New York Times Building
Encyclopedia
The New York Times Building is a skyscraper
on the west side of Midtown Manhattan
that was completed in 2007. Its chief tenant is The New York Times Company
, publisher of The New York Times
as well as The Boston Globe
, the International Herald Tribune
, and other newspapers. Construction was a joint venture of The New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner Companies—the Cleveland
-based real estate
firm redeveloping the Brooklyn
Atlantic rail yards
—and ING Real Estate
.
was given approval to construct a tower over their landmark six-story headquarters along the west side of Eighth Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets. In conjunction with the Hearst Tower
, the site selection
represents the further westward expansion of Midtown along Eighth Avenue; a corridor that had seen no construction following the completion in 1989 of One Worldwide Plaza
.
In addition, the new location keeps the paper in the Times Square
area, which was named after the paper following its move to 42nd Street
in 1904. The New York Times Company had most recently been located at 229 West 43rd Street.
The site for the building was obtained by the Empire State Development Corporation
(ESDC) through eminent domain
. With a mandate to acquire and redevelop blighted
properties in Times Square, ten existing buildings were condemned by the ESDC and purchased from owners who in some cases did not want to sell, asserting that the area was no longer blighted (thanks in part to the earlier efforts of the ESDC). The ESDC though prevailed in the courts.
Once the 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²) site was assembled, it was leased to The New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner for $85.6 million over 99 years (considerably below market value). Additionally, The New York Times Company received $26.1 million in tax breaks.
The tower was designed by Renzo Piano
Building Workshop and FXFOWLE Architects, with Gensler
providing interior design. The lighting design for the building's nighttime identity was designed by the Office for Visual Interaction Inc.
The tower rises 748 feet (228 m) from the street to its roof, with the exterior curtain wall extending 92 feet (28 m) higher to 840 feet (256 m), and a mast rising to 1046 feet (318.8 m). , the building is tied with the Chrysler Building
as the third tallest building in New York City and the seventh tallest in the United States.
The steel-framed building, cruciform
in plan, utilizes a screen of " (41.3 mm) ceramic rods mounted on the exterior of the glass curtain wall on the east, west and south facades. The rod spacing increases from the base to the top, providing greater transparency as the building rises. The steel framing and bracing is exposed at the four corner "notches" of the building.
certified.
The design incorporates many features for increased energy efficiency. The curtain wall, fully glazed with low-e glass, maximizes natural light within the building while the ceramic-rod screen helps block direct sunlight and reduce cooling loads. Mechanized shades controlled by sensors reduce glare, while more than 18,000 individually-dimmable fluorescent fixtures supplement natural light, providing a real energy savings of 30 percent.
A natural gas cogeneration
plant provides 40 percent of the electrical power to The New York Times Company' space within the building, with the waste heat used for heating and cooling. Floors occupied by The New York Times Company utilize a raised floor system that allows for underfloor air distribution, which requires less cooling than a conventional ducted system. The building also incorporates free-air cooling, bringing in outside air when it is cooler than the interior space, which saves additional energy. In excess of 95% of the structural steel was recycled.
The building, like many in midtown Manhattan
, has no on-site parking, with most employees arriving by public transit. Since December 2007, building management has provided an indoor parking area for 20 bicycles.
The story of the tower's construction is showcased at the Liberty Science Center
's exhibition "Skyscraper! Achievement and Impact".
The New York Times Company
owns about 800000 square feet (74,322.4 m²) on the second through the 27th floors. Forest City Ratner owns about 700000 square feet (65,032.1 m²) on floors 29 through 52, as well as 21000 square feet (1,951 m²) of street-level retail space. The lobby and floors 28 and 51 are jointly owned.
Six law firms have their offices in the building: Covington & Burling LLP
; Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(36th floor); Pepper Hamilton LLP
(37th floor); Seyfarth Shaw LLP (31st-33rd floors); Goodwin Procter LLP
(leasing floors 23-27 from the New York Times and floors 29-30 from FCRC) and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.
