One Liberty Plaza

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One Liberty Plaza
One Liberty Plaza.jpg
One Liberty Plaza in 2011, Four World Trade Center can be seen during construction.
One Liberty Plaza
Interactive map of One Liberty Plaza
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeCommercial; office
Architectural style International Style
Location165 Broadway
New York City, New York
United States 10006
Coordinates 40°42′35″N74°00′39″W / 40.70972°N 74.01083°W / 40.70972; -74.01083
Construction started1969
Completed1972
Opening1973
Cost$120 million
Owner Brookfield Properties (51%)
Blackstone (49%)
Height
Roof743 ft (226 m)
Technical details
Floor count54
Floor area2,346,000 ft2 (218,000 m2) [1]
Lifts/elevators39
Design and construction
Architect Roy Allen [2] [3] (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill)
DeveloperGalbreath-Ruffin Corporation, [4] U.S. Steel Corporation
Structural engineerPaul Weidlinger/Weiskopf & Pickworth LLP [5]
Main contractor Turner Construction Company [5]

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.

Contents

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. 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) Singer City Investing Hudson Terminal 1909 crop.jpg
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)
Image of the World Trade Center site, facing One Liberty Plaza, 17 days after the September 11 attacks. FEMA - 4235 - Photograph by Andrea Booher taken on 09-28-2001 in New York.jpg
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. [6]

In 1972, Merrill Lynch became an anchor tenant in the building, occupying 40 floors in the building and acquiring 25% ownership of the building. [7] By the early 1980s, Merrill Lynch owned the entire building, purchased for $100 million. By 1984, the company was outgrowing the space and relocated to the nearby World Financial Center. Merrill Lynch sold One Liberty Plaza for $375 million to Olympia and York, developer of the nearby World Financial Center. [8] After selling the building, Merrill Lynch continued to lease space at One Liberty Plaza, occupying 20 floors. [8] [9]

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. [10] Following the September 11 attacks, and the subsequent collapse of the World Trade Center nearby, One Liberty Plaza sustained significant facade damage. 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: [11]

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." [11]

The building planned to be reopen to office workers with a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 22, 2001. [11] 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. [12]

As of 2016, it was the 656th tallest building in the world. [13]

Morgan Stanley placed a $784 million loan on the tower in August 2017 [14] and placed a partial ownership stake on sale for $1.6 billion two months later. [15] That December, Brookfield sold a 49% stake in the tower to Blackstone, valuing the tower at $1.55 billion. [16] [17] Brookfield and Blackstone considered selling the building in 2020 for up to $1.7 billion. [18] [19] The sale ultimately did not occur, and June 2024, Brookfield refinanced the building with $750 million from Morgan Stanley. [20] [21]

Tenants

Tenants at One Liberty Plaza include the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which has been at One Liberty Plaza since 1990. [22] [23] . Other tenants include Avon Products [24] , Wasserman Music, [25] Cambridge University Press, [26] Aon, [27] [28] the New York City Economic Development Corporation, [29] and Business Insider. [30] Convene also operates meeting and events space at One Liberty Plaza. [31] Previous tenants have included RBC Capital Markets, [32] [33] Scotiabank, [34] and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. [35]

Brooks Brothers occupied street-level retail space at One Liberty Plaza, from 1976 [36] until 2018. [37]

