Times Square Tower

Rank #12
Cost: $229.7 million

The crown jewel of the 42nd Street Development Project is finally complete.

Begun just days before Sept. 11, 2001, the 48-story Times Square Tower faced additional security concerns during the construction process.

The owner, Boston Properties, ensured its safety as a high-rise by reinforcing all perimeter column, beam and diagonal steel sections of the property, and lobbies were redesigned to include turnstiles, better surveillance and enhanced security measures.

In addition to rebuilding the city's spirit and building upwards after the World Trade Center went down, Times Square Tower marked the near-total revitalization of the neighborhood. The 1.2-million-sq.-ft. office property encompasses a full block on 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue and was the final office property to be developed by 42nd Street Development Project, a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp.

The project, formed in 1995 to bring life back to Times Square, was responsible for 6.4 million sq. ft. of new redevelopment, including 6,000 theater seats in restored historic theaters; 8,600 movie seats; 60,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurants establishments; and more than 1,300 hotel rooms.

Designed by Skidmore Owings Merrill LLP, Gordon H. Smith Corp., Jaros Baum & Bolles and Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers, Times Square Towers features a curtain wall of 11 different materials.

As part of the revitalization effort, Boston Properties received benefits from special zoning that allowed for uniform floor sizes and panoramic views from each floor of the property.

The building is constructed atop the Times Square subway station, which meant the project team had to negotiate nine different subway tracks that bordered all four sides of the site. Pedestrian traffic also complicated the construction. During peak times, 10,000 pedestrians cross Seventh Avenue every hour.

In addition to ensuring the safety and operations of the commuters and the pedestrians, Boston Properties built a new subway entrance within the footprint of the office tower. To do so it had to renovate two floors of the station without disrupting train access for commuters.

The owners of the building were also forced to tackle some questions about what to do with the building when it finally was completed. The fall of Enron dissolved the anchor tenant, Arthur Andersen Consulting, which backed out of the deal a year into the construction process.

Boston Properties, which also developed and owns Ernst & Young's national headquarters home in Times Square, consequently filled the building with law firms - O'Melveny & Myers LLP; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP; and Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch LLP. Clarendon National Insurance also joined the group of tenants.

Despite the difficulties in constructing and leasing the tower, the building is considered one of the finest properties in Times Square. Along with the Ernst & Young Building, the Reuters Building and the Conde Nast Building, it is one of the new developments that has changed the face of Times Square since 1995.

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