Knickerbocker Building

The Knickerbocker Building has about 273,000 square feet of floor area in total, including 256,000 square feet of office and 16,000 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 Knickerbocker Building to 1904-1906, designed by Albert S. Gottlieb. The building is 16 floors tall.

Albert S. Gottlieb, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission's building records, which list the style as Beaux-Arts and its original use as store and lofts.

The Knickerbocker Building is at 79 Fifth Avenue in Union Square, Manhattan. City records list 2-6 East 16th Street and 79-83 Fifth Avenue on the same tax lot (BBL 1008430045). A space listed on Leasemark at any of these addresses shows up on this page.

79 Fifth Avenue is in ZIP code 10003, according to the city's tax lot records (NYC PLUTO 26v2) and the Department of Finance's assessment roll. The Knickerbocker Building is at 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, in Union Square.

The lot is in the C6-4M zoning district. PLUTO lists a built floor area ratio (FAR) of 16.2 and a maximum commercial FAR of 10 for this lot. It is inside the Ladies' Mile Historic District, so exterior changes go through the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The closest subway station to the Knickerbocker Building is 14 St-Union Sq (the 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R and W trains), about 700 feet away in a straight line, roughly 3 minutes on foot. The MTA lists it as an accessible station. Also nearby: 14 St (the 1, 2, 3, F, M and L trains, connected to 6 Av), 4 min walk; 23 St (the R and W trains), 7 min walk. Walking times are straight-line estimates; the street route is longer.

The NYC Department of Finance's 2026/27 assessment roll lists SAK 79 FIFTH LLC as the owner of record of the Knickerbocker Building (BBL 1008430045). 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 Knickerbocker Building reported an ENERGY STAR score of 70 for calendar year 2023 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 70 earns a B. 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 74.2 kBtu per square foot, 25% below the national median of 99.3 for a similar property. Its greenhouse gas emissions were about 1,767 metric tons of CO2e (6.5 kg per square foot).

At its 2023 energy use, the Knickerbocker Building comes to about 1,468 metric tons of CO2e a year under Local Law 97's coefficients, against a limit of 2,067 tons for 2024 to 2029 (71% of the limit), so it would owe no penalty. From 2030 the limit drops to 734 tons and the same energy use counts as about 943 tons, about 209 tons over, or an estimated $56,000 a year unless the building cuts its emissions. This is an estimate from the owner's 2023 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 5 jobs at the Knickerbocker Building. In the last two years, interior work was permitted on 5 floors (floors 1, 3 and 12 to 14, the cellar, the mezzanine and the sub-cellar). The newest build-out, on the sub-cellar, was first permitted in August 2026 (plumbing, boiler; filed cost estimate $170,000). A sidewalk shed permit here is active until November 3, 2026. These are the Department of Buildings' DOB NOW work permits for tax lot 1008430045. 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 $66 million for the Knickerbocker Building. At the Class 4 rate of 10.848% (tax year 2025/26, the latest rate the Department of Finance lists), that is about $7.16 million a year, roughly $26.27 per square foot of floor area, before abatements such as ICAP. The city's property tax records for BBL 1008430045 show the actual bill.

For tax year 2026/27, the NYC Department of Finance puts the market value of the Knickerbocker Building at $149 million ($30 million of it land) and its assessed value at $67 million, the 45% of market value the city assesses for Class 4 property. The city's market value rose 13% from 2022/23 ($131.6 million) to 2026/27.

Owners registered 3 storefronts at the Knickerbocker Building for December 31, 2025, the newest annual filing the city has published, and 1 of them stood vacant that day. 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 79 Fifth Avenue is listed on Leasemark right now. Owners and brokers can list space here for free, and tenants can post a requirement to be matched when space opens up.