Manhattan, NY According to Tishman Speyer, Christie’s has extended its lease at 20 Rockefeller Plaza for 25 years, ensuring the art and luxury business maintains its home and secures its legacy on the campus. Since 1997, Christie’s has occupied nearly 400,000 s/f at Rockefeller Center, comprising salerooms, public galleries, warehouses and office space. The lease renewal comes as Tishman Speyer’s campus-wide redevelopment of Rockefeller Center approaches its conclusion in late 2024.
“Rockefeller Center and Christie’s are both quintessentially New York,” said Tishman Speyer CEO, Rob Speyer. “Christie’s’ decision to build on their 25-year history here further validates the success of our reimagination of the Center.”
Christie’s was represented in these negotiations by Mary Ann Tighe, Ramneek Rikhy, Cara Chayet and Courtney Hughson of CBRE, along with Jen Yashar and Danielle Frank of Fried Frank. The Tishman Speyer team was led by EB Kelly and was represented in-house by Blythe Kinsler and by Charlie Mileski from Davis & Gilbert.
“We’re delighted that Christie’s will continue its position as the only auction house to sit centerstage at Rockefeller Center in the beating heart of New York City,” said the president of Christie’s Americas, Bonnie Brennan. “This unmatched space allows us to continue to give our clients the very best service imaginable by ensuring our entire staff is available in one place, and we are continuing to reimagine both our space and the experience we are providing, and look forward to sharing those details in due course.”
Both Christie’s and Rockefeller Center are international icons, synonymous with quality, design, and luxury, who also maintain open and free access for visitors to engage with major works of art year-round. For nearly three decades, Christie’s at Rockefeller Center has stood at the crossroads of the auction world, providing the best expertise and service in the business, while opening its doors to inspire New York City with culture, innovation, and celebration.
Christie’s’ Rockefeller Center headquarters features a grand limestone and bronze exterior, complementing the more than 100 pieces of existing public art in and around the landmark buildings. It has been the site of some of the most important moments in auction history: collections from such names as Paul G. Allen, S.I. Newhouse, Elizabeth Taylor, David Gilmour, Andre Leon Talley, and the Rockefeller family itself; auction records including the highest price ever for a single-owner sale for the Estate of Paul G. Allen, the highest price ever for a single work for Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, and the highest price ever for a 20th century work at auction, for Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn. Rockefeller Center and Christie’s have also developed significant public art collaborations and seminal New York City art moments that have enthralled millions of visitors to campus, including: projecting images of Marilyn Monroe on the façade of Rockefeller Center to promote the sale of Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn; throwing a block party with a deejay, soul food, and Double Dutch rope jumping to promote the auction, DJ Kool Herc & The Birth of Hip Hop; filling the Rockefeller Plaza campus with flags, screens and projections to promote Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, the most valuable single-owner auction in history.
Rockefeller Center is a global icon built nearly a century ago as a “city within the city.” Over the past several years, Tishman Speyer has revitalized the landmark campus to ensure that the Center remains the city’s most dynamic destination for the next generation of New Yorkers and visitors.
The substantive capital improvement program, inspired by the Center’s original plans and history, has restored the original intent of the Channel Gardens and Rink areas as grand and welcoming entrance points for the public. The plans, approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in early 2020, opened up the lower-level passageways surrounding the famous Rink into a light-filled space that invites easy pedestrian flow and democratizes access to skating and public art in the center of campus. The Rink Level is now also home to three marquee restaurants – NARO, Jupiter, and 5 Acres – from celebrated independent chefs. These restaurants join Le Rock and others in a revamp of the campus dining experience, vaulting Rockefeller Center into the highest levels of the city’s culinary landscape.
Tishman Speyer has similarly pursued a retail transformation at the Center, reinvigorating its offerings with beloved and distinctive shops helmed by local entrepreneurs, including Catbird, McNally Jackson, and Todd Snyder alongside buzzy global brands including Alo Yoga, Tiffany & Co., and LEGO.
Seventy stories above the plaza level, the three-level Top of The Rock observation deck has been reimagined to offer new attractions and dramatically enhance the visitor experience. The Beam, opened in 2023, invites visitors to recreate “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” the iconic 1932 photo depicting 11 ironworkers lunching on a steel beam during the construction of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. This fall, Tishman Speyer will unveil the Skylift, a revolving glass-enclosed platform that will elevate visitors nearly 900 ft. in the air for unrivaled 360-degree views of the New York City skyline and beyond. The Skylift will serve as the culmination of Tishman Speyer’s revitalization of the Center.
Companies located at Rockefeller Center have special access to this unmatched ecosystem of restaurants, retailers, and attractions through Tishman Speyer’s pioneering ZO amenity platform. Extraordinary spaces available only to those who work in Tishman Speyer buildings, and their guests, include the ZO Clubhouse on the 33rd floor of 1 Rockefeller Plaza as well as Radio Park, a 24,000 s/f green space on the roof of Radio City Music Hall that has become a favorite destination to relax, collaborate, or socialize. A slate of programming that draws on the dining, shopping, and art across campus enriches networks, fosters collaboration, and reimagines the role of the workplace.
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