Innovation Square, formerly Xerox Tower, is a
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall Tower bl ...
in downtown
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in ...
, standing at tall. The tower is the centerpiece of a roughly complex named ''Xerox Square''.
When it was built in 1967, it was the tallest building made of poured-in-place exposed aggregate concrete. It is the
tallest building in Rochester, as well as the third
tallest building in New York outside of New York City. It was initially used as the headquarters of
Xerox Corporation
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Stam ...
.
The "Digital X" Xerox logo at the top of the building was removed in 2005 with Xerox's new
positioning away from "The Document Company" signature and the related logo in use since 1994.
On April 18, 2009, Xerox announced their wish to sell the tower and other buildings in Xerox Square, and lease back the office space.
In August 2013 the property was sold to Buckingham Properties for $40 million. Under the terms of the sale Xerox will continue to lease space in the building for eight years, with an option to renew. Between the Summer and Autumn of 2015, a multi-color light display was added to all four corners of the tower roof.
The complex formerly featured an outdoor skating rink, and an English pub-style restaurant called ''The Shakespeare'', both of which operated until the late 1970s or 1980s before being converted to a private outdoor lounge for Xerox employees.
On January 26, 2018, Xerox has announced that it would vacate the entire building to move all its local employees to
Webster.
More recently, it was sold to Gallina Development. Gallina announced that it would rename the complex "Innovation Square" and retrofit it with housing, commercial, and college student living space. The auditorium, which was kept, reopened as a performing arts center in September 2021.
Gallery
File:Xerox Square east entrance.JPG, East entrance, showing plaza
File:Xerox Square entrance to parking garage.JPG, Parking garage entrance
File:Xerox Square plaque.JPG, Plaque before it became Innovation Square
File:Xerox Square plaza.JPG, Plaza. Formerly an ice skating rink
File:Xerox Square skyway to Midtown Plaza.JPG, Former skyway to the former Midtown Plaza
File:Xerox Square tower base.JPG, Base
File:Xerox Tower façade.JPG, Façade, south side
File:Rochester - Court Street at night.jpg, Xerox Tower before the "X" was removed
References
External links
Xerox Tower, EmporisXerox Tower, SkyscraperpageXerox Tower, RochesterDowntown
Office buildings completed in 1968
Skyscraper office buildings in Rochester, New York
Welton Becket buildings
Xerox
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