One Liberty Plaza, formerly the U.S. Steel Building, is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is situated on a block bounded by

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, Liberty Street, Church Street, and Cortlandt Street, on the sites of the former

Singer Building The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Serving as the headqua ...

and

City Investing Building The City Investing Building, also known as the Broadway–Cortlandt Building and the Benenson Building, was an office building and Early skyscrapers, early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York. Serving as the headquarters of the City Investing C ...

. The building was designed in the

International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

and completed in 1973. It is tall and has 54 floors. At , each floor offers almost of office space, making it one of the largest office buildings in New York by usable interior space. Its facade is black, consisting of a structural steel frame. South of the building is

Zuccotti Park Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza Park) is a publicly accessible park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is located in a privately owned public space (POPS) controlled by Brookfield Properties and Goldman S ...

, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park. One Liberty Plaza was originally commissioned by

U.S. Steel The United States Steel Corporation is an American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, ...

, and also housed the headquarters of

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

. A variety of tenants occupy the space, from large law firms to public and not-for-profit agencies like the

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in November 2001, following the September 11 attacks, to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan. ...

and the

World Trade Center Memorial Foundation The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum that are part of the World Trade Center complex, in New York City, created for remembering the September 11 attacks in 2001 which k ...

as well as new businesses. Since 2001 One Liberty Plaza has been owned and operated by

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Corpor ...

History

Singer City Investing Hudson Terminal 1909 crop

The

, the tallest in the world from 1908 to 1909, and the

adjacent to it were demolished from 1967 to 1968 to clear land for One Liberty Plaza's construction. One Liberty Plaza had more than twice the interior area of the two former buildings combined. The building had a substantial renovation in 1989, which involved the creation of a new lobby and elevator system. The lobby and elevators have an extensive security system, and the building has a connection to the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

's Fulton Street/

Fulton Center Fulton Center is a subway and retail complex centered at the intersection of Fulton Street (Manhattan), Fulton Street and Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The complex was built as part of a $1.4 billion proje ...

station () in the basement. In 2001, Brookfield Properties bought the property for $432 million. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, and the subsequent

collapse of the World Trade Center The World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City, was destroyed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's terror attacks. Two commercial airliners hijacked by terrorists were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the com ...

nearby, One Liberty Plaza sustained significant facade damage. At one point there was a rumor going around that the building was in danger of collapse. These claims were quickly refuted by ''The New York Times'': The building planned to be reopen to office workers with a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 22, 2001. But the day before it was to happen, it was decided that it was not yet sufficiently safe for employees to return to the office tower. The tower reopened on October 24, two days after originally scheduled. , it was the 656th tallest building in the world.

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

placed a $784 million loan on the tower in August 2017 and placed a partial ownership stake on sale for $1.6 billion two months later. That December, Brookfield sold a 49% stake in the tower to Blackstone, valuing the tower at $1.55 billion. Brookfield and Blackstone considered selling the building in 2020 for up to $1.7 billion. The sale ultimately did not occur, and June 2024, Brookfield refinanced the building with $750 million from Morgan Stanley.

Tenants

One Liberty Plaza is a hub of Wall Street activity, housing

RBC Capital Markets RBC Capital Markets is a global investment bank providing services in banking, finance, and capital markets to corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, and governments globally. Locations span 58 offices in 14 countries across North ...

' trading floors. Major tenants are New Avon (2 floors), the

, and the international law firm

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (known as Cleary Gottlieb), formerly Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly & Cox and Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly, Steen & Hamilton, is an American multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York Cit ...

(531 attorneys on 11 floors). It also houses the corporate headquarters of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield (part of

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

), Investment Technology Group, and insurance companies Arch Insurance Group, Sirius America,

Mutual of America Mutual of America Life Insurance Company is an American provider of retirement services and investments to employers, employees and individuals. Founded in 1945, the company provides products and services to help its customers build and preserve ...

Swiss Re Swiss Re Ltd is a Swiss reinsurance company founded in 1863 and headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the world's largest reinsurers, as measured by gross premiums written. Swiss Re operates through around 80 offices in 29 countri ...

, Generali, and

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

and its subsidiaries Fireman's Fund and Interstate/Chicago. The following is a list of the tenants by floor:

References

External links

* *
One Liberty Plaza
' on

CTBUH The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in Chicago, Illinois, U ...

* ' on

Emporis Emporis was a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. Emporis was acquired ...

*
One Liberty Plaza
' on Skyscraperpage.com *
One Liberty Plaza
' on

Structurae Structurae is an online database containing pictures and information about structural engineering, structural and civil engineering works, and their associated engineers, architects, and builders. Overview Structurae was founded in 1998 by Nico ...

{{Broadway (Manhattan) 1970s architecture in the United States 1973 establishments in New York City Broadway (Manhattan) Financial District, Manhattan Office buildings completed in 1973 Privately owned public spaces Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings 1 Liberty Plaza U.S. Steel

History

Tenants

See also

References

External links