How Much Would It Cost to Buy Avengers Tower? We Asked a NYC Real Estate Specialist

Spoilers travel for Thunderbolts.

You wouldn’t expect a Marvel movie to beryllium truthful focused connected premier New York existent estate. And yet, that’s precisely what happens successful Thunderbolts, wherever a large information of the enactment takes spot successful and astir what was formerly known arsenic Avengers Tower – present called The Watchtower, acknowledgment to caller proprietor Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). While this does necktie up a crippled constituent that’s been dangling since Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) moved the Avengers retired of the HQ successful 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, it besides raises a clump of questions. Money questions. Specifically, however overmuch did Valentina wage Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) for the tower? And what would beryllium progressive successful renovating an full high-rise, close successful the halfway of New York City?

To springiness a small much inheritance here, and you whitethorn beryllium alert of this: Avengers Tower does not beryllium successful existent life. Despite being location to 2 large battles adjacent to Manhattan’s Grand Central Station (those would beryllium successful the archetypal Avengers movie and Thunderbolts), the MCU gathering has replaced another, real-life landmark: 200 Park Avenue South, besides known arsenic the MetLife Building. In the comics, the Tower is 93 stories tall, and arsenic seen successful the movies, it’s packed with bells and whistles similar a helipad that allows some Iron Man and a Quinjet to instrumentality off. It besides gets attacked. A lot. The MetLife building? No Iron Man take-off platform, and besides acold less supervillain attacks.

Michael T. Cohen, a Principal with Williams Equities, which owns and invests successful respective cardinal quadrate feet of NYC existent estate, has implicit 40 years successful the existent property concern – and much importantly, has been a instrumentality of Marvel Comics and movies for years. He compared Valentina’s acquisition to the offering of 590 Madison Avenue, a high-rise bureau gathering 15 blocks uptown from “Avengers Tower” that precocious had an asking terms of $1.1 billion.

“The metric by which we would measurement the worth would beryllium terms per quadrate foot,” Cohen explained. “So my conjecture is, there's obscurity wherever they safely archer you whether it's a cardinal quadrate feet, oregon a cardinal and a half, oregon however ample it truly is… So we're benignant of shooting successful the acheronian here, without immoderate of the underlying math, but I would accidental 1 could easy presume that the Avengers Tower would merchantability for a cardinal dollars oregon much based upon the look of it, the size, and the location.”

Other buildings successful the country that person changed hands oregon are getting built up see a Hyatt that has been connected clasp for a while, though it looks to get started adjacent year. The Chrysler Building has changed hands a fig of times. And aggregate buildings successful the 50s and 60s (streets) – 10 to 20 blocks North of Grand Central – are getting converted into apartments, versus the towering bureau buildings that person dominated the country for decades.

There are a fewer much factors that Cohen added that would interaction the asking terms for Avengers Tower. The first? The rooftop helipad, which was banned successful NYC successful 1977. “How did the Avengers, and however did the buyer… How did these radical put for the metropolis to alteration the rules to licence a helipad backmost successful the mediate of the metropolis again?” Cohen said. “Somebody would person had to propulsion immoderate strings. There would person had to person been immoderate absorbing conversations astir allowing that to happen, due to the fact that close present it's not permitted.”

In Thunderbolts, the gathering is present called The Watchtower.

As a not-so-insignificant sidebar, the 1977 prohibition occurred aft a chopper crashed connected May 16, connected apical of what was past called the Pan Am Building. The horrific mishap killed 5 radical and wounded 8 others, including a pedestrian who was deed by a rotor falling from the roof. In 1992, aft Pan Am was dissolved, the sanction was changed to lucifer the caller owners, and the gathering was renamed as… the MetLife Building.

Kevin Draper, a New York City historiographer and proprietor of NewYorkHistoricalTours.com, explained further that determination were already issues with helipads successful the metropolis owed to the noise. While the Pan Am helipad was portion of New York past – Draper recalled that The Beatles took disconnected from determination for their iconic Shea Stadium performance successful the ‘60s – the mishap successful ‘77 “pushed it implicit the edge. That's erstwhile radical realized, ‘We can't person this anymore.’”

So the specified beingness of that portion jutting retired from Avengers Tower would beryllium an contented to enactment retired for some Tony Stark and caller proprietor Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, since it shouldn’t beryllium astatine all. But helicopters landing is acold from the lone contented facing the building, location of some the Old Avengers and the New Avengers: It’s a premier people for supervillain attacks, arsenic seen successful aggregate movies and TV shows.

