One Liberty Plaza

History

The Singer Building, the tallest in the world from 1908 to 1909, and the City Investing Building 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.

In 1972, Merrill Lynch became an anchor tenant in the building, occupying 40 floors in the building and acquiring 25% ownership of the building. By the early 1980s, Merrill Lynch owned the entire building, purchased for $100 million. By 1984, the company was outgrowing the space and relocated to the nearby World Financial Center. Merrill Lynch sold One Liberty Plaza for $375 million to Olympia and York, developer of the nearby World Financial Center. After selling the building, Merrill Lynch continued to lease space at One Liberty Plaza, occupying 20 floors.

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's Fulton Street/Fulton Center station () in the basement.

In 2001, Brookfield Properties bought the property for $432 million. Following the September 11 attacks, and the subsequent collapse of the World Trade Center 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 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

Tenants at One Liberty Plaza include the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which has been at One Liberty Plaza since 1990.. Other tenants include Avon Products, Wasserman Music, Cambridge University Press, Aon, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and Business Insider. Convene also operates meeting and events space at One Liberty Plaza. Previous tenants have included RBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Brooks Brothers occupied street-level retail space at One Liberty Plaza, from 1976 until 2018.

References

Sources

References

1. {{harvnb. Stern. Mellins. Fishman. 1995
2. (March 21, 1992). "Roy O. Allen Jr., 71; Skyscraper Architect".
3. [https://www.brookfieldproperties.com/portfolio/new-york/downtown-ny/one-liberty-plaza/ One Liberty Plaza]
4. (December 1973). "Flame shielding concept proves feasible in exposed steel high-rise building".
5. Oser, Alan S.. (January 21, 1981). "Real Estate; Manhattan Developer's Headaches".
6. Gray, Christopher. (2013-08-29). "Twins, Except Architecturally". The New York Times.
7. Vartan, Vartanig G.. (May 20, 1972). "Merrill Lynch in a Long‐Term Move". [[The New York Times]].
8. Spragins, Ellyn. (1990-06-10). "AT MERRILL, A FRUSTRATING HUNT FOR PROFIT". [[The New York Times]].
9. McCain, Mark. (March 22, 1987). "Commercial Property:The Downtown 'Empty States'; Two Behemoths With 3 Million Square Feet to Let".
10. (January 30, 2001). "Brookfield Completes $432 Mln Financing at Downtown Manhattan's One Liberty Plaza".
11. Saulny, Susan. (October 17, 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: 1 LIBERTY PLAZA; A Tower Survives Greatly Exaggerated Rumors and Prepares to Reopen".
12. Pristin, Terry. (October 26, 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: NOTEBOOKS; The Return to Liberty Plaza".
13. "Diagrams". Skyscraperpage.com.
14. (August 4, 2017). "Brookfield Property Partners".
15. Pilgrim, Lexi. (October 31, 2017). "Brookfield Property Partners".
16. (December 5, 2017). "Blackstone to buy 49% stake in FiDi office tower from Brookfield". The Real Deal.
17. Kim, Betsy. (December 6, 2017). "Blackstone to Buy 49% Interest in One Liberty Plaza".
18. Rebong, Kevin. (March 5, 2020). "Brookfield, Blackstone Consider One Liberty Plaza Sale".
19. (March 4, 2020). "Brookfield, Blackstone Weigh a Sale of NYC's One Liberty Plaza".
20. Pascus, Brian. (June 24, 2024). "Morgan Stanley Provides Brookfield $750M Refi for One Liberty Plaza".
21. (June 24, 2024). "Brookfield Lands Huge Refi for 1 Liberty Plaza".
22. Dunlap, David W.. (July 15, 1990). "Commercial Property: Office Leasing; Law Firms Top Financial Houses in Rental Activity".
23. (2026-01-10). "New York {{!}} Cleary Gottlieb".
24. Latimer, Audrey. (2017-02-21). "Avon to Move New York City Corporate Headquarters".
25. "Global Presence".
26. Cullen, Terence. (November 10, 2015). "Aged Publishing Company Relocates to One Liberty Plaza [Updated]". Commercial Observer.
27. Bockmann, Rich. (2017-08-03). "Aon is taking even more space at Brookfield's One Liberty Plaza".
28. "Brookfield Properties takes on transformative repositioning project at One Liberty Plaza : NYREJ".
29. Baird-Remba, Rebecca. (October 10, 2017). "EDC Inks 220K-SF Lease at One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
30. La Guerre, Liam. (June 5, 2017). "Business Insider Takes 88K Square Feet at Brookfield's One Liberty Plaza". Commercial Observer.
31. "Convene One Liberty Plaza {{!}} Meeting & Event, Office Suites, & Shared Office Spaces In Lower Manhattan".
32. Halbfinger, David M.. (June 6, 1997). "Bank Moving Offices To One Liberty Plaza".
33. Hutchins, Ryan. (2014-05-16). "JPMorgan, RBC putting 4,500 workers in Jersey City".
34. Staff, T. R. D.. (2013-07-19). "Scotiabank moves downtown but sticks with Brookfield".
35. (2012-02-08). "L.M.C.C.C. staff is slashed by more than half – amNewYork".
36. "News of the Realty Trade".
37. Spivack, Caroline. (2018-10-09). "Brooks Brothers Shutters Lower Manhattan Store After 45 Years".