Bloomberg Tower

151 East 58th Street | also 136 East 59th Street, 1 Beacon Court, 988 3rd Avenue | East Midtown | built 2001

Open on the map10 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1992

    Alexander's, the last store of the chain, closes its Lexington Avenue flagship

    Before the tower, this site held the flagship of Alexander's, a department store once seen as a rival to Bloomingdale's. It was the last Alexander's to close, shutting its doors in 1992. The vacant store came down three years before construction of the present tower began in 2001.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

  2. 2004

    The tower's glass courtyard is modeled on Grand Central and Rockefeller Center

    Cesar Pelli's design puts two towers above a steel office and retail base, with a seven-story atrium between them. The curving glass walls of the One Beacon Court courtyard, which connects 58th and 59th Streets and tilts slightly inward as it rises, took inspiration from Grand Central Terminal, the Rockefeller Center skating rink and the main reading room of the New York Public Library.

    “…inspired by other historic New York enclosures such as Grand Central Terminal, the reading room of the New York Public Library Main Branch…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2004

    Cesar Pelli's 55-story tower opens on the former Alexander's site

    Developer Vornado Realty Trust built a 55-story glass tower designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates on the site of the vacant Alexander's department store, completing it in 2004. The tower at 731 Lexington Avenue rises to a roof height of 807 feet and holds offices, retail space and the luxury condominiums of One Beacon Court.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2004

    Bloomberg L.P. moves its headquarters into the tower's base

    Bloomberg L.P. leased about 700,000 square feet of office space at the base of the new tower, in a building first planned as entirely residential. Its offices were laid out for roughly 4,000 employees, and the company pays owner Alexander's about $105 million a year in rent. Bloomberg Television has flagship studios in the building, and the PBS program Charlie Rose was once produced there.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2006

    On Henry Kissinger's advice, Sirio Maccioni moves Le Cirque into the tower

    When Le Cirque's owner Sirio Maccioni needed a new location in 2006, he asked Henry Kissinger, a regular customer, where to go. Kissinger's answer was the Bloomberg Tower on Lexington Avenue, and the restaurant moved in that year. The building combined luxury condominiums, known as One Beacon Court, with the offices of Mayor Bloomberg's company.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

  6. 2007

    August 6

    Paul Goldberger praises Bloomberg's open-plan newsroom in The New Yorker

    The New Yorker's August 6, 2007, issue carried Goldberger's review of Bloomberg L.P.'s headquarters, designed by STUDIOS Architecture with rows of uniform desks for about 4,000 employees. A central atrium called the Link overlooks the courtyard. He called it a newsroom built for the electronic age, set inside a refined but conventional skyscraper.

    “…a newsroom truly designed for the electronic age ... a dazzling work environment tucked inside a refined but conventional skyscraper…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2009

    Vornado's retail buying around the tower helps lift a down-market corner

    In 2004 the blocks around the tower, especially along Third Avenue, were far from upscale. Developer Vornado bought retail space nearby during construction and filled it with new stores, and by 2009 it owned the south side of 58th Street and retail on both sides of Lexington. Bloomberg, renting 885,000 square feet on the lower 31 floors, was the tower's only office tenant.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

  8. 2017

    Steven A. Cohen lists his One Beacon Court condominium for $67.5 million

    Hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen listed his unit in the tower's One Beacon Court condominiums for $67.5 million in 2017. Beyonce and former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams are among the other notable residents the building has had.

    Source: Wikipedia

  9. 2018

    January 1

    Le Cirque closes in the tower after a 2017 bankruptcy filing

    A bankruptcy filing in March 2017 came with a pledge to keep the restaurant running. Even so, its 16,000-square-foot dining room at One Beacon Court, designed by Adam Tihany and Costas Kondylis, shut on January 1, 2018, as rent climbed and other operating problems mounted. The family's effort to move the restaurant to the tower was the subject of the documentary Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven.

    “Le Cirque New York closed on January 1, 2018, due to rising rent costs and other operational challenges…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  10. 2024

    May 6

    Bloomberg extends its headquarters lease at the tower to 2040

    Bloomberg LP announced on May 6, 2024, that it had extended its lease on the entire office space at 731 Lexington Avenue, nearly 1 million square feet. The new term starts when the current lease ends in 2029 and runs until 2040. About 7,000 of the company's 12,000 New York employees work in the tower.

    Source: bisnow.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 43 buildings with stories in East Midtown