1585 Broadway, also the Morgan Stanley Building, is a 42-story office building on
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
neighborhood of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The building was designed by
Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects
Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects LLC (formerly Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects) is a New York City-based architectural firm founded in 1967 by architects Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel.
The firm's work ranges from art ...
and
Emery Roth
Emery Roth ( hu, Róth Imre, July 17, 1871 – August 20, 1948) was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux ...
& Sons and was developed by David and Jean Solomon. 1585 Broadway occupies a site on the west side of
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
between
47th and 48th Streets. The building has served as the headquarters of financial-services company
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
since 1995.
1585 Broadway consists of a low base, with
setbacks that recede into a tower section measuring tall. The
facade is designed with large signs at the base. The upper stories contain a facade of glass with aluminum
spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
s, as well as a glass
gable roof
A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...
. At the ground level, the entire Broadway side contains stores, and the main entrances are placed on 47th and 48th Streets. The office entrances are connected by a wide lobby, which also connects to a basement cafeteria. Morgan Stanley's offices occupy the upper floors, with an executive suite at the 40th and 41st stories. The interior was designed by Gwathmey Siegel and
Gensler
Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965.
In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...
.
Solomon Equities had developed 1585 Broadway as a
speculative development
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. ...
in 1989, on the site of the
Strand Theatre and another building. Morgan Stanley had expressed interest in the space during construction but ultimately decided against it. When 1585 Broadway was completed in 1990, law firm
Proskauer Rose
Proskauer Rose LLP (formerly known as Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, LLP) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1875 and currently employs more than 800 attorneys in twelve offices worldwide.
P ...
was the only tenant, occupying eleven floors. The Solomons unsuccessfully attempted to attract more tenants and fell into debt, forcing the building into
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
in December 1991. The building was taken over by a consortium of banks who sold it to Morgan Stanley in 1993. Morgan Stanley moved into the building after several renovations. Proskauer Rose renovated its own space in 2000 and continued to occupy part of the building until 2010. Afterward, Morgan Stanley expanded into the former Proskauer Rose space and renovated each floor in the mid-2010s.
Site
1585 Broadway is on the western side of
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, between
47th Street to the south and
48th Street to the north. It is at the northwest corner of
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
of
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
The trapezoidal
land lot
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...
covers , with a
frontage
Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on 47th Street and a depth of . The southeastern end of the building faces
Duffy Square.
The surrounding area is part of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
and contains many
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
s.
The Morgan Stanley Building shares the block with the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a Broadway theater at 241 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1928, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the Elizabethan, Mediterranean, and Adam styles ...
and
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, formerly the Biltmore Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 261 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the neo-Renai ...
on 47th Street and the
Longacre Theatre
The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1913, it was desi ...
on 48th Street. Across 48th Street are the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre
The Eugene O'Neill Theatre, previously the Forrest Theatre and the Coronet Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 230 West 49th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and ...
and
Walter Kerr Theatre
The Walter Kerr Theatre, previously the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shube ...
to the northwest and the
Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan
The Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan (originally the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Manhattan) is a hotel at 1601 Broadway, between 48th and 49th Streets, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The hotel is operated by thi ...
to the north. To the east across Times Square are
20 Times Square
20 Times Square is a 39-story mixed-use development at 701 Seventh Avenue, on the northeast corner with West 47th Street at the northern end of Times Square, Manhattan, New York City. (May 21, 2014) The development includes one of Ian Schrager ...
,
TSX Broadway
TSX Broadway is an under-construction 46-story mixed-use building on Times Square, at the southeastern corner of Broadway and 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Developed by L&L Holding, the building will include a 669-room hote ...
, the
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
and
Embassy Theatres, and the
I. Miller Building
1552 Broadway, also known as the I. Miller Building, is a commercial structure on Times Square in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Located at the northeast corner of Broadway (Manhattan), ...
. In addition, the
Hotel Edison
Hotel Edison is at 228 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1931, it is part of the Triumph Hotels brand, owned by Shimmie Horn and Gerald Barad. Thomas Edison turned on the lights when it opened. It accommodated 1,0 ...
and
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, originally the Globe Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 205 West 46th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1910, the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre was designed by Carrère and Hasti ...
are to the south, and the
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
The Lena Horne Theatre (previously the Mansfield Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 256 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1926, it was designed by Herbert ...
and
Paramount Hotel
The Paramount Hotel (formerly the Century-Paramount Hotel) is a hotel in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb, the hotel is at 235 West 46th Street, between Eighth Av ...
are to the southwest.
