One Liberty Plaza

One Liberty Plaza, formerly the U.S. Steel Building, is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is situated on a block bounded by Broadway, Liberty Street, Church Street, and Cortlandt Street, on the sites of the former Singer Building and City Investing Building.

"U.S. Steel Building" redirects here. It is not to be confused with the Pittsburgh U.S. Steel Tower, Liberty Place, or the Empire Building (previously called the U.S. Steel Building).

One Liberty Plaza
One Liberty Plaza in 2011, Four World Trade Center can be seen during construction.
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeCommercial; office
Architectural styleInternational Style
Location165 Broadway
New York City, New York
United States 10006
Coordinates40°42′35″N 74°00′39″W
Construction started1969
Completed1972
Opening1973
Cost$120 million
OwnerBrookfield Properties (51%)
Blackstone (49%)
Height
Roof743 ft (226 m)
Technical details
Floor count54
Floor area2,346,000 sq ft (218,000 m2)[1]
Lifts/elevators39
Design and construction
Architect(s)Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
DeveloperU.S. Steel Corporation
Structural engineerPaul Weidlinger/Weiskopf & Pickworth LLP
Main contractorTurner Construction Company

The building was designed in the International Style by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in 1973. It is 743 ft (226 m) tall and has 54 floors. At 2.3 million sq ft (210,000 m2), each floor offers almost 1 acre (0.40 ha) of office space, making it one of the largest office buildings in New York by usable interior space. Its facade is black, consisting of a structural steel frame. South of the building is Zuccotti Park, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park.

One Liberty Plaza was originally commissioned by U.S. Steel, and also housed the headquarters of Merrill Lynch. A variety of tenants occupy the space, from large law firms to public and not-for-profit agencies like the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation as well as new businesses. Since 2001 One Liberty Plaza has been owned and operated by Brookfield Properties.

History
Predecessors at the site, demolished to make way for One Liberty Plaza: Singer Building (tallest tower in the center of the image) and City Investing Building (second tallest, with slanted roof)
The US Steel Building at One Liberty Plaza (right of image) with the WTC Twin Towers in December 1996
Image of the World Trade Center site, facing One Liberty Plaza, 17 days after the September 11 attacks.

The Singer Building, the tallest in the world from 1908 to 1909, and the City Investing Building adjacent to it were demolished from 1967 to 1968 to clear land for One Liberty Plaza's construction. One Liberty Plaza had more than twice the interior area of the two former buildings combined.[2]

The building had a substantial renovation in 1989, which involved the creation of a new lobby and elevator system. The lobby and elevators have an extensive security system, and the building has a connection to the New York City Subway's Fulton Street/Fulton Center station (2, ​3​, 4, ​5​, A, ​C, ​E​, J​, N, ​R, ​W, and Z trains) in the basement.

In 2001, Brookfield Properties bought the property for $432 million.[3] Following the September 11 attacks, and the subsequent collapse of the World Trade Center nearby, One Liberty Plaza sustained significant facade damage. Hundreds of windows that had been blown out on its western facade needed to be replaced, and heavy dust and debris needed to be removed from the floors and equipment on the roof. An outside area on the street beside Brooks Brothers on the ground floor of the building was used as a temporary morgue in the days following the attack. At one point there was a rumor going around that the building was in danger of collapse. These claims were quickly refuted by the New York Times:

There are no structural concerns with this building," said Ilyse Fink, the director of communications for the city's Department of Buildings, reinforcing a message she has delivered almost daily since Sept. 12. "It is not and was not in danger of collapse. The building is structurally sound."[4]

The building was planned to be reopened to office workers with a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 22, 2001.[4] But the day before it was to happen, it was decided that it was not yet sufficiently safe for employees to return to the office tower. The tower reopened on October 24, two days after originally scheduled.[5]

As of 2016, it was the 656th tallest building in the world.[6]

In December 2017, Brookfield sold a 49% stake in the tower to Blackstone, valuing the tower at $1.55 billion.[7] The sale of the minority stake followed the refinancing of the building in August 2017 with a $784 million loan from Morgan Stanley.

Tenants

One Liberty Plaza is a hub of Wall Street activity, housing RBC Capital Markets' trading floors.[8] Major tenants are New Avon (2 floors), the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (531 attorneys on 11 floors).[9] It also houses the corporate headquarters of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield (part of Anthem),[10] Investment Technology Group, and insurance companies Arch Insurance Group, Sirius America, Mutual of America, Swiss Re, Generali, and Allianz and its subsidiaries Fireman's Fund and Interstate/Chicago.[11]

The following is a list of the tenants by floor:[12]

FL# Companies
53 Arch Insurance Group
47 Mutual of America
34–45 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
28–33 Aon[13]
25–26 New Avon
22–23 AKF Group, LLC[14]
21 Friedman LLP[15]
20 Cambridge University Press[16]
10–14 New York City Economic Development Corporation[17]
8–9 Business Insider[18]
4–5
2–3 Convene
Basement Brookfield Financial Properties

See also

References
  1. One Liberty Plaza
  2. Gray, Christopher (August 29, 2013). "Twins, Except Architecturally". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  3. "Brookfield Completes $432 Mln Financing at Downtown Manhattan's One Liberty Plaza". crenews.com. January 30, 2001.
  4. Saulny, Susan (October 17, 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: 1 LIBERTY PLAZA; A Tower Survives Greatly Exaggerated Rumors and Prepares to Reopen". The New York Times.
  5. Pristin, Terry (October 26, 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: NOTEBOOKS; The Return to Liberty Plaza". The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  6. "Diagrams". Skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  7. "Blackstone to buy 49% stake in FiDi office tower from Brookfield". The Real Deal. December 5, 2017.
  8. About RBCCM. RBC Capital Markets. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  9. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP | Lawyers. clearygottlieb.com. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  10. Write Us. Anthem
  11. WTC Tenant Relocation Summary as of March 2002. TenantWise. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  12. Haller, John T. "1 Liberty Plaza Tenants by Floor".
  13. La Guerre, Liam (August 7, 2017). "Aon Expanding at One Liberty Plaza to 237K Square Feet Before Moving In". Commercial Observer.
  14. Schlanger, Danielle (September 15, 2014). "AKF Group Leaving Midtown for 1 Liberty Plaza [Updated]". Commercial Observer.
  15. Rizzi, Nicholas (November 12, 2018). "Friedman LLP Ditching Midtown for 45K SF at One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
  16. Cullen, Terence (November 10, 2015). "Aged Publishing Company Relocates to One Liberty Plaza [Updated]". Commercial Observer.
  17. Baird-Remba, Rebecca (October 10, 2017). "EDC Inks 220K-SF Lease at One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
  18. La Guerre, Liam (June 5, 2017). "Business Insider Takes 88K Square Feet at Brookfield's One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
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