The 800 Westchester Avenue complex is a postmodern Class A office building located in

Rye Brook, New York Rye Brook is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the town of Rye. The population was 9,347 at the 2010 census. Rye Brook has been designated as a Tree City USA for 14 years. History Rye Brook is located in south ...

. It was designed by the architectural firm of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, LLC to serve as the corporate headquarters for

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

. Described as an "aluminum business palace" and an "

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

", it was also notable for being the subject of the largest

real estate transaction A real estate transaction is the process whereby rights in a unit of property (or designated real estate) is transferred between two or more parties, e.g. in case of conveyance one party being the seller(s) and the other being the buyer(s). It can ...

of 2004. __TOC__

History

Originally conceived in 1979 by the

company as a symbol of the firm's "aggressive consumer products packaging and marketing", it is known for its distinctive glass and white aluminum exterior. Upon its opening in 1983, General Foods relocated 2,000 headquarters staff from nearby White Plains. However, in 1985, General Foods was acquired by Philip Morris, which proceeded to lay off most of that location's employees in 1987. Then in 1989 General Foods merged with

Kraft Foods Inc. Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell H ...

to form "Kraft General Foods" where it remained in its White Plains, NY Headquarters until the mid 1990s when it moved to Northfield Illinois. After a series of subsequent mergers and restructurings, Altria, the successor to Philip Morris, sold off its remaining interest in the facility in 2004 to the IJNR Group headed by Robert Weisz, moving the remaining 1,000 employees to other facilities except for 6 essential employees who remain employed with RPW in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

. At a cost of 40 million dollars, this was the largest real estate transaction in Westchester County in 2004 and did not include the 70 million dollar cost of renovating and subdividing the building.

Facilities

The complex is noted for its extensive corporate amenities, and retains such features as a hair salon, barber shop, television studio, fitness center and conference facilities. These features were continued even after the sale and renovation of the complex as a value-added benefit to the significant number of new tenants who occupy spaces ranging from 1,500 to . Also on-site is the related 760 Westchester Avenue facility that has been converted into a disaster recovery/adjunct location. It is currently leased by CBLPath Inc for an anatomic pathology services lab. Currently, it is owned by the RPW Group and managed by

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 ...

In Media

The complex has also been featured in

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

Drama

Mr Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...

Season 1 Episode 5 as the headquarters of the fictional company Steel Mountain a data security company. Both interior and exterior scenes were shot on location including data center and the executive cafeteria.

References

{{General Foods Food and drink company headquarters in the United States Rye, New York Office buildings completed in 1983 Buildings and structures in Westchester County, New York 1983 establishments in New York (state)