General Atlantic, a powerhouse global investment firm with offices in 21 countries, is investing in Madison Avenue.
The company signed a lease for more than 150,000 square feet on five floors at Related Companies’ soon-to-rise 625 Madison Ave., a 53-story tower set to open in 2029. The anchor-tenant commitment by the premier financial firm will get the long-awaited project off the ground.
The site, currently an empty lot between East 58th and 59th streets, was home to Related’s own headquarters in the former Revlon building before the real estate giant moved to Time Warner Center in 2004 — the mega-project Related developed at Columbus Circle.
In late 1999, Related founder and former CEO Stephen M. Ross would often gaze expectantly from his office window at the former New York Coliseum as it was razed for his game-changing, mixed-use project across the park.
Ross recently left to launch his own development company, Ross Related, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“General Atlantic was exactly the kind of prestigious and ambitious firm” the developer had in mind during the site’s design process, said Related’s current CEO, Jeff Blau. The tower’s architects are Foster + Partners and Gensler.
General Atlantic Chairman and CEO Bill Ford called the planned move to 625 Madison “an investment in the firm’s future … it gives us room to grow for many decades to come.” It will relocate from Park Avenue Plaza at 55 E. 52nd Street.
The plan for the 684-foot-tall project is actually much smaller than Blau originally envisioned. In 2024, shortly after Related bought the site from SL Green for $632 million, he told The Post he was contemplating a 1,200-foot-tall skyscraper to contain luxury condos, stores and possibly a hotel.
“I spent 15 years with Stephen in the [old] building,” Blau said fondly of his history at the location.
Sources said the decision to go with offices, instead, reflected the market’s insatiable demand for the most advanced product, even as the appetite for luxury homes like those on Billionaires’ Row might have peaked.
The 625 Madison tower, in the heart of the avenue’s most glamorous shopping stretch, is the latest planned Manhattan tower to sign an anchor tenant before ground was even broken.
BXP landed both investment giant Starr and law firm McDermott Will & Schulte for its soon-to-rise 343 Madison Ave., while partners Vornado Realty Trust, Ken Griffin and Rudin signed Griffin’s Citadel companies.
Related’s portfolio boasts $100 billion in assets including Hudson Yards. General Atlantic manages $130 billion in assets worldwide.
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