Two days after being declared a landmark by the city, 70 Pine Street has been sold for $205 million - or about $186 a square foot and Nathan Berman's Metro Loft Management signed a contract to buy the iconic downtown 1.1 million square-foot tower, and build luxury rentals, according to an article today at nypost.com by Lois Weiss.

The 66-story building, the fifth-tallest in the city, was sold in an off-market deal by Kumho Investment Bank of South Korea through Jones Lang LaSalle, the article said, adding that the "bank purchased it for $150 million along with 72/74 Wall St. from financially plagued AIG. The Wall Street building is in contract to a Chinese school for $46 million."

The Jones Lang LaSalle team of Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan did not publicly offer 70 Pine Street, the article said, "but went straight to Metro Loft, sources said. Metro has been an active buyer and converter of downtown office buildings to residential rentals....Among Metro Loft's properties are 17 John St., Nos. 63 and 67 Wall St., 20 Exchange Pl. and several buildings on William Street.

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously declared the first floor lobby and the exterior of the 66-story Art Deco building landmarks.

The 952-foot-high skyscraper most recently served as the headquarters of the American International Group, a financial services company and insurer. It had been built for Henry L. Doherty, the founder of the Cities Service Company, an energy holding company, in 1932 and designed by Clinton & Russell, Holten & George.

The commission's designation noted that the slender tower is "crowned by a tiered glass lantern and stainless steel spire," and "is considered one of one of the most recognizable buildings on Manhattan's skyline."

"Many Art Deco skyscrapers were built in New York City in the late 1920s and 1930s, but few from this era can boast the lavish interiors, intricate metalwork, and visibility of this building," said Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney.

When it was completed, the Cities Service Building was the third tallest structure in the world, behind the Chrysler and Empire State buildings. The tower is located on a trapezoidal lot bounded by Cedar, Pine and Pearl Streets.

The report noted that "Doherty took the unusual step of financing the new tower through a stock offering, rather than a mortgage, and incorporated other innovations into the project such as a series of escalators that linked the building's lower floors, double-deck elevators and private terraces enclosed by steel railings coated with aluminum lacquer."

The exterior of 70 Pine St. is clad in white brick, light gray Indiana limestone, and speckled rose and black granite. The Pine and Cedar street sides each have a pair of monumental arched entrances that are framed with limestone reliefs with repeating images of the Cities Service logo - a triangle set within a trefoil - and elaborate aluminum ornamentation, such as stepped pyramids that echo the building's spire and butterflies pecking at sunflowers.

In addition, each of the eastern entrance portals on Pine and Cedar streets display a 14-foot-high limestone model of the building, which is otherwise impossible to see in its entirety from the street.

The 66th floor contained an observation gallery, crowned by a 27-foot-tall tiered glass lantern, and a 97-foot-tall stainless steel spire, which incorporated a neon beacon that was reportedly "visible for 200 miles at sea and inland."

A photograph of the tower adorned the cover of "Skyscraper Rivals, The A.I.G. Building and the Architecture of Wall Street," a 2001 book by Daniel M. Abramson, shown at the right.