Bertelsmann Building
1540 Broadway | also 164 West 46th Street, 1538 Broadway | Times Square | built 1989
Open on the map13 entries
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1986
The Loew's State basement USO center gets 90 days' notice to make way for the tower
In late 1986 the Times Square USO center, which sat in the basement of the old Loews State Theater building on the site of today's 1540 Broadway, received an eviction notice from the new owners, VMS Development and Bruce Eichner. The notice ordered it out by February 5, and the center said moving by then was almost impossible. The owners planned to demolish the building, and VMS's president said they would insist the center leave while trying to find it a new location.
Source: The New York Times
- 1986
Developer Bruce Eichner buys Loew's State Theatre to assemble a Times Square tower site
An earlier building on this site, the Loew's State Theatre, was bought in February 1986 by Bruce Eichner, whose partnership with VMS Development aimed to build a mixed-use complex there. Clearing the block meant buying out the theater's 45 tenants, some on long leases, and tracing every owner of four inner lots back to 1870. A USO recruiting center also had to be moved. The site took more than a year to put together.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
The theater is demolished as David Childs of SOM designs a 44-story tower with a prow
By mid-1987 Loew's State was coming down, and the project had settled on a 44-story tower by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Eichner dropped the planned hotel rooms after being told offices would cost less and earn as much. The design pushes a prow out toward Times Square, sheathes the upper floors in blue and green glass, and includes 16,000 square feet of electronic signs, which Times Square zoning required.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1990
The tower is completed with no tenants, in a recession, and soon goes bankrupt
Finished in 1990 under the address 175 West 45th Street, the tower had no tenants and arrived as 14.5 percent of Manhattan office space sat vacant. Broadway State Partners had run up a deficit of about $50 million, and talks to restructure its $250 million Citicorp-led mortgage failed. The planned shopping mall at the base had still not opened in March, and the project ended in bankruptcy and foreclosure.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1992
German media company Bertelsmann buys the empty tower for $119 million
Bertelsmann agreed in March 1992 to buy the entire building for $119 million, which was under half of what the foreclosed mortgage had been worth, and received tax breaks in exchange. It pledged to keep 1,750 employees in the tower for fifteen years, among them 500 positions that might otherwise have gone to Chicago. Renamed the Bertelsmann Building, it housed the firm's U.S. headquarters, including Bertelsmann Music Group and the book group later known as Random House.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1993
Bertelsmann plans an etched-glass Elvis triptych for its new lobby
The New York Times reported in April 1993 that Bertelsmann would install a nine-foot-high Elvis Presley triptych in the lobby of its new headquarters when the building opened that June. The piece was three glass panels etched with Presley's likeness, a replica of a larger work that RCA Records had donated to Graceland. A company spokeswoman explained the choice by saying the firm loved Elvis, who was on RCA.
Source: The New York Times
- 1993
Jerry Adler's High Rise chronicles how the tower was built and lost money
Newsweek editor Jerry Adler published High Rise in 1993, an account of how 1540 Broadway was built during the 1980s boom and finished into a recession. The New York Times review said Adler watched the process first-hand with the cooperation of developer Bruce Eichner and his associates. Episodes it singled out included the cost of shoring up the neighboring Lyceum Theater after a large crack appeared during excavation, and a fight with retail partners over an electronic display called the Whiz Bang.
Source: The New York Times
- 1996
The Virgin Megastore and a Sony cinema open in the base, following the All Star Cafe
After Bertelsmann signed three tenants for the atrium in 1994, the Official All Star Cafe opened in December 1995. The Virgin Megastore and the Sony Theatres State 4 cinema followed in April 1996, filling space that had stood empty since the tower was built. By 1999 the Virgin store was reportedly earning millions of dollars in profit every week, even as the cafe struggled financially.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2003
A falling piece of sheet metal injures two pedestrians at the Bertelsmann Building
In April 2003 a piece of sheet metal came down from the Bertelsmann Building, as 1540 Broadway was then called, and injured two pedestrians. Two months later Bertelsmann signaled that it would put the tower up for sale while continuing to occupy part of it.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2006
The basement cinema closes after a decade, squeezed by newer theaters
The basement cinema, listed by Cinema Treasures as the Loews State 4 and earlier as Sony Theatres State, closed on January 26, 2006, having opened in April 1996. Cinema Treasures says it became a holdover house after Loews 42nd Street E Walk opened in November 1999, and AMC Empire 25 added competition in April 2000. In early 2002 it turned into a discount house that also showed Bollywood films.
Source: cinematreasures.org
- 2006
Charmin sets up twenty temporary public restrooms in a Times Square storefront
In 2006 the toilet paper brand Charmin leased one of the storefronts at the base of the tower and put in twenty temporary public restrooms for the Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop. It sponsored temporary restrooms there again in 2007. The retail section changed hands in 2006 as well, when Vornado Realty Trust bought it for $260 million.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2008
Harry Macklowe surrenders the tower's offices to Deutsche Bank
Harry Macklowe bought the office section in February 2007 as part of a $7 billion deal that also took in six other Equity Office buildings. By February 2008 he could not refinance the debt and gave 1540 Broadway to his lender, Deutsche Bank. He had paid about $1,000 a square foot, but was struggling to sell even at $400 to $450.
“Macklowe surrendered 1540 Broadway to his lender, Deutsche Bank.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
A Disney Store and Forever 21 replace the Virgin Megastore at the base of the tower
Virgin's Times Square store closed in 2009, and in 2010 a Disney Store opened in its former space beside a Forever 21 shop. Forever 21 alone was projected to draw 100,000 visitors a day, more than the Statue of Liberty. Adobe and Xinhua News Agency also took office space in the tower that year.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 1540 BroadwayWikipedia
Nearby
- Lyceum Theatre149 West 45th Street | 13 entries
- I. Miller Building1552 Broadway | 3 entries
- TSX Broadway and the Palace Theatre1568 Broadway | 9 entries
- Church of St. Mary the Virgin145 West 46th Street | 9 entries
- New York Marriott Marquis1535 Broadway | 8 entries
- Hudson Theatre139 West 44th Street | 13 entries