The site had contained two six-story buildings before 1986: the
Strand Theatre, a movie house, as well as Leighton's Haberdashers and Clothiers, which had operated on Broadway for 67 years.
Architecture
1585 Broadway was designed by
Emery Roth & Sons
Emery Roth ( hu, Róth Imre, July 17, 1871 – August 20, 1948) was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-A ...
and
Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects
Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects LLC (formerly Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects) is a New York City-based architectural firm founded in 1967 by architects Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel.
The firm's work ranges from art ...
and was Gwathmey Siegel's first high-rise design.
It is 42 stories tall
and measures to its roof.
Irwin G. Cantor of
WSP Cantor Seinuk
WSP Global Inc. is a Canadian company with American and British roots, providing management and consultancy services to the built and natural environment. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. After the purchase of New York-headquartered ...
was the structural engineer,
while the
Tishman Construction
Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc. is an American corporation founded in 1898 that owns and develops real estate. The company is known for being the contractor that built the original World Trade Center in New York City. Tishman Constructi ...
Company was the general contractor.
1585 Broadway has a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
(LEED) Gold
green building
Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...
certification.
The building is also known as the Morgan Stanley Building for its anchor tenant, financial services company
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
, which uses 1585 Broadway as a headquarters.
Form and facade
The building was proposed with a
facade and a
gable roof
A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...
made of glass, as well as a square tower
set back from the base. As built, the base occupies the entire site;
it is aligned with Broadway, which runs diagonally to the
Manhattan street grid
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march uptown ...
.
The base is designed with several setbacks that, according to Gwathmey Siegel, "responds to the pedestrian scale of the street in the theater district".
Above ground level, there are two rectangular setbacks.
There is a double-height mechanical space on the fourth and fifth floors, with an outward curve toward Broadway; this delineates the transition between the base and tower.
The mechanical space's facade contains ventilation and heating grilles rather than windows.
The tower section is aligned with 47th and 48th Streets, which run parallel to the street grid.
![Times Sq Nov 2021 196](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Times_Sq_Nov_2021_196.jpg)
The base is covered in glass and metal, with dark-glass panels hiding the signage behind them.
Artkraft Strauss Sign Corporation manufactured the signs on the base,
which were included to comply with city regulations.
Ten dark-glass "fins" protrude over the sidewalk on Broadway, each containing one of the characters "1585 B'way".
Each storefront has signs identifying the retailer there.
Three horizontal boards are placed above the fourth-story setback, displaying financial news and
quotes
Quote is a hypernym of quotation, as the repetition or copy of a prior statement or thought. Quotation marks are punctuation marks that indicate a quotation. Both ''quotation'' and ''quotation marks'' are sometimes abbreviated as "quote(s)".
...
.
Each board is wide and high;
the boards constitute a large
ticker tape
Ticker tape was the earliest electrical dedicated financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use from around 1870 through 1970. It consisted of a paper strip that ran through a machine called ...
. Two additional signs at the corners, measuring , display market information. At Broadway's corners with 47th and 48th Streets, there are curved signs measuring tall, which display the current time in cities around the world. Morgan Stanley's name is only displayed at the corners, with letters.
The tower's facade is mostly a glass
curtain wall with facade panels designed by PPG.
The tower section contains silver aluminum
spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
panels at the corners. On the upper stories, the corners are notched inward and contain mirrored-glass panels. The remainder of the facade is made of panels that are either white, blue-green, or mirrored glass.
These panels are framed by nearly invisible
mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
s.
The facade panels appear in different colors under different lighting conditions.
According to a book about Gwathmey Siegel's architecture, these materials were meant to create "images of both opacity and reflectivity, creating a simultaneous sense of fluidity and permanence".
The roof is pitched on four sides, a modification of a
mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
design, but with four backlit panels.
Architectural critic
Paul Goldberger
Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''.
Biography
Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...
described the roof as a "cross between a gabled roof and a cut-off pyramid".
Features
The building has of gross floor area.
Because of
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
rules, there is no office entrance on Broadway, as that frontage is taken up by shops.
Gwathmey Siegel designed the original lobby in 1990 as well as the executive suite of Morgan Stanley in 1995.