Other office tenants include: Barclays Center/New Jersey Nets
, JAMS
, Legg Mason
, Markit Group Limited
, The Resolution Experts, Samoo Architecture P.C., Autonomy Inc. and SJP Properties. Retail tenants include: Inakaya, Dean & DeLuca
, and MUJI
.
Towards the end of 2008, BT Group
hope to have started consolidating their NY employees into new offices on the 45th and 46th floors.
On the first floor is the Times Center, an event space consisting of a 378-seat auditorium, a 900 square foot (84 square meter) gallery for exhibits and receptions, and 5,000 square foot (464 square meter) hall for banquets and parties.
Some types of tenants are prohibited under the terms of the lease of the property from the Empire State Development Corporation
. These include medical offices, employment agencies, job training centers, and social-services offices.
In the summer of 2008, three men illegally climbed the external facade of The New York Times Building within a month of each other, with the first two on the same day. The three climbers were not associated with one another.
On June 5, 2008, a professional climber, Alain Robert
, dubbed "The French Spiderman," climbed the north side of The New York Times Building. He was able to scale the building from first floor all the way to the roof. During his climb, Robert attached a fluorescent green neon sign to the building that read "Global warming kills more people than a 9/11 every week." Robert also wore a t-shirt
promoting the website "The Solution is Simple". Robert was met on the roof by the NYPD emergency service unit team where he was put in a harness to ensure he did not fall and placed under arrest.
Later that day, a second climber scaled the western face of the building. He also was arrested for climbing the building facade after reaching the roof. The climber, 32-year old Brooklyn
resident Renaldo Clarke, was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Malaria No More" written on it.
The third climber was David Malone, 29, from Connecticut
, who also scaled the west side of the building on July 9, 2008. Unlike the two previous climbers, Malone did not attempt to make it to the roof. He hung a banner around the fifth floor upon the first "T" of The New York Times sign, that had a picture of Osama Bin Laden
holding Bush like a puppet
- "Bin Laden's Plan" (the title of his book and Web site). He then climbed higher, stopping at the 11th floor, and remained hanging on the building for four hours before being arrested. Malone said he was protesting Al Qaeda's "crusader baiting," and "intentional provocation of the U.S."
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
on the west side of Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
that was completed in 2007. Its chief tenant is The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American media company best known as the publisher of its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. has served as Chairman of the Board since 1997. It is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City....
, publisher of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as well as The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
, and other newspapers. Construction was a joint venture of The New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner Companies—the Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
-based real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
firm redeveloping the Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
Atlantic rail yards
Atlantic Yards
The Atlantic Yards is a mixed-use commercial and residential development project of 16 high-rise buildings, under construction in Prospect Heights, adjacent to Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene in Brooklyn, New York City...
—and ING Real Estate
ING Group
The ING Group is a global financial institution offering retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and insurance services. ING is the Dutch member of the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks, a cooperative consortium of 11 prominent European banks...
.
Planning and development
The project was announced on December 13, 2001, entailing the erection of a 52-story tower on the east side of Eighth Avenue between 40th and 41st Street across from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Bus Terminal. The project was announced shortly after the Hearst CorporationHearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
was given approval to construct a tower over their landmark six-story headquarters along the west side of Eighth Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets. In conjunction with the Hearst Tower
Hearst Tower (New York City)
The Brilliant Hearst Tower is located at 300 West 57th Street, 959 8th Avenue, near Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York...
, the site selection
Site selection
Site Selection indicates the practice of new facility location, both for business and government. Site selection involves measuring the needs of a new project against the merits of potential locations...
represents the further westward expansion of Midtown along Eighth Avenue; a corridor that had seen no construction following the completion in 1989 of One Worldwide Plaza
One Worldwide Plaza
One Worldwide Plaza is part of a three-building, mixed-use commercial and residential complex completed in 1989, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known collectively as Worldwide Plaza. One Worldwide Plaza is a commercial office tower on Eighth Avenue...
