West Side Story

The postwar building boom that has transformed the skyline of Manhattan has been concentrated chiefly on the island's East Side. Only in the past two years has the realty renaissance leaped west across Fifth Avenue to the midtown section of the Avenue of the Americas (the old Sixth Avenue) between Rockefeller Center and Central Park.

Sixth Avenue's new look began with the 48-story TIME & LIFE Building. Equitable Life Assurance followed with a 42-story building to the north. Across the street William Zeckendorf made grandiose plans to build Manhattan's first new hotel in 30 years (see below). With other new buildings planned for the area, real-estate values are skyrocketing.

Latest to make the trek to Sixth is CBS. It bought 40,000 sq. ft. on the avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets from Zeckendorf and two other firms. CBS, having long since outgrown its Madison Avenue headquarters and dispersed itself in studios and offices across the city, has hired famed Midwestern Architect Eero Saarinen to design its new home. It will be the first Saarinen office building in Manhattan.

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