Gensler
Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965.
In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...
designed the remainder of the offices.
Lobby and basements
The lobby connects the entrances on 47th and 48th Streets.
It is a
privately owned public space
Privately owned public space (POPS), or alternatively, privately owned public open spaces (POPOS), are terms used to describe a type of public space that, although privately owned, is legally required to be open to the public under a city's zoni ...
measuring .
The lobby is part of a corridor of privately owned public spaces connecting 44th to 49th Streets. The other spaces on this corridor are
Shubert Alley
Shubert Alley is a pedestrian alley in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The alley, a privately owned public space, connects 44th and 45th Streets and covers about . It runs through the middle of a city block, paral ...
, a passageway under the
New York Marriott Marquis, the lobby of the Hotel Edison, and a driveway under the Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan.
The lobby contains a marble floor with white, dark-green, and black tiles arranged in a geometric pattern.
The walls are made of gray granite with dark green marble strips.
One wall curves inward to give the impression that it is shorter than it actually is.
The lobby ceiling is made of wood and is supported by two large columns.
The ceiling is arranged in a grid,
with rectangular
coffer
A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.
A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...
s measuring wide.
There are incandescent lamps with reflectors within the ceiling, creating what ''Architectural Lighting'' magazine described as a "
luminous" effect.
Stephen Margulies designed the lobby lighting.
Behind a glass wall, the lobby contains escalators to a 500-seat dining room in the basement.
An overpass passes above the dining-room escalators.
The dining room was built in 1995; it was originally storage space and was not connected to the lobby.
The lobby and dining room collectively measure .
The sub-basement was originally used by law firm
Proskauer Rose
Proskauer Rose LLP (formerly known as Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, LLP) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1875 and currently employs more than 800 attorneys in twelve offices worldwide.
P ...
, whose chairman Alan S. Jaffe euphemistically referred to the space as a "concourse".
Part of the sub-basement level became a law library in 2000; the space had 60,000 volumes and was staffed by 14 librarians, with capacity for 34 lawyers. The sub-basement also had locker rooms for the law firm's male and female employees. There are full-height frosted-glass panels, wooden decorations, and indirect lighting fixtures from the walls and ceiling. The space contains three concrete columns measuring , which are covered with stainless-steel panels.
Executive suite
Morgan Stanley's executive suite is on the 40th and 41st stories of the tower and covers .
It contains offices, dining rooms, meeting spaces, and boardrooms.
The foyer to the executive suite contains windows facing in three directions,
while the offices can accommodate 30 executives.
The suite is clad in granite and three types of wood;
architect
Charles Gwathmey
Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps bes ...
said this arose from Morgan Stanley's desire for "real materials".
Anigre
Anigre is an African hardwood commonly used for plywood, interior furniture, cabinetry, and high-end millwork applications. It is frequently sliced and sold as veneer, although it is available in board form as well. In board form it is used for ...
is used for the foyer's walls.
Mahogany
Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...
is used for the steps of the double-width staircase connecting the two floors, as well as for ceiling grids, similar to those in the lobby.
Ebonized
Ebonising is a process for darkening wood, giving it an appearance similar to ebony, hence the name.
It is particularly used for pianos and fine furniture.
History
While little record exists of who invented ebonizing, it was popular among the upp ...
cherry wood is used for doors and other fixtures. The executive suite also contains a boardroom table, as well as various pieces of modern furniture. Some of the furniture is inspired by those at
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
's
Coonley House
The Avery Coonley House, also known as the Coonley House or Coonley Estate was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Constructed 1908–12, this is a residential estate of several buildings built on the banks of the Des Plaines River in Rivers ...
.
History
Times Square's Theater District had evolved into a business district after World War II. Nonetheless, there were relatively few large developments there in the mid-20th century. Between 1958 and 1983, only twelve buildings with at least of space were developed in the 114-block area between
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
, Times Square,
Eighth Avenue, and
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...
. 1585 Broadway was proposed in the 1980s, when there was high demand for office space in New York City.
Husband-and-wife team David and Jean Solomon had become involved in acquiring and residential structures in Manhattan during the late 1970s, moving on to office buildings in the following decade.
The Solomons decided to develop two structures on Times Square's northern periphery in the late 1980s:
750 Seventh Avenue
750 Seventh Avenue is a 36-story office building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was designed by Kevin Roche of Roche-Dinkeloo and developed by David and Jean Solomon. 750 Seventh Avenue occupies a site on ...
and 1585 Broadway.
