5 Times Square

210 West 42nd Street | also 5 Times Square, 200 West 42nd Street, 592 7th Avenue | Times Square | built 2000

Open on the map8 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

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

  1. 1996

    Disney opens an 18,000-square-foot store on the corner later taken by 5 Times Square

    Disney leases the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in July 1995 and opens an 18,000-square-foot Disney Store there in late 1996. The store stands on the lot before the tower does. It is demolished to make way for the foundation of 5 Times Square, which is built between November 1999 and August 2000.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1999

    August

    Ernst & Young commits to a 20-year, $1 billion lease after the city offers tax breaks to keep it from New Jersey

    In May 1999 Ernst & Young asks the city for $65 million in subsidies, and the Giuliani administration agrees to a $20 million or $22 million tax abatement to keep the firm from relocating to New Jersey. In August Boston Properties announces it will develop a 37-story headquarters for the firm on the corner. The firm will pay a total of $1 billion over a 20-year lease.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2002

    May

    Ernst & Young moves 3,300 employees in and hires 332 former Arthur Andersen staff

    The tower is completed in May 2002, and Ernst & Young begins moving 3,300 employees in; by September, 4,000 are working there and occupy all the office floors. Arthur Andersen's lease at the next-door Times Square Tower was cancelled in mid-2002 during the Enron scandal, and Ernst & Young took on 332 of its former employees for the new office.

    “EY hired 332 former Andersen employees to join the new 5 Times Square office.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2006

    April 20

    Dubai's Istithmar balks at a deal to buy 5 Times Square for $1.1 billion

    In April 2006 Boston Properties' sale of Five Times Square to Dubai-based Istithmar, the investment arm of a family-controlled Gulf emirate, hits a snag, even as the $1.1 billion deal for 280 Park Avenue in the same package moves ahead. Sources tell the New York Post that Istithmar worries that, once the site's tax incentives expire in 2022, after-tax rents will not deliver the return it wants.

    Source: Internet Archive

  5. 2014

    June

    A group led by David Werner completes its $1.5 billion purchase of the tower

    A group led by investor David Werner completes its $1.5 billion purchase of the 5 Times Square tower, which holds 1.1 million square feet of offices. The price works out to roughly $1,364 a square foot, according to a June 18, 2014 digest from Commercial Real Estate Direct that cites the Wall Street Journal.

    Source: crenews.com

  6. 2022

    January 10

    Roku leases the top eight floors and adds 100,000 square feet during negotiations

    Roku signs what is expected to be one of the year's biggest office leases, taking 240,000 square feet across the top eight of the building's 39 floors, landlord RXR Realty announces. RXR chief executive Scott Rechler says Roku was growing so quickly that it added 100,000 square feet while the lease was being negotiated. The landlord is modernizing the tower with a new lobby, upgraded elevators linked to the subway station, and an amenity center of 48,000 square feet.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

  7. 2025

    May 22

    The state approves converting the office tower into up to 1,250 apartments

    The Empire State Development board votes to allow the 38-story tower to become a mixed-use building with up to 1,250 housing units, of which 313 would stay permanently affordable, plus more than 37,000 square feet of retail. The building is 77 percent vacant at the time. The state says construction should begin in the third quarter of 2025, with the first phase finished in 2027.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

  8. 2026

    June 14

    Red Lobster serves its last meals in Times Square, citing the construction around the building

    The Red Lobster restaurant at the base of the tower closes on June 14, 2026, with the chain saying prolonged construction activity hurt foot traffic and access. It also cites the plan to turn the building into a residential tower. Employees are offered transfers to other locations, with additional pay to ease the move.

    Source: cbsnews.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 91 buildings with stories in Times Square