The symbolism of this sale has not gone unnoticed in America!
Posted by M Bucci, Maine, USA on 12 June 2008 at 14:20 UAE time

Architect Van Alen called his facade treatment a "Middle- or Far Eastern" pattern. Van Alen was never paid by Walter P. Chrysler and, due to the Depression, never worked on another major project.

Chrysler Corp was bought and then sold (in May 2007) by Daimler, and its magnificent icon to the Automobile Age - the Chrysler Building - was built during America's first Great Depression. It now might be sold to a citadel of oil-wealth - Abu Dhabi Investment Council - on the heels of the sale of the GM building to an investor group that includes the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar.

I feel there is no error in judgement in selecting these particular landmark buildings to purchase at a time when America is hearing echoes of the 1930s slowly pacing closer each passing day. Echoes due partially to these buyers. This is irony. This is satire. This is iconoclastic. This is an insult.