N Tryon
I guess if you plan your career around the building you would never want to work at a solid place like Blackstone NY
3555 Farnam St.
Lol not gonna lie, this was one of the first things that came to mind when i joined BCG Chicago.
We're on 300 N La Salle - building has BCG, GTCR, Evercore, Kirkland and Ellis.
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