Sony might sell NY HQ

NOT 550 MAD AVE! Sony is contemplating the sale for its iconic Midtown skyscraper, the N.Y. Post’s Claire Atkinson reports. The Japanese company recently held talks with the Blackstone Group and its real-estate agents, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, about a potential real-estate transaction involving 550 Madison Ave., sources told her. While those talks ended without a deal, Sony is said to be considering all options for the 37-story tower that serves as its U.S. headquarters. Those include consolidating in less space and leasing the remainder, selling the building and then leasing back a portion, or selling it outright and moving to another location. Sony execs supposedly did a walk-through at a 479,008-square-feet space in the Blackstone-owned former New York Times building in Times Square. The refurbished space could include naming rights. The Sony Building, formerly the AT&T Building, is worth between $700 million and $1 billion, Sony Music moved into the complex in 1992; it now houses Sony Music, Sony/ATV and Sony Pictures, as well as the company’s corporate offices. (6/13a)