“It would beryllium precise challenging to bargain spot security for Avengers Tower if you were a accepted investor,” Cohen continued. “The Avengers, presumably, don't inhabit the full building. While it's a fabulous determination and it's terribly prestigious, however would you consciousness astir being a tenant successful Avengers Tower, say, connected the level beneath them, oregon supra them, oregon anyplace successful the aforesaid elevator bank? Do the Avengers person a backstage entrance, oregon bash they thrust with the accepted tenants? If you truly built Avengers Tower successful the mediate of the city, determination are immoderate precise interesting, idiosyncratic considerations 1 would person to instrumentality into account.”

And 1 past idiosyncratic consideration? The perpetually under-attack gathering is, conscionable similar the MetLife Building, connected apical of a proscription hub, aka Grand Central Station.

Draper noted that Grand Central has go adjacent much desirable precocious arsenic “tens of thousands of radical tin travel consecutive from Long Island into Grand Central Terminal, which means that's going to bash a batch … successful presumption of radical wanting to support their corporations and office oregon what person you successful that neighborhood… In the satellite of Marvel, having immoderate benignant of precise important office determination makes cleanable sense.”

The subway entrances astatine Grand Central are utilized successful Thunderbolts erstwhile the squad is ferrying guiltless bystanders to information portion The Void (Lewis Pullman) is going hog wild. But successful presumption of a gathering prone to destruction, the imaginable liabilities some for the proprietor of Avengers Tower and the metropolis of New York mightiness outweigh the benefits.

Just to instrumentality a measurement adjacent further back, what would adjacent beryllium progressive with a monolithic existent property woody similar buying Avengers Tower? According to Cohen, it’s a multi-step process that would impact creating an offering memorandum, which would incorporate reports connected the attraction of the gathering and infrastructure, and past inviting funny parties to motion a confidentiality statement to cheque it out.

“For Avengers Tower? It would not beryllium outlandish to person 40 oregon 50 investors motion the confidentiality statement and sojourn the website to analyse this data. But then, eventually, the seller volition telephone for bids,” helium says.

From there, the sealed bids are submitted to the seller – successful this case, Tony Stark, oregon much apt Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow), since she handles the concern broadside of the company. The buyers volition measure what they deliberation the gathering is worthy and however they’ll stitchery those funds. If those buyers beryllium worthy, they wield the powerfulness of… A 2nd bid. That 2nd bid volition encompass a higher offer, which volition proceed to whittle the fig of bidders down to 1 oregon two. At that point, the seller volition effort to “squeeze arsenic overmuch wealth from his favourite purchaser arsenic helium perchance can, and hands are shaken, and papers are drawn, and whoever got near astatine the altar becomes, you know, Miss Congeniality waiting successful the wings.”

In this case, we don’t cognize who Miss Congeniality was (perhaps Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer?), but we bash cognize who won Miss America: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She purchased the gathering astir 2016 (when Spider-Man: Homecoming is set), but arsenic we observe successful Thunderbolts, fundamentally abandoned it and immoderate planned renovations for years.

Cohen explained it’s antithetic for premier existent property similar Avengers Tower to beryllium vacant for years, though it does happen. If so, it’s usually due to the fact that the capitalist “didn’t person the superior indispensable to re-tenant it,” oregon alternately, determination mightiness beryllium a “casualty event, meaning a flood, a fire, an explosion, thing that would relationship for the gathering being emptied.”

In this case, it’s simply that immoderate Valentina’s plans were for the gathering -- the Sentry program, a caller Avengers team, mounting up a Shane's Tires outlet -- didn’t cookware out. Now, though, with the New Avengers squad introduced astatine the extremity of Thunderbolts, it’s clip to decorativeness what she started.

“If it’s been sitting vacant for 11 years, [it] would beryllium a apt campaigner for a makeover,” Cohen noted. (Thunderbolts is acceptable astir 2027, truthful 11 years aft Homecoming.) “Being successful disuse for that play of time, gathering systems, different things, determination are a batch of things that spell bump successful the night. And a purchaser of a gathering that's been vacant for 11 years, it would not beryllium antithetic for them to privation to invest, revamp, and formal it backmost up.”

But determination is 1 past question worthy addressing: Why would other radical privation to beryllium anyplace astir Avengers Tower, fixed the semi-regular bouts of demolition raining down connected their heads?

“The magnetic attraction of cities similar New York is truthful large that radical volition tolerate a definite magnitude of discomfort,” Cohen explained. “Now, would they truly tolerate an alien attack? That's anybody's guess, right? But New York is simply a terrific city.”

And the Thunderbolts – present the New Avengers – mightiness beryllium prone to agree. No asterisk necessary.