Spyscape
250 West 55th Street | also 258 West 55th Street, 247 West 54th Street, 920 8th Avenue | Midtown | built 2008
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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.
- 2011
Construction resumes on Boston Properties' 250 West 55th Street office tower
In October 2011 New York YIMBY reported that building had resumed at 250 West 55th Street, an office tower for Boston Properties designed by SOM, after the project sat on hold for several years. The plan called for 40 stories rising 550 feet, with 680,000 square feet of space, and completion was expected in 2013. New Marriott hotels were also due to go up on the same block, facing Broadway rather than Eighth Avenue.
Source: newyorkyimby.com
- 2012
250 West 55th Street is topped out and half-clad, with Morrison Foerster signed as a tenant
By June 2012 the tower was topped out and half-clad, according to critic James Gardner in The Real Deal, who expected it to be finished the following year. He called it Midtown's first new office building in three years and noted that the law firm Morrison Foerster had signed for about 20 percent of the space. Microsoft and two other law firms were reported to be eyeing it, but Gardner judged the design drab for Eighth Avenue.
Source: therealdeal.com
- 2013
The 250 West 55th Street tower nears completion with a two-story retail podium
A June 2013 update on New York YIMBY said work on the SOM-designed tower for Boston Properties was almost done and occupancy looked close. Microsoft had been rumored as a tenant, but law firms seemed likely to fill most of the space. The writer accepted the two-story retail podium, which would normally be a poor treatment of the street wall, since the neighborhood had been low-rise tenements and was becoming more upscale, with Hearst nearby.
Source: newyorkyimby.com
- 2018
Spyscape, designed by Adjaye Associates, opens as New York's only permanent spy museum
By March 13, 2018, Untapped Cities reported, Spyscape was open. Adjaye Associates designed the dark-concrete interior, and the content was developed with former intelligence agency directors and espionage experts. Visitors wear a wristband that tracks their challenges and move through seven galleries, with experiences such as a laser tunnel and a 360-degree surveillance room, before a debriefing room tells them what spy role suits them. The museum also has an elevator of about 350 square feet where a film briefs visitors on their mission.
Source: Untapped New York
- 2024
Spyscape launches SPYGAMES, an active-games experience designed with CIA and Special Ops experts
In 2024 Spyscape introduced SPYGAMES, a set of active games meant to test visitors' mental and physical abilities, designed with experts from the CIA and Special Ops. It followed Batman x Spyscape, an interactive detective adventure that combined immersive physical spaces with a smartphone app.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- SpyscapeWikipedia
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