Crown Acquisitions Inc. took a 49.9 percent stake in the Olympic Tower complex, a group of four adjacent buildings on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, including a skyscraper commissioned by the late Aristotle Onassis, Bloomberg reports. The building is across the street from New York’s famed St. Patrick Cathedral.

Crown, whose president is Stanley Chera, specializes in retail redevelopments, including the stores at Manhattan’s St. Regis Hotel and 666 Fifth Ave., which is diagonally across the intersection from the Olympic complex, according to Bloomberg.

The 620-feet tall (189.0 meters) building was built in 1976. At the time it cost less than US$100 million to build and was the first New York skyscraper to include a combination of retail ships, commercial office space and owner-occupied apartments in the same building, according to Colliers International.

Crown Acquisitions, owned by the Chera family, one of the most successful New York City real estate firms, has bought a 49.8% share in Olympic  Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City, hoping to renovate the building and increase revenues. Olympic Tower has been quintessential to the character of 5th avenue since its completion in 1976.

The four building complex, reportedly valued at US$1 billion, was built by Aristotle Onassis, husband to the former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
The building is home to stores such as Armani Exchange, Versace, and Cartier.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Cheras expect to increase rent in Olympic tower from below US$1,000 per square foot to over US$3,000. "The Cheras have been involved in several high-profile partnerships recently to remake big blocks of retail space at other Fifth Avenue locations," says the Journal.