During the 1970s, Seagram received several offers for the building from potential buyers, and the company contemplated selling the building and leasing back its own space. However, Seagram had decided to retain ownership of the building by 1976, as it brought publicity to the company. The same year, Seagram & Sons president Edgar Bronfman Sr., son of Samuel Bronfman, requested the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) grant city-landmark status to the building. The move surprised mayor Abraham Beame, since landlords in the city typically attempted to prevent their buildings from becoming landmarks. The LPC ultimately did not hold a hearing for the Seagram Building because, while LPC rules specified that New York City individual landmarks be at least 30 years old at the time of their designation, the building had been completed only eighteen years earlier. Bronfman proposed that buildings less than 30 years old be granted a waiver if property owners supported landmark designation, but the city took no action on the proposal.