Both of these structures were developed
speculatively without a commitment from a specific tenant.
Development
![Times Sq Nov 2021 162](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Times_Sq_Nov_2021_162.jpg)
The Solomons acquired the Strand Theatre and Leighton's Haberdashers and Clothiers in 1986, with plans to build a 40-story tower on the two sites. This was one of several developments planned for Times Square at that time.
The
New York City Planning Commission
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
(CPC) was considering enacting regulations that would have forced new buildings along Times Square's northern section to include bright signage as well as deep
setbacks. David Solomon opposed these regulations on the basis that they were to be indiscriminate, "without thought of how to apply them to those new buildings architecturally".
Leighton's closed in December 1986 to make way for the tower. To attain additional floor area, Solomon Equities purchased the Barrymore Theatre's unused
air development rights from
the Shubert Organization
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters ...
. In total, the structure would have .
Engineering consultant Irwin Cantor devised two plans for the building's
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
: a tubular frame and a
megastructure
A megastructure is a very large artificial object, although the limits of precisely how large vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building. Some sources define a megastructure as an enormous self-supporting a ...
.
By mid-1987, Morgan Stanley was negotiating with Solomon Equities for space in the proposed tower.
Morgan Stanley executives did not like the prospect of seeing bright signage outside their windows,
and the deal fell through for that reason.
The Solomons decided to proceed with the tower anyway.
The supply of office space in New York City was starting to outpace demand by then.
Demolition of the site was underway by mid-1987.
The CPC approved a planning regulation in September 1987, which required large new developments in Times Square to set aside about 5 percent of their space for "entertainment uses", such as broadcast studios or ground-floor stores. While 1585 Broadway was planned entirely as an office building, it had retail space on Broadway to comply with this rule.
The ordinance also required the developers of such buildings to install large signs facing Times Square; the Solomons modified their plans as a result.
The aftermath of
Black Monday
Black Monday refers to specific Mondays when undesirable or turbulent events have occurred. It has been used to designate massacres, military battles, and stock market crashes.
Historic events
*1209, Dublin – when a group of 500 recently arriv ...
had resulted in the New York City office market dropping sharply, but the office market was recovering by 1988. Law firm
Proskauer Rose
Proskauer Rose LLP (formerly known as Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, LLP) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1875 and currently employs more than 800 attorneys in twelve offices worldwide.
P ...
leased at 1585 Broadway that August,
with officials citing cheaper rents and newer mechanical systems in their decision.
Proskauer Rose was one of several law firms leasing office space around Times Square at the time,
and developers such as Solomon Equities were offering large incentives for these companies.
The next year, Solomon Equities unsuccessfully attempted to convince the
Chemical Bank
Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world.
Beginning ...
to lease space at either 1585 Broadway or 750 Seventh Avenue. The
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
also considered leasing the rest of 1585 Broadway,
along with space in 750 Seventh Avenue.
David Solomon severed negotiations in mid-1989 because he felt that News Corp would not pay enough rent. News Corp ultimately canceled the negotiations altogether the next year, amid steep increases in interest rates. Solomon Equities hired Lois Pitts to market its new Times Square buildings.
Completion and insolvency
Difficulties
![Times Sq Nov 2021 189](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Times_Sq_Nov_2021_189.jpg)
1585 Broadway was completed in 1990 for $300 million.
This coincided with the beginning of the
early 1990s recession
The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incu ...
, when 14.5 percent of Manhattan office space was vacant. Furthermore, some of office space in the western section of Midtown had been developed in the 1980s, of which only half had been leased. By March 1990, David and Jean Solomon had not been able to sign any other tenants besides Proskauer Rose for either of their Times Square buildings. Their Times Square skyscrapers, as well as a third project at
712 Fifth Avenue, were almost nearly empty. Proskauer Rose occupied 11 of the 42 floors at 1585 Broadway,
taking up .
The rest of the building, covering , remained available for lease in mid-1990. Since the structure was less than half occupied, the Solomons were not required to operate the exterior signs. As part of the Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program, which automatically distributed tax abatements to developers of industrial or commercial buildings in certain areas of New York City, the building also received a municipal tax abatement that lowered its tax bill by several million dollars.
