One Liberty Plaza
1 Liberty Plaza | also 1 Cortlandt Street, 165 Broadway | Financial District | built 1973
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1908
The Singer Tower opens to the public as the world's tallest building
On May 1, 1908, the Singer Manufacturing Company's tower opened to the public on the site that One Liberty Plaza now occupies. Its roof stood 612 feet high, which made it the tallest building in the world until the Metropolitan Life tower passed it in 1909. The observation balcony opened on June 23, 1908, with a 50-cent fee, and two later suicides there earned the tower the nickname Suicide Pinnacle.
“On May 1, 1908, the tower was opened to the public.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1908
The City Investing Building opens after a record 22 months of construction
Tenants began moving into the City Investing Building, which stood on part of today's One Liberty Plaza site, in April 1908. Developer Robert E. Dowling, president of the City Investing Company, had hired architect Francis Kimball, and the Hedden Construction Company finished the job in a record 22 months with 3,000 workers. The skyscraper offered about 12 acres of floor space, and its early tenants included the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, Midvale Steel and the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1911
Aviator Harry Atwood circles the Singer Building in a publicity stunt
The aviator Harry Atwood's 1911 flight around the Singer Building, which stood on the site of today's One Liberty Plaza, was a publicity stunt staged two years after the tower had lost its title as the world's tallest. In 1916 the Chatham and Phenix National Bank moved its main office into the building, and the Safe Deposit Company of New York originally used its vaults.
“In a publicity stunt in 1911, the aviator Harry Atwood flew around the Singer Building.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1968
Crews demolish the Singer Building to clear the site
The Singer Building, the world's tallest building from 1908 to 1909, and the neighboring City Investing Building are demolished between 1967 and 1968. The two towers stood on the block bounded by Broadway, Liberty Street, Church Street, and Cortlandt Street, and make way for a much larger office tower.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
A black steel tower by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill opens
Roy Allen of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designs the 54-story, 743-foot tower in the International Style, and it opens in 1973 at a cost of about $120 million. Merrill Lynch becomes an anchor tenant in 1972, taking 40 floors and a 25 percent ownership stake.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
Brookfield buys One Liberty Plaza for $432 million
Brookfield Properties bought One Liberty Plaza in 2001 for $432 million, according to property records cited by Commercial Observer. Olympia & York, described there as Brookfield's predecessor firm, had first acquired the building in 1986.
Source: commercialobserver.com
- 2001
A Brooks Brothers shirt department becomes a temporary morgue after September 11
The two-story Brooks Brothers store at One Liberty Plaza faced the World Trade Center and was covered in debris after the Twin Towers came down on September 11, 2001. According to Patch, the store's men's shirt department served for a time as a morgue for bodies taken from the wreckage.
Source: patch.com
- 2001
The tower reopens after facade damage on September 11
The tower's black steel-framed facade sustains significant damage when the nearby World Trade Center towers collapse on September 11, 2001. A rumor spreads that the building might collapse, but city officials say it is structurally sound. The tower reopens to office workers on October 24, two days later than first planned.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
Brooks Brothers closes its One Liberty Plaza store
Brooks Brothers said in October 2018 that it would close its Financial District store at One Liberty Plaza on October 11, a location Patch reported it had held for 45 years. The company said the landlord, Brookfield Properties, planned extensive renovations and changes to the building, and that it was looking at other locations nearby.
Source: patch.com
- 2024
Brookfield refinances One Liberty Plaza with a $750 million Morgan Stanley loan
In June 2024 Brookfield borrowed $750 million from Morgan Stanley, refinancing its existing loan on the tower at 165 Broadway, which rises 54 stories and holds 2.3 million square feet. Commercial Observer noted that Brookfield had sold Blackstone a 49 percent stake in 2017 at a $1.55 billion valuation, then repurchased it the previous year at a $1 billion valuation, a $500 million loss according to The Real Deal. The law firm Cleary Gottlieb, headquartered there since 1990, was among the largest tenants.
Source: commercialobserver.com
- 2024
Brookfield begins a lobby overhaul with a Pierre Huyghe ceiling artwork
In September 2024 Brookfield started rebuilding the lobbies at One Liberty Plaza, with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as lead architect and completion expected in early 2026. The new double-height spaces were planned with 40-foot ceilings, Italian travertine walls and terrazzo floors. The centerpiece is a planned work by French artist Pierre Huyghe that turns the lobby ceiling into a lit game board recalling Pong, with each tile standing for a pixel and two joysticks for players.
Source: nyrej.com
Further reading
- One Liberty PlazaWikipedia
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