By: Benyamin Davidsons

Related Cos. filed plans with the Department of Buildings last week to bulldoze the 17-story office tower at 613 Madison Ave., which is also known as 625 Madison Ave. The full-block building, centrally located in Midtown Manhattan’s prime shopping corridor, between East 58th and 59th streets, boasts roughly 530,000-square-feet of space and was originally built in 1956 as Nabisco’s headquarters.

As reported by Crain’s NY, Related is hoping to push through plans to develop a 1,200-foot-tall ultra-luxury tower— which will include retail, condominiums and a hotel at 625 Madison. Interior demolition has already started at the commercial building, which had recently housed the nightclub Lavo, but vacated the building in January. The demolition alone is expected to take about nine months, said Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Related. The demolition includes the property next-door at 39 E. 58th St., said Jeff Blau, Chief Executive Officer of Related. The development giant has not yet disclosed the total project cost.

The plans would reshape Midtown as we know it. Madison Avenue has already undergone changes, with other announcements made in the past few months. Just a few blocks uptown, between East 60th and East 61st streets, a different developer, Williams Equities, filed plans to tear down its own 24-story office tower at 655 Madison Ave., Crain’s reported last month.

The owners plan to build a new tower with “a mixture of retail, hospitality and residential,” said Williams’ co-principal Michael T. Cohen. Retail tenants have already moved out, including Marc Jacobs, which had the large south corner. Per the Post, there are also changes on the horizon for 660 Madison Avenue on 61st Street, which formerly served as flagship of upscale department store Barneys New York. Billionaire developer Ben Ashkenazy, who heads Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., lost his ground lease at 635 Madison Ave. to foreclosure. The property, which is currently mostly vacant, went back to the lender, per Crain’s.

Back to the 17-story Class A office tower at 625 Madison Ave, Related had purchased the property from Manhattan-based SL Green for $632.5 million in February, with plans to redevelop. The deal, which had initially kept under wraps that Related was the buyer, was one of the largest transactions of 2023. The planned new supertall tower can be built “all as of right,” meaning it would required no zoning changes or city land-use review, said Blau, who kept the CEO spot, after longtime chairman and founder Stephan Ross stepped down. Ross, 84, who owns the NFL Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, had announced in July that he is moving on to pursue a new enterprise in South Florida. His new company will be named Related Ross, according to Crain’s.

Related Cos., founded in 1972, owns about $60 billion worth of property nationwide and boasts about 4.000 employees. The giant development firm is also famed for its redevelopment of Hudson Yards, which is now considered the largest private development in the United States— boasting 28 acres or 18 million square feet. Related has also submitted a bid to open a casino in Hudson Yards.