A consortium of
Swiss Bank Corporation
Swiss Bank Corporation was a Swiss investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. Prior to its merger, the bank was the third largest in Switzerland with over CHF300 billion of assets and CHF11.7 billion of equ ...
,
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...
, and
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. T ...
had given a first mortgage of $320 million, and Swiss Bank also made a $50 million
subordinated loan.
Other debt included $40 million owed to the
European American Bank
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerat ...
(EAB) and $17.5 million owed to the
Commercial Bank of Kuwait The Commercial Bank of Kuwait, (known as ar, التجاري, ''Al Tijari'', commercial) was established on 19 June 1960. It is the second oldest bank of Kuwait, it has major role in retail and commercial financing.
References
External links .
The first difficulties with the building's finances arose in September 1990, when the Solomons neglected to pay $46.425 million to the three first-mortgage lenders. The Solomons subsequently missed an interest payment that December, and debts accumulated to the point where
Consolidated Edison shut off the building's heat service in early 1991.
The Solomons were in default by that February, but the lenders were unable to press their claims.
EAB successfully sued the Solomons in June 1991 for failure to pay back the loan, and several of the building's construction contractors filed
mechanics' liens against the property throughout mid-1991.
Furthermore, Proskauer Rose did not pay rent for two years because the Solomons had promised $25 million of improvements and provided a work letter that exempted the tenant from paying rent until October 1991.
Proskauer Rose decided not to pay its $453,606 monthly rent even when it came due, citing the fact that the Solomons had not made improvements to the building. Among the issues were faulty elevators, an unfinished facade, non-functional mechanical systems, and the fact that the driveway was not staffed 24 hours a day. At one point, Proskauer Rose paid the electric bill at the last minute before 1585 Broadway's power supply was about to be shut off. The law firm was paying for the building's utilities, insurance premiums, and security guards from their own budget,
then
credited these costs against its rent charges. By December 1991, Bank of Montreal and Toronto-Dominion Bank were considering foreclosing on the building. The debt had increased to $340 million by then.
Chapter 11 filing
![Times Sq Nov 2021 174](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Times_Sq_Nov_2021_174.jpg)
At the end of December 1991, Solomon Equities filed a
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy petition for 1585 Broadway,
having not signed a single tenant for the building in the previous three years.
In that time, the building's only tenant, Proskauer Rose, had never paid rent.
1585 Broadway had $231 million in
assets
In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value ...
and $482 million in debt, and it was losing $1.9 million monthly.
As a result of the Chapter 11 filing, the foreclosure proceedings on the building were placed on hold,
and David Solomon was relieved of his duty to pay $3.4 million in property taxes. Proskauer Rose then sued the Solomons, as well as the eight banks that held the building's debt, for not having finished the building. The parties were forming a settlement by April 1992.
The lenders could not agree on the terms of the restructuring, and more than five prospective tenants were turned away as a result.
The lenders had arranged to sell 1585 Broadway to
Primerica Corporation, which would have relocated its stock brokerage division, Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company, into the building.
The deal collapsed when Primerica acquired another brokerage,
Shearson, and began laying off Smith Barney workers, making the additional space unnecessary. In another case, the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
was looking to lease a Midtown office, but 1585 Broadway's bankruptcy dissuaded the IRS from leasing there. The lenders' acrimonious negotiations also turned away financial-services company
Mastercard, which was looking for a new Manhattan headquarters in late 1992 and had identified four buildings, including 1585 Broadway, as possible locations.
In 1993, the lenders hired
Hines Interests Limited Partnership
Hines Interests Limited Partnership is a privately held company that invests in and develops real estate.
The company has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,450 properties, comprising over 485 million square feet. The company currently manage ...
to manage the property.
The bankruptcy courts approved a plan to reorganize 1585 Broadway in March 1993. The lenders began looking for a buyer for the entire building. Despite Solomon's negotiations with several potential small tenants, the lenders did not even want to show the building to anyone other than a large tenant. Furthermore, the lenders wanted $150 million for the property, which had to be sold before the building exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 1993. This was much less than the $400 million debt on the building, but it was very high for any investor who was buying the structure speculatively. Among the potential bidders were the Reliance National Insurance Company, which was seeking .
