Sotheby’s has agreed to buy the Brutalist building owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art on the Upper East Side, in a deal that will finally move the auction house closer to the heart of the New York art market.
The company, which was purchased by French billionaire Patrick Drahi in 2019 for $3.7bn, is acquiring the building in a deal worth roughly $100mn, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Located at the corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street, it was designed by Marcel Breuer and completed in 1966.
Sotheby’s said it would keep its current headquarters, wedged between medical facilities on York Avenue and alongside Manhattan’s East River. It plans to use the Breuer building as an exhibition space and will hold significant auctions there once it completes renovations in 2025.