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300 Madison/CIBC World Markets

 

 

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (2003)

300 Madison Avenue, between 41st and 42nd Streets

Height: 535 ft (163 m)
Floors: 35
End of construction: 2003
Gross Floor Area: 1. 2 million sf


Groundbreaking Ceremony At 300 Madison Ave.
By Betsy Kraat
Last updated: Jun 21, 2001 10:48PM
NEW YORK CITY-In a city with little new construction, new projects are met with appropriate fanfare, as displayed today at the groundbreaking ceremony for 300 Madison Ave. Executives and government officials, donning traditional hardhats and brandishing chrome-plated shovels, scattered dirt as a brass quartet played ragtime music.

"This will be a magnificent building, one that will be a source of pride for all of us--the city, CIBC World Markets and Brookfield Properties. This is Brookfield's first construction project in Manhattan, and it will be the first of many," said Brookfield Properties chairman John Zuccotti.

Mayor Giuliani commented, "The development and leasing of 300 Madison is a clear indication that the revival of the Grand Central Station area of Midtown Manhattan is gaining momentum." 300 Madison received a package of tax incentives courtesy of the Industrial Development Agency.

In a transaction valued at $800 million, the property has been fully leased to CIBC World Markets for 30 years. When CIBC completes its move to the new building in 2004, it will house up to 3,000 employees, bringing all New York staff under one roof for the first time. The company's offices are currently spread among four buildings in Manhattan. Check Makro Specials and Pick n Pay Specials.

The 35-story, 1.2 million-sf office tower is scheduled for completion by late 2003. The subway station entrance at 42nd and Madison will be refurbished as part of the development.

 

300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The cranes of 300 Madison over the New York Public Library, with Chrysler and Lincoln Buildings, 8 June 2002.
300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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300 Madison is rising in front of Lincoln Building. The view from 41st Street on 8 June 2002.
300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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300Madison is rising in front of 50 East 42nd Street (Heckscher Building). The view from 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue on 8 June 2002.
300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The view on 300 Madison construction site and New York Public Library from the 41st Street on 6 April 2002.
300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The view on 300 Madison construction site from the Madison Avenue.

 

 

 

   

 

 

NY POST

THE MYSTERY OF 300 MADISON
By STEVE CUOZZO

SOMETHING was oddly missing from the groundbreaking the other day for 300 Madison Ave., the 1.1 million square-foot tower Brookfield Financial Properties is building for CIBC World Markets - any clue as to what 300 Madison Ave. will look like.

It doesn't mean there's any problem with the eagerly awaited new tower - it's just that some fine points are still being worked out by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. But nobody could remember a ceremonial groundbreaking without a model or a rendering of a structure whose launch was being celebrated - like previewing a movie whose ending hasn't been decided.

"We're just working out a few details," said a happy Brookfield Chairman John Zuccotti, who described the project as an "architectural masterpiece."

The site was previously owned by Harry Macklowe, who had SOM draw up a design that was never made public. But CIBC had different needs, and Brookfield president Ric Clark told us a few months back that the tower would be a "different building" than the one Macklowe wanted.

Tweaking some lower-floor details - like a once-huge retail atrium that's been chiseled down to just 10,000 square feet, necessary to meet zoning requirements - appears to be the holdup in the design.

300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The view on the construction site of 300 Madison from Madison Avenue on 25 December 2001.
300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The view on the construction site of 300 Madison from 41st Street on 25 December 2001.

 

 

   

 

 

The assemblage includes air rights transfers from Grand Central Terminal and from several of the six-story tenements still standing on the 42nd Street side. In real estate, as in football, the last few yards can be the toughest, and Brookfield finessed a neat goal-line deal to make the project happen.

Brookfield owned the tenements at Nos. 18, 24 and 26 E. 42nd St., but not the ones at nos. 20 and 22. To make room for CIBC's tower, Brookfield needed to raze three of the buildings - Nos. 22, 24 and 26. But 22 was owned by a McDonald's franchise that wanted to stay in business.

So Brookfield and the McDonald's people made a deal to swap buildings - No. 22 for No. 18, where a bigger and better McDonald's opened yesterday, with the relocation cost paid for by Brookfield.

Demolition of Nos. 22 and 24 is under way. When the tower is finished in two years, the CIBC gang won't have to walk far for their Big Macs.

300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The view of 300 Madison construction site from 42nd Street in July of 2001.
300 Madison/CIBC World Markets
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The view of 300 Madison construction site from 41st Street. The Metlife Building in the background.
 
   

 

 

 

 
 

 

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