55 Water Street
also 39 South Street, 43 Water Street | Financial District | built 1973
Open on the map10 entries
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1913
The Seamen's Church Institute opens a 12-story home for sailors at 25 South Street
The Seamen's Church Institute opens its 12-story headquarters at 25 South Street in 1913, with dormitory rooms for up to 580 seafarers, a shipping bureau, a restaurant, a post office and a chapel. The building stood on the block later cleared for 55 Water Street. In 1942 its Merchant Marine School extends through the 13th-story roof for rooftop instruction, and the institute moves to State Street in 1968.
“SCI opens the doors of its 12-story building at 25 South Street in Lower Manhattan with room to house up to 580 seafarers…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1970
Friedberg designs three public spaces for the 55 Water Street tower
The tower comes with three public spaces: a ground-level plaza, an elevated plaza and an arcade, all designed by M. Paul Friedberg & Partners. The Municipal Art Society's record of privately owned public spaces describes the elevated plaza as one of just six substantially raised outdoor spaces in the city, and the only one created under the zoning provision for elevated plazas. The owner was also required to rebuild and maintain Jeanette Park, now Vietnam Veterans Plaza.
Source: apops.mas.org
- 1971
Workers top out 55 Water Street with a 1,000-pound girder as Prudential commits $150 million
On June 18, 1971, workers raise a 1,000-pound girder to the 53rd story at a topping-out ceremony. The same day the Uris company announces that Prudential Insurance will place a $150 million loan on the building, the largest mortgage ever put on a privately developed structure, in return for a quarter of its equity. Seventy percent of the office space is already leased.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1972
The Uris brothers complete the world's largest privately owned office building
The Uris brothers developed the 3.5-million-square-foot tower, designed by Emery Roth & Sons, which was completed in 1972. At the time it was the world's largest privately owned office building by floor area. Chemical Bank leased about a third of the space and owned 15 percent of the building, and firms such as Dominick & Dominick and Bear Stearns also took space.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
The Whitney Museum opens a satellite gallery on the third floor
In September 1973 the Whitney Museum of American Art opened a branch museum on the third floor of 55 Water Street, paying $1 a year in rent. The operating costs were covered by 29 institutions and companies with offices in the Financial District. The museum had to leave in 1975, when the owners wanted to rent out the space.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1993
Retirement Systems of Alabama buys 55 Water Street
In 1993 the Retirement Systems of Alabama, the state's employee pension fund, buys 55 Water Street for a reported $202 million. The chief operating officer of the building's operating company later says the fund has kept the property free of debt and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in it over the years.
Source: commercialobserver.com
- 2001
Goldman Sachs proposes a 13-story trading annex on the Elevated Acre, then drops it
In early 2001 Goldman Sachs considers building a 13-story, 240-foot annex on the site of the Elevated Acre, with seven trading floors of 56,000 square feet each and 35 extra feet on the north tower. The $850 million project would have finished in 2004. Goldman offers to pay for nearby public-space improvements, but the plan is dropped soon after it is presented; the firm cites economic conditions, while some neighbors had voiced opposition.
“Goldman Sachs considered constructing a 13-story, 240 ft annex on the site of the Elevated Acre.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2005
The Elevated Acre plaza reopens after a major redesign
The building's elevated public plaza, about 40,000 square feet, was designed by Paul Friedberg & Associates. Rogers Marvel Architects and Ken Smith redesigned it, and it reopened in 2005 with plantings, grasses, a multi-tiered terrace, a seven-level amphitheater and a Brazilian hardwood boardwalk.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2012
Hurricane Sandy floods the building's basement
On October 29, 2012, a 14-foot storm surge from Hurricane Sandy flooded the area around 55 Water Street. The basement levels were severely damaged, and the rooftop emergency generators could not run because they depended on pumps in the basement. The building stayed closed for several weeks.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2014
A removable flood wall becomes the first permitted system of its kind in New York City
Plaza Construction, with EKO Flood USA and the engineers Thornton Tomasetti, installs a removable flood protection system around the tower after Hurricane Sandy, billed as the first permitted system of its kind in New York City. Kept in a sub-level of the building, it takes 30 people and eight hours to put in place and guards against an 8-foot flood line, above the 7.5 feet FEMA recommends for a 100-year storm.
Source: consupt.com
Further reading
- 55 Water StreetWikipedia
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