100 West 33rd Street is a building in the

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

neighborhood of

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 ...

, New York, United States. It was designed by Daniel Burnham, and opened in 1929. It was the flagship store of the Gimbels department store chain until 1986. Abraham & Straus replaced Gimbels in 1989, was converted to Stern's in 1995, and closed in 2001. JCPenney filled the vacancy in 2009 and closed in 2020. The interior mall concourse was known as the A&S Plaza from 1989 until 1995, and the Manhattan Mall from 1995 until 2021, during which period the upper levels were converted to office space and the remaining retail tenants relocated. , the former mall concourse functions as a large lobby for the office space above. The building allows direct access to

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks b ...

, and has entrances to the New York City Subway's station and the PATH's station on the second basement level.

History

The structure was originally built as the flagship of the Gimbels department store chain. It was designed by famed architect Daniel Burnham and opened on September 29, 1910. The store was located in the cluster of large department stores that surrounded Herald Square, in

. It offered of selling space. A major selling point was its many doors leading to the Herald Square New York City Subway station. On the other hand, by the time Gimbels closed in 1986, the store had the highest rate of "shrinkage", or shoplifting losses, in the world. Doors also opened to a pedestrian passage under 33rd Street, connecting Penn Station to the 34th Street (New York City Subway) and 33rd Street ( PATH) stations. This Gimbels Passageway was closed in the 1990s for security reasons during a period of high crime. Gimbels closed in 1986. After a renovation, the structure reopened in 1989 as A&S Plaza, anchored by an A&S department store. The mall was originally 13 stories high, but difficult access to upper floors made the whole mall a financial failure. A&S became Stern's in 1995 and the structure was renamed Manhattan Mall. In September 2000,

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

announced that it would close the Stern's location in Manhattan. The store closed in January 2001 shortly before Federated decided to discontinue the Stern's chain as a whole. The anchor store was divided into smaller spaces, including a Steve & Barry's and a relocated food court. The upper ten levels were converted to office space shortly after the closure of Stern's. Venture bought the building in 1999 for $135 million and sold it to Vornado Realty Trust in 2006 for $689 million. On April 18, 2007, JCPenney announced that it would open a anchor store on the lower levels of the mall. It was the first JCPenney store in Manhattan. The mall's food court, which contained the only Arby's restaurant in Manhattan at the time, along with retailers such as Steve & Barry's, Brookstone and Nine West were closed in 2008 to make way for the new store. The store officially opened on July 31, 2009. On July 7, 2020, JCPenney closed permanently as part of a plan to close 151 stores nationwide. As of November 2021, clothing store Aeropostale moved into the former Express in the front of the mall having an external entrance, leaving LensCrafters as the last store in the mall. The mall has closed to foot traffic and LensCrafters is only accessible by appointment.

List of notable tenants

Gallery

File:19100923 Gimbels - The Realization of an Ideal - The New York Times.jpg, Advertisement celebrating the grand opening of Gimbels' flagship store, 1910 File:New York (6035571938).jpg, Aerial view of Manhattan Mall File:Manhattan Mall renovation jeh.jpg, Under renovation File:Manhattan Mall upper floors jeh.jpg, Former shops, now offices File:Manhattan_Mall_(48128098987).jpg, Exterior of the former JCPenney

References

External links

*
the Manhattan Mall at ''New York Architecture Images and Notes''
{{New York City Malls Sixth Avenue Shopping malls in New York City Commercial buildings in Manhattan Shopping malls established in 1989 Midtown Manhattan 1989 establishments in New York City