Rockefeller Center Sold to 2 Shareholders

Rockefeller Center has been sold to two minority shareholders for $1.85 billion, severing the Rockefeller family’s last remaining ties to the historic city landmark, the buyers announced. The pending deal would transfer full control of the complex to Tishman Speyer Properties and the Crown family of Chicago, who own 5% of the complex. The sale price is under what the owners reportedly had sought. Rockefeller Center Properties Inc. Trust, which paid $1.2 billion four years ago, had asked for as much as $2.5 billion after putting the center up for sale in May. The 22-acre office building complex was built during the heart of the Depression and has since anchored New York’s midtown as an international symbol of commerce and capitalism. Speyer and Crown will purchase the interests of their partners: banker David Rockefeller; the Goldman Sachs Group; the Agnelli Family of Italy; and the estate of Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos.