Mies, who had never designed a project in New York City before, wished to design a simple slab, being dissatisfied by the setback required under the then-current 1916 Zoning Resolution. Mies considered three alternatives for a slab behind a large plaza, with a facade divided into multiple bays: a square tower, a 3-by-7-bay rectangle with the short side facing Park Avenue, and a 5-by-3-bay rectangle with the long side facing Park Avenue. He created several scale models for the proposed structure. Ultimately, Mies selected the third scheme, a 5-by-3-bay rectangle that received Lambert's praise. Some time after the architects had been selected, Seagram purchased some of adjacent land for $900,000 (equivalent to $ million in ).