650 Fifth Avenue

650 5th Avenue | also 2 West 52nd Street | Midtown | built 1977

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

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

  1. 1882

    Vanderbilt's Triple Palace is completed on the block, with a house for his daughter Margaret at 2 West 52nd Street

    William Henry Vanderbilt's mansion, called the Triple Palace, was completed in 1882 on Fifth Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets. Vanderbilt lived in the single-family house at the south end, and the two-family section to the north held his daughters' households. The northern unit with the address 2 West 52nd Street housed Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt and her husband, Elliott Fitch Shepard, who stayed on there with their youngest children until Elliott died in the house in 1893. The mansion was eventually replaced by 640 and 650 Fifth Avenue.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1978

    John Carl Warnecke designs a 36-story tower for the Shah of Iran's Pahlavi Foundation, financed by Bank Melli

    John Carl Warnecke & Associates designed the 36-story, 150-meter building at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street for the Pahlavi Foundation. The foundation was run by Iran's ruler, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to carry out charitable work for Iran in the United States. Bank Melli of Iran financed the project with a $42 million loan in 1978. Other names for it include the Piaget Building and the Pahlavi Foundation Building.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1980

    February 25

    The Pahlavi Foundation is renamed the Mostazafan Foundation of New York after Iran's revolution

    After the 1979 revolution, Iran created the Bonyad Mostazafan to take over property seized by the new government, including the assets of the Pahlavi Foundation. According to the U.S. Attorney's account of the court record, all five of the foundation's directors resigned between October 1978 and October 1979 and four new ones took their places. The group was renamed the Mostazafan Foundation of New York through an amended certificate of incorporation filed on February 25, 1980, and it later became the Alavi Foundation.

    Source: justice.gov

  4. 1989

    The Alavi Foundation and Bank Melli form a partnership that prosecutors say hid the bank behind shell companies

    In 1989 the Alavi Foundation and Bank Melli created 650 Fifth Avenue Company, which the U.S. Attorney's office said was meant to avoid federal tax on the building's rental income. According to that office, the bank's stake was disguised through two shell companies. The foundation moved 35 percent of the partnership to Assa Corporation, which was owned by Assa Co. Ltd., a Jersey entity held by Iranian citizens who represented the bank's interests.

    Source: justice.gov

  5. 2008

    December 17

    Federal prosecutors file to seize Bank Melli's 40 percent stake in the tower

    On December 17, 2008, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan sued to forfeit the 40 percent interest that Assa Corporation held in 650 Fifth Avenue Company. The government later amended its complaint to go after the whole partnership, including the Alavi Foundation's 60 percent share, along with bank accounts held by the partnership, the foundation and Assa, and other Alavi properties.

    Source: justice.gov

  6. 2013

    September 17

    Judge Katherine Forrest rules for the government and calls Assa a front for Bank Melli

    On September 17, 2013, Judge Katherine B. Forrest granted summary judgment to the United States on its claims to forfeit the building, finding that the owners' partners, Alavi and Assa, had violated Iran sanctions law and money-laundering statutes. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the judgment a path to the largest terrorism-related forfeiture ever and a way to compensate victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism.

    Source: justice.gov

  7. 2019

    A federal appeals court overturns the jury verdict that would have let the government seize the tower

    In June 2017, after a jury found that Iran sanctions had been breached, acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said the government was prepared to seize the skyscraper, valued at between $500 million and $1 billion. In 2019 a federal appeals court overturned that jury verdict.

    “In 2019, the jury verdict to seize the property was overturned by a federal appeals court.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2026

    The Amir Kabir Foundation takes control of 650 Fifth Avenue under a $318 million settlement

    According to city records reported by Commercial Observer in April 2026, a Delaware nonprofit called the Amir Kabir Foundation took control of the tower through 650 Fifth Avenue Real Estate Holdings. The transfer was part of a $318 million settlement announced by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. Of that sum, $129 million went to victims' groups and $189 million is to be paid over three years, concluding nearly two decades of legal battles.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown