General Atlantic, the global investment heavyweight with a presence in 21 countries, is making a major bet on Madison Avenue.
The firm has signed a lease for more than 150,000 square feet across five floors at Related Companies’ planned 625 Madison Ave., a 53-story office tower expected to open in 2029. The commitment from the prominent financial firm as anchor tenant is poised to push the long-anticipated Midtown Manhattan development into motion.
The property, now a vacant site between East 58th and East 59th streets, once housed Related’s own headquarters in the former Revlon building. The real estate giant relocated in 2004 to Time Warner Center, the landmark Columbus Circle complex that Related developed.
Back in late 1999, Related founder and former CEO Stephen M. Ross was known to look out from his office toward the former New York Coliseum, watching as it came down to make way for his transformative mixed-use project across the park.
Ross recently departed to start a new development firm, Ross Related, based 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.