When we were kids one of the coolest school trips you could go on was a visit to the AT&T Infoquest Center in Philip Johnson's famous Chippendale Building at 550 Madison Avenue—then the headquarters for AT&T. In 1992 Sony bought up the building for more than $200 million and turned the interactive tech/entertainment museum into the Sony Wonder Technology Lab—but now that bit of magic's future is in doubt. The multinational corporation is reportedly mulling selling the building as a way to deal with a dismal financial situation.
According to the Post's sources, Sony is looking at all options for the tower, including "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." To that end they've been looking at real estate all over, including the old New York Times building on 43rd Street.
The appeal of selling for Sony, which posted a $5.7 billion loss in the financial year ending in March, is great. Sony owns the building outright (it houses its corporate offices as well as Sony Music and Sony Pictures) and it is worth between $700 million and $1 billion. Not to mention the fact it tried to kill Snooki.
Honestly we wouldn't really care one way or the other if Sony sold the tower—but the fate of the Wonder Lab does tug on our nostalgic heart strings, and makes us think: Is there any company that could legitimately run that kind of all-around tech museum anymore? Apple jumps to mind...but their stores are already kind of museum-like and, unlike the AT&T of old or even recent Sony, that Cupertino-based company holds its R&D very, very tight to its chest.
