Amazon nears deal to lease space in Chrysler Building

By: Steve C.

Much-in-the-news Amazon is close to signing a lease for a large store at the much-in-the-news Chrysler Building, The Post has learned.

The deal for about 10,000 square feet at the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 42nd Street is not final. But retail sources predicted it will be done soon.

The prospective move comes as the landmark Chrysler tower is being put on the sale block by its owners, Abu Dhabi Investment Council and Tishman Speyer.

But it turns out there’s more to the offering, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, than merely the gorgeously crowned office tower.

A purchase could also include the Trylons retail and office pavilion next door on 42nd Street, according to CBRE investment-sale broker Darcy Stacom, who’s handling the offering for the sellers. The Trylons might be the combined properties’ most valuable portion on a per-square-foot basis.

The Philip Johnson-designed, pyramids-topped structure has 28,500 square feet, including the ground floor now leased to Capital Grille. Stacom said it also has about 70,000 square feet of unused air rights.

Making the Trylons even more attractive, the land beneath them is owned outright by the ADIC and Tishman Speyer — unlike at the tower alone, which pays ground rent to Cooper Union.

Moreover, thanks to a zoning-lot merger, the Trylons’ owner would have a large say in any future redevelopment or expansion involving 666 Third Ave., an office building next door known as Chrysler East, which is not for sale. Tishman Speyer co-owns it with a different partner.

Some industry insiders speculated last week that the ADIC, which paid $800 million for its 90 percent stake in the 1920s-vintage Chrysler tower in 2008, might fetch less on a sale.

But Stacom called Chrysler’s global-iconic mystique “an X factor the likes of which I’ve never seen. I’ve already had inquiries from everywhere — Dublin, Madrid, Hong Kong, Singapore,” she said.