500 Park Tower

500 Park Avenue is an office and residential condominium building on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 59th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, composed of the 11-story Pepsi-Cola Building and the 40-story 500 Park Tower. The original Pepsi-Cola Building along Park Avenue was constructed from 1958 to 1960 and designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). The tower along 59th Street was constructed between 1981 and 1984 to designs by James Stewart Polshek & Partners. The old Pepsi-Cola Building was designed in the International Style with a curtain wall made of glass and aluminum. The second through tenth stories slightly overhang a plaza at ground level, while the eleventh floor contained a company penthouse. Inside, the original building's lobby was initially used as an exhibition space, while the upper stories contained offices. 500 Park Tower contains a facade made of thermal black granite, as well as glass and aluminum. Inside 500 Park Tower, the first eleven floors contain office space that extends into the original building, while the upper floors contain 56 residential condominiums. The original structure was the headquarters of the Pepsi-Cola Company from its construction until 1967 and was initially owned by the John Hancock Mutual Insurance Company. It then served as the headquarters of Olivetti S.p.A. until 1978, when it was successively resold to Peter Kalikow, Securities Groups, and then the Equitable Life Assurance Society. The original building was occupied by the Amsterdam and Rotterdam Bank (later ABN AMRO) starting in 1982, and 500 Park Tower was concurrently developed to the west. In 1995, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Pepsi-Cola Building as a New York City landmark. Other companies such as The Walt Disney Company have taken space in the building since the 1990s. SL Green bought the original portion of 500 Park Avenue in 2024.

500 Park Avenue is at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 59th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building is composed of two land lots. The rectangular land lot under the original building, at the street corner proper, has a frontage of 100 feet (30 m) on Park Avenue to the east and 125 feet (38 m) on 59th Street to the north. The adjacent rectangular lot to the west has a frontage of 75 feet (23 m) on 59th Street and a depth of 100 feet. 500 Park Avenue is near the Fuller Building and Four Seasons Hotel New York to the southwest; 59E59 Theaters and Trump Park Avenue to the north; 499 Park Avenue to the east; and the Ritz Tower to the southeast. Through the 1880s, the surrounding area of Park Avenue had been mostly undeveloped, but by the 1900s, the site contained six-to-eight-story residences, as well as a nine-story New York City Board of Education building at the address 500 Park Avenue. In the late 19th century, the Park Avenue railroad line ran in an open cut in the middle of Park Avenue. The line was covered with the construction of Grand Central Terminal in the early 20th century, spurring development in the surrounding area, Terminal City. The adjacent stretch of Park Avenue became a wealthy neighborhood with upscale apartments. The Board of Education building, designed by Napoleon LeBrun, was occupied by its namesake from the early 1890s to 1940. Afterward, it was used by various government functions, such as the Civilian Defense Recruitment, the Youth Board, and the Mayor's Reception Committee. Many of the residential structures on Park Avenue were replaced with largely commercial International Style skyscrapers during the 1950s and 1960s. These structures included 270 Park Avenue, Lever House, 425 Park Avenue, and the Seagram Build

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