One Astor Plaza
One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515 Broadway and formerly the W. T. Grant Building, is a 54-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Der Scutt of Ely J. Kahn & Jacobs, the building was developed by Sam Minskoff and Sons. One Astor Plaza occupies a site bounded by Broadway to the east, 45th Street to the north, Shubert Alley to the west, and 44th Street to the south. The building is named for the Hotel Astor, which had occupied the site from 1904 to 1967. SL Green Realty and Allianz own One Astor Plaza, which as of 2022 serves as the headquarters for Paramount Global (previously ViacomCBS).
The building consists of a low base that occupies most of the site, as well as a 745-foot-tall (227 m) tower section with smaller floor areas. The facade is designed in glass and stone, with large signs. The upper stories have dark glass windows, with stone mechanical shafts on all sides of the tower. The lower stories contain a public passageway and retail at ground level, as well as a lobby and Paramount Global's Studio 1515 at the second story. The building was constructed with two theaters: a Broadway house called the Minskoff Theatre on the third floor, as well as a cinema in the basement (now an event venue called Palladium Times Square).
Sam Minskoff and Sons bought the Hotel Astor site in 1966 and initially proposed a 50-story tower without any theaters. Following a series of discussions, the Minskoff Theatre was included in exchange for additional floor area. Construction began on October 10, 1968, and the first tenants moved into the building in May 1971, with the building being completed the next year. One Astor Plaza was originally named for its anchor tenant, the W. T. Grant retail chain, which only occupied the space until 1976. Tishman Speyer and the Equitable Life Assurance Society bought One Astor Plaza in 1984. Tishman Speyer sold its ownership stake in 1990, just before Equitable filed a bankruptcy proceeding against the building, which was withdrawn after a lawsuit. Viacom leased space at One Astor Plaza starting in 1990, and its successors gradually came to occupy most of the building. SL Green Realty has owned or co-owned the building in some capacity since 2003.
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Reception[edit]
One Astor Plaza's construction had spurred developers to acquire several buildings around Times Square.[252] When One Astor Plaza was completed, city officials had expressed hope that the building would precipitate the transformation of Times Square into an entertainment hub. This did not happen immediately, leading architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern to write that "Times Square somehow seemed all the more tawdry for its overscaled, underembellished corporate guest", One Astor Plaza.[253] In 1985, New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger wrote that the under-construction Marriott Marquis hotel, One Astor Plaza, Paramount Plaza, and four planned towers at Times Square's south end[e] were "actively destroy[ing] something that is turning out to be far more fragile than we had once believed—that rough-and-tumble honky-tonk that is the physical essence of Times Square".[254] After Caesars Entertainment's casino bid was announced, Karrie Jacobs of Curbed wrote in 2023: "It's fitting that 1515 Broadway, designed by architect Der Scutt (who later designed Trump Tower), was the leading edge of a '60s push to reinvent Times Square."[255]
At an exhibition of New York City buildings in 1999, New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp said: "No one needs additional reason to dislike 1515 Broadway, the fin-topped office building between 44th and 45th Streets that replaced the legendary Astor Hotel."[256] According to C. Ray Smith, the asymmetrical shafts of the facade were characteristic of "the new design" character of the 1970s, contrasting with previous symmetrical designs.[28][257] Jo Mielziner said the large trusses above the Minskoff's roof provided "a clear example of what expense a builder is willing to go to get that extra rentable space".[69]
Site[edit]
One Astor Plaza is at 1515 Broadway, along Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.[4][5] While the building carries a Broadway address, it is actually on the west side of Seventh Avenue.[5] The section of Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 43rd and 45th Streets is officially listed on city maps as "Times Square",[6][a] but the adjoining section of Broadway was converted into a permanent pedestrian plaza in the 2010s.[7][8] One Astor Plaza's rectangular land lot is bounded by Times Square to the east, 45th Street to the north, Shubert Alley to the west, and 44th Street to the south. The lot spans 65,764 square feet (6,109.7 m2),[5][9] with a frontage of 200 feet (61 m) on Times Square and 327 feet (100 m) on 44th and 45th Streets. Shubert Alley, which covers 6,400 square feet (590 m2) of the land lot, is a private passageway shared with the Shubert Organization.[5] The intersection of Times Square and 44th Street, directly outside One Astor Plaza, was renamed after Viacom founder Sumner Redstone in 2021.[10]
The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theatres.[4] 1515 Broadway shares the block with seven theaters to the west: the Shubert, Broadhurst, and Majestic on 44th Street and the Booth, Gerald Schoenfeld, Bernard B. Jacobs, and John Golden theaters on 45th Street.[4][5] The Music Box Theatre, Imperial Theatre, and Richard Rodgers Theatre are across 45th Street to the northwest, and the New York Marriott Marquis hotel is to the north. Across Times Square are 1540 Broadway to the northeast, 1530 Broadway and the Millennium Times Square New York to the east, and 1500 Broadway to the southeast. One Astor Plaza is also close to 1501 Broadway to the south and 229 West 43rd Street, the Hayes Theater, and the St. James Theatre to the southwest.[5]
Prior to the development of One Astor Plaza, the site had been owned by the Astor family.[11] The site had contained the eleven-story Hotel Astor, which had been designed by Clinton & Russell in a Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1904 with 1,000 guest rooms.[12] The hotel had contained a red-brick facade, a mansard roof, and a lobby with a 22-foot-high colonnade.[12][13] According to architecture writer Robert A. M. Stern, the Astor inspired "a new species of popular hotels that soon clustered around Times Square, vast amusement palaces that catered to crowds with scenographic interiors that mirrored the theatricality of the Great White Way."[12]
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One Astor Plaza
Office
1969
1972
May 26, 1971
SL Green Realty (53%), Allianz (47%)[1]
745 ft (227 m)
655 ft (200 m)
54
1,721,814 sq ft (160,000 m2)
Sam Minskoff & Sons, Inc.
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