signed a lease in 1999 for five stories in the building. Other tenants included American General Financial Group; Cosmetics International; and investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners. In 2003, Lever House Restaurant became the first restaurant to open at Lever House. The windowless restaurant space, which was designed by Marc Newson, covered and was hidden behind the public plaza's western wall. The restaurant closed in early 2009 and was replaced by Casa Lever, which opened later that year. In the early 2010s, the administration of mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed the Midtown East rezoning, which would allow the Korein estate to sell the unused development rights from Lever House for up to $75 million. The rezoning was passed in 2016, enabling the Korein estate to sell the development rights. At the same time, although RFR had an annual ground lease payment of $6 million, the company faced a steep increase to $20 million when the lease was scheduled to reset in 2023. Because of the ground lease, RFR had trouble refinancing Lever House. By early 2018, RFR was three years behind on its rent payments and mortgage bondholders were looking to foreclose on the property, a move that could potentially cancel all of the building's office leases. Bondholders moved to foreclose on the building in May 2018. Brookfield and WatermanClark ownership In July 2018, a joint venture between Brookfield Properties and Waterman Interests (later WatermanClark) took the ground lease from RFR, becoming the building's landlord. Brookfield and Waterman purchased RFR's debt load in early 2019 for $12.8 million, a $68 million decrease from the debt's original value. RFR filed two lawsuits against Brookfield and Waterman during late 2019. One was related to the lack of sprinklers in the building, in which RFR was threatened with lease termination, while the other alleged that Waterman Interests had fraudulently taken over the ground lease using confidential information. In May 2020, RFR gave a majority stake in Lever House's operation to Brookfield and WatermanClark. The new owners subsequently decided to renovate Lever House, as all tenants had left during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. In July 2021, SOM proposed restoring the building's historic design elements, replacing non-historic elements, and refurbishing the ground-floor facade with a new entrance to Casa Lever. A lounge for tenants and visitors would be created on the third floor, and a new HVAC system would be installed. Additionally, the architects