Tishman Speyer announced that Christie’s has extended its lease at Rockefeller Center 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 square feet 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’ 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 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 and 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.
Tishman Speyer’s capital improvement program, inspired by Rockefeller 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 the campus.
This fall, Tishman Speyer will unveil the Skylift, a revolving glass-enclosed platform that will elevate visitors nearly 900 feet 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.
Christie’s was represented 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.
