399 Park Avenue

also 630 Lexington Avenue | East Midtown | built 1969

Open on the map7 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1957

    September

    A family of pharmacists refuses Vincent Astor's $400,000 offer for their Lexington Avenue brownstone

    The last building left on the block was a five-story brownstone at 620 Lexington Avenue, where Jacob Michels, his wife and their son Myron, all registered pharmacists, ran a drugstore. Negotiators for Vincent Astor had spent five years trying to buy it for $400,000 while his Astor Plaza office tower went up around it. Mrs. Michels said the family would sell only if the new building made room for them.

    Source: brownstonedetectives.com

  2. 1959

    Construction starts on a 41-story tower by Carson & Lundin and Kahn & Jacobs

    Construction of 399 Park Avenue began in 1959. The all-steel tower rises 41 floors and about 524 feet. Its architects were Carson & Lundin and Kahn & Jacobs, and it was completed in 1961 as the First National City Bank Building, also known as the Citibank Building.

    Source: skyscrapercenter.com

  3. 1961

    A bank's new headquarters tower opens at 399 Park Avenue

    Architects Carson & Lundin, working with Kahn & Jacobs, complete this 41-story, 524-foot tower in 1961. The bank that is now Citigroup moves its headquarters there from 55 Wall Street. The building fills the block between 53rd and 54th Streets and has about 1.7 million square feet of floor area.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1987

    Citicorp sells a third of its stake in 399 Park Avenue and two thirds of another tower to a Japanese insurer

    In 1987 Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company paid $670 million for one third of the bank's interest in 399 Park Avenue and two thirds of its interest in the neighboring Citigroup Center. The bank said it was shifting many offices to the One Court Square building in Long Island City, Queens, and it left the top two thirds of 399 Park while keeping the lower floors. The bank later bought its interest back.

    “In 1987, Citigroup sold one third of its interest in the building along with two-thirds of its interest in Citigroup Center to Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company for $670 million…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2001

    Lehman Brothers moves staff to 399 Park Avenue after the September 11 attacks

    After the September 11 attacks damage much of its headquarters at Brookfield Place, Lehman Brothers leases 400,000 square feet at 399 Park Avenue. The firm stays in the building until its bankruptcy in 2008.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 2002

    Boston Properties buys 399 Park Avenue at a record price

    In 2002 Boston Properties buys 399 Park Avenue for $1.06 billion, beating out several other bidders. At more than $630 per square foot, it is the highest price paid for an office building up to that time.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2015

    Citigroup moves its world headquarters out of 399 Park Avenue

    Citigroup announces in December 2013 that it will relocate its global headquarters to 388 and 390 Greenwich Street in Tribeca. The move in 2015 ends a run of about five decades as the tower's headquarters tenant, which began in 1961.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 43 buildings with stories in East Midtown