245 Park Avenue: SL Green’s $250 Million Renovation of a Midtown Tower
Photo above: 245 Park Avenue, photographed 2011, before the current renovation. Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Renovation work at 245 Park Avenue ramped up on site in May 2025, part of a $250 million capital program owners SL Green and Mori Trust announced the previous fall. The project is re-cladding part of the building’s mid-century podium, rebuilding both lobbies, and adding a rooftop pavilion and wellness center, with completion targeted for late 2027.
Current View
245 Park Avenue wrapped in scaffolding during active renovation, via a public NYC architecture account:
At a Glance
- A 48-story, 1967 office tower undergoing a $250 million renovation of its facade, lobbies, and amenities — not a ground-up rebuild.
- Owned by SL Green Realty and Japan’s Mori Trust, after a five-year ownership fight that began when former owner HNA Group went bankrupt in 2021.
- Was Bear Stearns’ headquarters from 1987 until the firm moved into its own new tower at 383 Madison Avenue in 2001-2002.
- Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon — the same firm behind the Empire State Building.
What Is 245 Park Avenue?
245 Park Avenue is a 648-foot, 48-story office tower in Midtown East, completed in 1967 on the site of the former Grand Central Palace exhibition hall. Developer Uris Buildings Corporation hired Shreve, Lamb & Harmon — the firm that had designed the Empire State Building three decades earlier.
The finished building held 1.7 million square feet, at various points carrying the names of tenants American Tobacco Company and American Brands.
Its best-known chapter came later: Bear Stearns leased more than 500,000 square feet here in 1987, relocating roughly 3,000 employees, and stayed until 2001-2002, when the firm moved a few blocks away into its own purpose-built headquarters at 383 Madison Avenue — itself now a Hush Street Living Project Page, currently mid-renovation under new owner JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan also leased space directly at 245 Park Avenue, signing for 580,000 square feet in 2000 as part of a corporate campus alongside its own building at 270 Park Avenue — JPMorgan’s new global headquarters, opened in 2025.
An Ownership Fight Before the Renovation
The building’s current owners came to it through an unusually contentious path. Chinese conglomerate HNA Group bought 245 Park Avenue in March 2017 for $2.21 billion, acquiring it from a joint venture of Brookfield Property Partners and the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System.
SL Green Realty invested $148.2 million into the HNA ownership entity the following year, taking a 49% preferred equity stake and the building’s property- and leasing-management role.
HNA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2021, a move the company tied directly to its purchase of the building, and lost an arbitration fight with SL Green over the property. SL Green took full ownership in 2022.
In 2023, Japanese developer Mori Trust agreed to buy a 49.9% stake from SL Green, making the two firms co-owners heading into the current renovation.
The Renovation
SL Green announced a $250 million capital renovation program for 245 Park Avenue in the fall of 2024, and work ramped up on site in May 2025. Kohn Pedersen Fox is redesigning the building’s exterior, replacing part of its mid-century podium cladding with a new bronze-glazed terra cotta facade and reworking the Park Avenue entrance into a set-back, six-story plinth evocative of an Italian palazzo.
Fogarty Finger is handling the interiors: redesigned Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue lobbies in white oak, Italian marble, and bronze; a new, more accessible Lexington Avenue entrance with its own elevator and a double-height window wall; modernized elevators with destination dispatch; and a new amenity program that includes a wellness center, a golf lounge, a Daniel Boulud food concept, and a rooftop pavilion with English garden-inspired landscaping.
The building’s roughly 1.7 million square feet remain fully leased office space during construction — tenants include Societe Generale, which occupies nearly 600,000 square feet across floors 3 through 14, along with Ares Management, Rabobank, Houlihan Lokey, and TPG Angelo Gordon.
Some reporting has flagged the building’s mortgage as a “loan of concern” following the departure of two large tenants, a reminder that the renovation is as much a bet on relet-ability as it is a design statement. Completion is targeted for late 2027.
Timeline
Clearing the site for the current building.
Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon for developer Uris Buildings Corporation; later known at various points for tenants American Tobacco Company and American Brands.
More than 500,000 square feet, relocating roughly 3,000 employees.
As part of a corporate campus alongside its space at 270 Park Avenue.
A purpose-built tower a few blocks away -- now also a Hush Street Living Project Page.
From a joint venture of Brookfield Property Partners and the NY State Teachers' Retirement System.
For a 49% preferred equity stake in the HNA ownership entity and the role of property/leasing manager.
A filing HNA linked to its $2.2 billion purchase of the building.
After HNA's bankruptcy and an arbitration loss to SL Green.
Becoming SL Green's co-owner.
Location
245 Park Avenue sits in Midtown East between East 46th and 47th Streets, a few blocks south of Grand Central Terminal. View on Google Maps.
Sources
Sources: Wikipedia; New York YIMBY; The Real Deal; Commercial Observer (SL Green takeover); Commercial Observer (HNA bankruptcy); Mingtiandi; SL Green Realty Corp.; Kohn Pedersen Fox.
Bear Stearns’ 2001-2002 relocation from 245 Park Avenue led directly to its purpose-built headquarters a few blocks away — see Hush Street’s coverage of 383 Madison Avenue. 245 Park Avenue was also part of a shared JPMorgan Chase office campus with 270 Park Avenue, the bank’s new global headquarters.
Hush Street Editorial researches and reports on the projects, permits, and physical changes reshaping Brooklyn — and, more broadly, New York City. Reporting draws on primary-source city records — Department of Buildings filings, land-use and planning applications, agency and community-board documents — verified and cross-checked against independent reporting where it exists. Coverage is continuously updated as new filings and decisions are recorded, and confirmed facts are distinguished from open questions.