.
In addition, the new location keeps the paper in the Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
area, which was named after the paper following its move to 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
in 1904. The New York Times Company had most recently been located at 229 West 43rd Street.
The site for the building was obtained by the Empire State Development Corporation
Empire State Development Corporation
The Urban Development Corporation, doing business as Empire State Development Corporation is a public authority of the state of New York in the United States that has financed and operated several ambitious state projects by issuing tax exempt bonds....
(ESDC) through eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
. With a mandate to acquire and redevelop blighted
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
properties in Times Square, ten existing buildings were condemned by the ESDC and purchased from owners who in some cases did not want to sell, asserting that the area was no longer blighted (thanks in part to the earlier efforts of the ESDC). The ESDC though prevailed in the courts.
Once the 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²) site was assembled, it was leased to The New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner for $85.6 million over 99 years (considerably below market value). Additionally, The New York Times Company received $26.1 million in tax breaks.
Design
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano is an Italian architect. He is the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize and the Sonning Prize...
Building Workshop and FXFOWLE Architects, with Gensler
Gensler
Gensler is an American design and architecture firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded in 1965 by Art Gensler, Drue Gensler, and James Follett, and originally focused on corporate interiors...
providing interior design. The lighting design for the building's nighttime identity was designed by the Office for Visual Interaction Inc.
The tower rises 748 feet (228 m) from the street to its roof, with the exterior curtain wall extending 92 feet (28 m) higher to 840 feet (256 m), and a mast rising to 1046 feet (318.8 m). , the building is tied with the Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at , it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State...
as the third tallest building in New York City and the seventh tallest in the United States.
The steel-framed building, cruciform
Cruciform
Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...
in plan, utilizes a screen of " (41.3 mm) ceramic rods mounted on the exterior of the glass curtain wall on the east, west and south facades. The rod spacing increases from the base to the top, providing greater transparency as the building rises. The steel framing and bracing is exposed at the four corner "notches" of the building.
Sustainability
The building is promoted as a Green structure, though it is not LEEDLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
certified.
The design incorporates many features for increased energy efficiency. The curtain wall, fully glazed with low-e glass, maximizes natural light within the building while the ceramic-rod screen helps block direct sunlight and reduce cooling loads. Mechanized shades controlled by sensors reduce glare, while more than 18,000 individually-dimmable fluorescent fixtures supplement natural light, providing a real energy savings of 30 percent.
A natural gas cogeneration
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
plant provides 40 percent of the electrical power to The New York Times Company' space within the building, with the waste heat used for heating and cooling. Floors occupied by The New York Times Company utilize a raised floor system that allows for underfloor air distribution, which requires less cooling than a conventional ducted system. The building also incorporates free-air cooling, bringing in outside air when it is cooler than the interior space, which saves additional energy. In excess of 95% of the structural steel was recycled.
The building, like many in midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
, has no on-site parking, with most employees arriving by public transit. Since December 2007, building management has provided an indoor parking area for 20 bicycles.
The story of the tower's construction is showcased at the Liberty Science Center
Liberty Science Center
Liberty Science Center is an interactive science museum and learning center located in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey.The center, which first opened in 1993 as New Jersey's first major state science museum, has science exhibits, the largest IMAX Dome theater in the United States,...
's exhibition "Skyscraper! Achievement and Impact".
Tenants
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American media company best known as the publisher of its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. has served as Chairman of the Board since 1997. It is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City....
owns about 800000 square feet (74,322.4 m²) on the second through the 27th floors. Forest City Ratner owns about 700000 square feet (65,032.1 m²) on floors 29 through 52, as well as 21000 square feet (1,951 m²) of street-level retail space. The lobby and floors 28 and 51 are jointly owned.
Six law firms have their offices in the building: Covington & Burling LLP
Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling LLP is an international law firm with offices in Beijing, Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Washington, DC. The firm advises multinational corporations on significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters...
; Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is one of Canada’s largest business law firms practising nationally and internationally from its offices in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, and New York. It is one of Bay Street's "seven sisters". Clients include industry and business leaders in all segments of the...
(36th floor); Pepper Hamilton LLP
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Pepper Hamilton LLP is a U.S. law firm with 11 offices and around 500 attorneys. The firm is ranked among the 100 largest firms by revenue in the United States...
(37th floor); Seyfarth Shaw LLP (31st-33rd floors); Goodwin Procter LLP
Goodwin Procter
Goodwin Procter LLP is a prominent law firm based in the United States, consisting of 850 attorneys serving clients in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Silicon Valley, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C....
(leasing floors 23-27 from the New York Times and floors 29-30 from FCRC) and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.
Other office tenants include: Barclays Center/New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, JAMS
JAMS (alternative dispute resolution)
JAMS, based in Irvine, California, is one of the largest providers of alternative dispute resolution services in the world. Alternative dispute resolution is usually considered to be an alternative to litigation...
, Legg Mason
Legg Mason
Legg Mason, Inc. is an American-based global investment management firm with a focus on asset management. The company’s business is divided in two divisions: Americas and International...
, Markit Group Limited
Markit Group Limited
Markit Group Limited. is a global financial information services company with over 2,300 employees. The company provides independent data, valuations and trade processing across all asset classes in order to enhance transparency, reduce risk and improve operational efficiency...
, The Resolution Experts, Samoo Architecture P.C., Autonomy Inc. and SJP Properties. Retail tenants include: Inakaya, Dean & DeLuca
Dean & DeLuca
Dean & DeLuca is a chain of upscale grocery stores. The first one was established in New York City's SoHo district by Joel Dean, Giorgio DeLuca and Jack Ceglic in September 1977. It is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.-Locations:...
, and MUJI
MUJI
, or is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods.Muji is distinguished by its design minimalism, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo or "no-brand" policy....
.
Towards the end of 2008, BT Group
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
hope to have started consolidating their NY employees into new offices on the 45th and 46th floors.
On the first floor is the Times Center, an event space consisting of a 378-seat auditorium, a 900 square foot (84 square meter) gallery for exhibits and receptions, and 5,000 square foot (464 square meter) hall for banquets and parties.
Some types of tenants are prohibited under the terms of the lease of the property from the Empire State Development Corporation
Empire State Development Corporation
The Urban Development Corporation, doing business as Empire State Development Corporation is a public authority of the state of New York in the United States that has financed and operated several ambitious state projects by issuing tax exempt bonds....
. These include medical offices, employment agencies, job training centers, and social-services offices.
Climbers
On June 5, 2008, a professional climber, Alain Robert
Alain Robert
Alain Robert , is a French rock and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France...
, dubbed "The French Spiderman," climbed the north side of The New York Times Building. He was able to scale the building from first floor all the way to the roof. During his climb, Robert attached a fluorescent green neon sign to the building that read "Global warming kills more people than a 9/11 every week." Robert also wore a t-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
promoting the website "The Solution is Simple". Robert was met on the roof by the NYPD emergency service unit team where he was put in a harness to ensure he did not fall and placed under arrest.
Later that day, a second climber scaled the western face of the building. He also was arrested for climbing the building facade after reaching the roof. The climber, 32-year old Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
resident Renaldo Clarke, was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Malaria No More" written on it.
The third climber was David Malone, 29, from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, who also scaled the west side of the building on July 9, 2008. Unlike the two previous climbers, Malone did not attempt to make it to the roof. He hung a banner around the fifth floor upon the first "T" of The New York Times sign, that had a picture of Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
holding Bush like a puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
- "Bin Laden's Plan" (the title of his book and Web site). He then climbed higher, stopping at the 11th floor, and remained hanging on the building for four hours before being arrested. Malone said he was protesting Al Qaeda's "crusader baiting," and "intentional provocation of the U.S."