Amazon is buying the former Lord & Taylor building in Midtown for a whopping $1.15 billion in cash, the New York Post reports. The landmarked 11-story Fifth Avenue building will serve as Amazon’s New York City headquarters, and will house several thousand employees in the coming years, a source familiar with the sale told the Post. Amazon is reportedly paying more than $2,000 per square foot for the Midtown property.
Only two years ago, the troubled office-sharing startup WeWork leased the former department store building to become its own headquarters. But WeWork’s plans fell apart last fall when the company and its former CEO Adam Neumann were embroiled in a series of scandals that ultimately derailed its plans to go public.
The former Lord & Taylor building is the latest office space the e-commerce giant has snapped up in New York City. After Amazon’s abrupt exit from a deal that would have brought half of the company’s second North American headquarters to Long Island City, the company has gradually expanded its footprint of Manhattan office space. In December, Amazon leased 335,000 square feet in the Hudson Yards area with plans to house some 1,500 employees there.
Published by New York Curbed
