CBS Building

Black Rock, also known as the CBS Building, is at 51 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019, in Midtown.

The CBS Building has about 817,000 square feet of floor area in total, including 787,000 square feet of office and 30,000 square feet of retail, according to NYC PLUTO 26v2. These are the city's estimates for the whole building, not space that is available.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission's building records date the CBS Building to 1961-1964, designed by Eero Saarinen & Associates (E Saarinen, K Roche, J Dinkeloo). The building is 38 floors tall.

Eero Saarinen & Associates (E Saarinen, K Roche, J Dinkeloo), according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission's building records, which list the style as Modern and its original use as an office building.

Yes. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the CBS Building an individual landmark on October 21, 1997 (LP-01971). Changes to a designated landmark, including many storefront, window and signage changes, need a permit from the Commission.

The CBS Building is at 51 West 52nd Street in Midtown, Manhattan. City records list 1300-1316 Avenue of the Americas, 51-69 West 52nd Street and 52-66 West 53rd Street on the same tax lot (BBL 1012680001). A space listed on Leasemark at any of these addresses shows up on this page.

51 West 52nd Street is in ZIP code 10019, according to the city's tax lot records (NYC PLUTO 26v2) and the Department of Finance's assessment roll. The CBS Building is at 51 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019, in Midtown.

The lot is in the C5-3 zoning district. PLUTO lists a built floor area ratio (FAR) of 17.12 and a maximum commercial FAR of 15 for this lot.

The closest subway station to the CBS Building is 7 Av (the B, D and E trains), about 1000 feet away in a straight line, roughly 4 minutes on foot. Also nearby: 5 Av/53 St (the E and F trains), 4 min walk; 57 St (the M train), 4 min walk. Walking times are straight-line estimates; the street route is longer.

The NYC Department of Finance's 2026/27 assessment roll lists 51 W. OWNER, LP as the owner of record of the CBS Building (BBL 1012680001). Big buildings are usually held through a company set up for that one property, so the name on the roll can differ from the landlord's brand or the managing agent. Deeds and mortgages for the lot are public in ACRIS, the city's property records system.

The CBS Building last sold in October 2021 for $760 million, according to the deed recorded with the city. CBS BROADCASTING INC. sold it to 51 W. OWNER, LP. That comes to about $930 per square foot of floor area. The deed is ACRIS document 2021101900828001 (BBL 1012680001) in the city's property records. A sale of the company that owns a building is not recorded as a deed, so it would not show there.

The CBS Building reported an ENERGY STAR score of 58 for calendar year 2024 in its Local Law 84 benchmarking filing. Under Local Law 33, as amended by Local Law 95 of 2019, a score of 85 or higher earns an A, 70 to 84 a B, 55 to 69 a C and under 55 a D, so 58 earns a C. The Department of Buildings assigns the grade a building posts, so the posted label can differ if a filing was corrected. Its site energy use came to 102.3 kBtu per square foot, 10% below the national median of 114 for a similar property. Its greenhouse gas emissions were about 8,311 metric tons of CO2e (9.31 kg per square foot).

At its 2024 energy use, the CBS Building comes to about 5,948 metric tons of CO2e a year under Local Law 97's coefficients, against a limit of 6,832 tons for 2024 to 2029 (87% of the limit), so it would owe no penalty. From 2030 the limit drops to 2,451 tons and the same energy use counts as about 3,916 tons, about 1,465 tons over, or an estimated $393,000 a year unless the building cuts its emissions. This is an estimate from the owner's 2024 benchmarking filing using the coefficients and per-use limits in the law and the Department of Buildings rule, at $268 per ton over. It is not the building's Local Law 97 report, which can count credits and deductions this estimate cannot.

In the 12 months to October 2026, the Department of Buildings issued first permits for 25 jobs at the CBS Building. In the last two years, interior work was permitted on 18 floors (floors 2 to 6, 8 to 10, 13, 14, 16 to 18 and 20 to 24 and the cellar). The newest build-out, on floor 8, was first permitted in July 2026 (construction, mechanical, plumbing, sprinklers; filed cost estimate $2.1 million). These are the Department of Buildings' DOB NOW work permits for tax lot 1012680001. A permit is approval to do the work; it does not say who the work is for or whether it is finished.

The Department of Finance's 2026/27 assessment roll lists a taxable value of $154.5 million for the CBS Building. At the Class 4 rate of 10.848% (tax year 2025/26, the latest rate the Department of Finance lists), that is about $16.8 million a year, roughly $20.51 per square foot of floor area, before abatements such as ICAP. The city's property tax records for BBL 1012680001 show the actual bill.

For tax year 2026/27, the NYC Department of Finance puts the market value of the CBS Building at $343.3 million ($89.4 million of it land) and its assessed value at $154.5 million, the 45% of market value the city assesses for Class 4 property. The city's market value fell 7% from 2022/23 ($368 million) to 2026/27.

Owners registered 3 storefronts at the CBS Building for December 31, 2025, the newest annual filing the city has published, and 1 of them stood vacant that day. At least one storefront here has been reported vacant at the end of every year since 2023. These are the owners' filings with the Department of Finance under Local Law 157, so a storefront vacant on December 31, 2025 may have been leased since. Owners and brokers can list a storefront on Leasemark for free.

No space at 51 West 52nd Street is listed on Leasemark right now. Nearby on Leasemark: office space for lease at 783 Madison 4th Floor in the Upper East Side (994 SF, $66.40/SF/yr). Owners and brokers can list space here for free, and tenants can post a requirement to be matched when space opens up.