See also

References

  1. ↑ One Liberty Plaza
  2. ↑ Stern, Mellins & Fishman 1995, p. 180.
  3. ↑ "Roy O. Allen Jr., 71; Skyscraper Architect". The New York Times . March 21, 1992. Archived from the original on April 11, 2025. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  4. ↑ Oser, Alan S. (January 21, 1981). "Real Estate; Manhattan Developer's Headaches". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 5, 2024. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Flame shielding concept proves feasible in exposed steel high-rise building" (PDF). Architectural Forum . Vol. 139, no. 5. December 1973.
  6. ↑ Gray, Christopher (August 29, 2013). "Twins, Except Architecturally". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  7. ↑ Vartan, Vartanig G. (May 20, 1972). "Merrill Lynch in a Long‐Term Move". The New York Times . p. 39. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Spragins, Ellyn (June 10, 1990). "AT MERRILL, A FRUSTRATING HUNT FOR PROFIT". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 22, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  9. ↑ McCain, Mark (March 22, 1987). "Commercial Property:The Downtown 'Empty States'; Two Behemoths With 3 Million Square Feet to Let". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 25, 2025. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Brookfield Completes $432 Mln Financing at Downtown Manhattan's One Liberty Plaza". crenews.com. January 30, 2001. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 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 .
  12. ↑ Pristin, Terry (October 26, 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: NOTEBOOKS; The Return to Liberty Plaza". The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Diagrams". Skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  14. ↑ Pilgrim, Lexi; Bockmann, Rich (August 4, 2017). "Brookfield Property Partners". The Real Deal. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  15. ↑ Pilgrim, Lexi (October 31, 2017). "Brookfield Property Partners". The Real Deal. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Blackstone to buy 49% stake in FiDi office tower from Brookfield". The Real Deal. December 5, 2017.
  17. ↑ Kim, Betsy (December 6, 2017). "Blackstone to Buy 49% Interest in One Liberty Plaza". GlobeSt. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  18. ↑ Rebong, Kevin (March 5, 2020). "Brookfield, Blackstone Consider One Liberty Plaza Sale". The Real Deal. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  19. ↑ Tan, Gillian; Deveau, Scott (March 4, 2020). "Brookfield, Blackstone Weigh a Sale of NYC's One Liberty Plaza". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  20. ↑ Pascus, Brian (June 24, 2024). "Morgan Stanley Provides Brookfield $750M Refi for One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  21. ↑ Dilakian, Steven; Larsen, Keith (June 24, 2024). "Brookfield Lands Huge Refi for 1 Liberty Plaza". The Real Deal. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  22. ↑ Dunlap, David W. (July 15, 1990). "Commercial Property: Office Leasing; Law Firms Top Financial Houses in Rental Activity". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 16, 2024. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  23. ↑ "New York | Cleary Gottlieb". www.clearygottlieb.com. January 10, 2026. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  24. ↑ Latimer, Audrey (February 21, 2017). "Avon to Move New York City Corporate Headquarters". Global Cosmetic Industry. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Global Presence". Wasserman. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  26. ↑ Cullen, Terence (November 10, 2015). "Aged Publishing Company Relocates to One Liberty Plaza [Updated]". Commercial Observer.
  27. ↑ Bockmann, Rich (August 3, 2017). "Aon is taking even more space at Brookfield's One Liberty Plaza". The Real Deal. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Brookfield Properties takes on transformative repositioning project at One Liberty Plaza : NYREJ". nyrej.com. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  29. ↑ Baird-Remba, Rebecca (October 10, 2017). "EDC Inks 220K-SF Lease at One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
  30. ↑ La Guerre, Liam (June 5, 2017). "Business Insider Takes 88K Square Feet at Brookfield's One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
  31. ↑ "Convene One Liberty Plaza | Meeting & Event, Office Suites, & Shared Office Spaces In Lower Manhattan". Convene. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  32. ↑ Halbfinger, David M. (June 6, 1997). "Bank Moving Offices To One Liberty Plaza". The New York Times . Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  33. ↑ Hutchins, Ryan (May 16, 2014). "JPMorgan, RBC putting 4,500 workers in Jersey City". POLITICO. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  34. ↑ Staff, T. R. D. (July 19, 2013). "Scotiabank moves downtown but sticks with Brookfield". The Real Deal. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  35. ↑ "L.M.C.C.C. staff is slashed by more than half – amNewYork". www.amny.com. February 8, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  36. ↑ "News of the Realty Trade". Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  37. ↑ Spivack, Caroline (October 9, 2018). "Brooks Brothers Shutters Lower Manhattan Store After 45 Years". Tribeca-FiDi, NY Patch. Retrieved January 11, 2026.

Sources

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