Sotheby’s Salls York Avenue headquarters sold to Weill Cornell, preparing for Breuer Move
The auction house confirmed in a note to staff this week that Sotheby’s has sold its long-time New York headquarters at 1334 York Avenue to Will Cornell Medicine.
The move marks the latest steps in a real estate overhaul, including its 2023 acquisition of the Breuer building, the Whitney Museum’s former residence on Madison Avenue and the new 240,000-square-foot complex in Long Island City, Gantry Point.
In the internal message, with ArtnewsSotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart said the sale of “the logic and final step of our New York real estate transformation.” He said the auction house will lease the floors of the 7–10 York Avenue building “under a long-term lease” to ensure “minimum damage” for employees.
“When you consider this space plus the Brewer and gantry features, we will have spaces that are more fully inhabited in York.”
After the sale to Weill Cornell, a lease agreement was reached with the medical school signed in 2023, covering approximately 200,000 square feet of the five-story building. Weill Cornell already has the fifth and sixth floors and plans to open research institutions on site. Federal funding freeze slows down some of the university’s broader research programs, but Weill Cornell Artnews This summer, “York 1334 development plan is underway.”
Since 1980, Sotheby’s has occupied the York Avenue building. It sold the building in 2003 to pay off debts related to the price fixing scandal, but repurchased the building in 2009 for $370 million. In 2019, telecom billionaire Patrick Drahi bought Sotheby’s for $3.7 billion, which transferred ownership of the building to a holding company established by Drahi. By the second half of 2023, Sotheby’s has announced plans to abandon half of Weill Cornell’s space as part of its relocation strategy.
The auction house will move its global headquarters to the Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue, opening on November 8, its so-called “blockbuster” exhibition of modern art. Renovated by Herzog & de Meuron, in partnership with PBDW Architects, landmark spaces include a reimagined business room, a free public gallery and a new exquisite restaurant. According to Stewart’s notes, the exhibition on York Avenue will last until mid-November, with brief overlaps during the transition period.