Morgan Stanley, the
Quantum Fund
The Quantum Group of Funds are privately owned hedge funds based in London, New York, Curaçao (Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Cayman Islands. They are advised by George Soros through his company Soros Fund Management. Soros started the fund i ...
,
Milstein Properties, and
Odyssey Partners all made bids of least $150 million.
All of the bids were
sealed, so none of the competing bidders knew how much the others had paid.
Morgan Stanley takeover
1990s
![Times Sq Nov 2021 206](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Times_Sq_Nov_2021_206.jpg)
The lenders sold 1585 Broadway to the high bidder, Morgan Stanley, for $176 million in August 1993.
This was about half what the building would have cost if it were newly built.
David Solomon said there was a "bittersweet irony" to the sale, as Morgan Stanley had negotiated for space when the building was first being developed.
The company had 4,590 workers in Manhattan at the time, having added 400 positions in the past two years. Morgan Stanley had considered moving to Connecticut but had decided to stay in New York City after being offered $40 million in tax abatements.
A spokesman for
Cushman and Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenues ...
said Morgan Stanley's purchase "gave people confidence that the financial community is staying in New York". The deal continued a revival of Times Square, which had commenced with the previous year's acquisition of
1540 Broadway by entertainment conglomerate
Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...
.
Morgan Stanley's purchase showed that Manhattan's financial center was moving beyond its traditional nexus on
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
and the
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
, and it also signified that companies outside the entertainment industry could occupy office space in Times Square.
1585 Broadway already had some space that could be used as trading floors, and the building's electrical system could support the high power requirements of workstations.
Morgan Stanley executives had also liked the building's column-free spaces. The firm planned to use the second through sixth floors for its
commodities,
equities
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
,
fixed income
Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the prin ...
, and
forex
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...
divisions.
Even after the acquisition of 1585 Broadway, Morgan Stanley still needed around , so it bought 750 Seventh Avenue in 1994.
Morgan Stanley was still required to place signs on the facade once the building was more than 50 percent occupied. This time, Morgan Stanley executives saw the benefits of getting a deeply discounted space as outweighing the drawbacks of large signs.
1585 Broadway's original architect, Gwathmey Siegel, designed a renovation for the building in 1994 and conducted the renovation the next year.
Signs were installed on the exterior;
the basement dining room and the executive suite were added;
and 2,000 trading desks were added across four stories. Morgan Stanley also received a $100 million tax exemption after it purchased 1585 Broadway and 750 Seventh Avenue.
Morgan Stanley began moving into 1585 Broadway in mid-1995,
relocating from
1251 Avenue of the Americas. Within a year, retail tenants began filling the ground-floor space, including
Sunglass Hut
Sunglass Hut is an international retailer of sunglasses and sunglass accessories founded in Miami, Florida, United States, in 1971. Sunglass Hut is part of the Italian-based Luxottica Group, the world’s largest eyewear company.
As of December ...
and
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
. The building was also occupied by smaller tenants such as a charitable foundation administered by the estate of the late heiress
Doris Duke
Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, horticulturalist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealth, luxurious l ...
. Proskauer Rose continued to take up space in 1585 Broadway, as its lease ran for twenty years.
The law firm spent $4 million in 1996 to upgrade its technological equipment in 1585 Broadway. Though Proskauer Rose and Morgan Stanley were the building's only office tenants, they occupied the entire building.
Morgan Stanley acquired
Dean Witter Financial Services in 1997, and 1585 Broadway became part of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's "midtown urban campus".
The firm of Brennan Beer Gorman Monk designed an information booth for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter within one of 1585 Broadway's storefronts in 1998. The booth consisted of a cube suspended above ground, with 18 screens, as well as a ticker above the floor.
2000s to present
![The Morgan Stanley Building (WTM by official-ly cool 113)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/The_Morgan_Stanley_Building_%28WTM_by_official-ly_cool_113%29.jpg)
Proskauer Rose renovated the 19th floor in 2000, adding seven conference rooms and 49 offices by relocating its law library to the sub-basement. The law firm renovated the rest of its space shortly afterward.
Following the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
in 2001, Morgan Stanley dispersed employees from its Times Square "campus" to reduce the risk created by concentrating of so many workers in a small area. The building's lobby was also closed to the public for security reasons, despite being a privately owned public space that legally had to remain open.
