Sure, We'll Take Manhattan

Since its cluster of art deco edifices was completed on Nov. 1, 1939, Rockefeller Center has been hailed as an urban masterpiece. Tourists flock to its ice rink to watch skaters twirl and to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes do their high kicks with uncanny precision. But last week the Manhattan landmark, which houses U.S. companies ranging from General Electric to Simon & Schuster, took on a fresh symbolism. Control of the 19-building center passed into foreign hands when Japan's Mitsubishi Estate Co. agreed to pay $846 million for a 51% share of the Rockefeller Group, which owns...