To protect against vehicular attacks, Morgan Stanley installed planters outside 1585 Broadway in 2004. Morgan Stanley began turning off the building's lights at night in 2005 to reduce the risk of migratory birds crashing into the facade. The planters outside the building were removed in 2006; the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
said that the barriers were ineffective at preventing vehicular attacks while also obstructing pedestrian flow. The same year, Morgan Stanley bought a building at 522 Fifth Avenue and relocated its private wealth management and investment management divisions there.
When Proskauer Rose's lease at 1585 Broadway expired in 2010, the firm sought to relocate to the nearby
11 Times Square
Eleven Times Square is an office and retail tower located at 640 Eighth Avenue, at the intersection with West 42nd Street, in the Times Square and West Midtown neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. The 40-story, tower rises , making it t ...
rather than renew its lease at 1585 Broadway.
Morgan Stanley planned to move into the space Proskauer Rose had vacated.
There had been tension between the two tenants, since Proskauer Rose had occupied a comparatively small amount of space in the building while Morgan Stanley had used the structure as its headquarters. The financial firm retained its banking and trading divisions in 1585 Broadway but occupied several other structures in the city.
The ground-floor storefront space was leased by tenants such as Skagen and
Fossil Group
Fossil Group, Inc., is an American fashion designer and manufacturer founded in 1984 by Tom Kartsotis and based in Richardson, Texas. Their brands include Fossil, Relic, Michele Watch, Skagen Denmark, Misfit, WSI, and Zodiac Watches. Fos ...
.
Morgan Stanley then conducted renovations on 1585 Broadway during the mid-2010s, overhauling one floor at a time.
A
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...
was also installed at the building in 2016.
By early 2017, Morgan Stanley contemplated relocating to the new
Hudson Yards development.
The firm was also looking for other office space around Manhattan. Morgan Stanley stipulated that if it signed a lease with any landlord, then that landlord had to buy 1585 Broadway and 522 Fifth Avenue. Morgan Stanley could not find a buyer for 1585 Broadway, though it did manage to sell 522 Fifth Avenue in 2020. Morgan Stanley retained ownership of 1585 Broadway, even after the onset of
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, when other companies were selling or
subletting their space.
Reception
According to architectural writer
Robert A. M. Stern
Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...
, 1585 Broadway's facade was "a welcome departure from the stone-clad Postmodern towers of the 1980s", and it earned many accolades.
Paul Goldberger
Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''.
Biography
Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...
wrote for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'': "For this building has a real facade, designed to stand on its own, that looks reasonable even when not a square inch of the sign space is rented."
At the end of 1991, Goldberger dubbed 1585 Broadway as the "best nearly empty building of the year". In 1992,
Herbert Muschamp
Herbert Mitchell Muschamp (November 28, 1947 – October 2, 2007) was an American architecture critic.
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Muschamp described his childhood home life as follows: "The living room was a secret. A forbidden zone. ...
of the ''Times'' described 1585 Broadway as "a square chaperone dressed in starchy gray, peering down sternly at the indecorous doings in the street below".
Ada Louise Huxtable characterized the building as "a stunning event", saying the design "carries the sheer, sleek precision of the modernist curtain wall to new intricacy and richness".
Eve M. Kahn of ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' described 1585 Broadway as a "water-green, restrained corporate monolith".
After the building was renovated, Stanley Abercrombie wrote for ''
Interior Design
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...
'' magazine in 1996: "Above the signage area, the tower is a cool, symmetrical shaft
..continuing the downstairs glitter with quiet composure".
Of the interior, Abercrombie wrote that Gwathmey Siegel had reconciled "a potentially overwhelming number of difficult and sometimes opposing demands into a work of architecture and interior design that appears seamless, coherent, and inevitable" while "making it all look easy".
When
3 Times Square was being built on the opposite end of Times Square in 1998, Muschamp wrote that 1585 Broadway was the only new building in the area that "has broken boldly out of the mold of commercial design" prior to 3 Times Square's construction.
See also
*
List of buildings and structures on Broadway in Manhattan
*
List of tallest buildings in New York City
New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is home to over 7,000 completed high-rise buildings of at least , of which at least 95 are taller than . The tallest building in New York is One World Trade Center, which rises ...
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
{{Broadway (Manhattan)
1990 establishments in New York City
Broadway (Manhattan)
Emery Roth buildings
Morgan Stanley
Office buildings completed in 1990
Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan
Times Square buildings
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified buildings