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One Astor Plaza

1972 establishments in New York CityBroadway (Manhattan)Mass media company headquarters in the United StatesOffice buildings completed in 1972Paramount Global
Skyscraper office buildings in ManhattanTimes Square buildingsUse mdy dates from February 2022
Times Sq Nov 2021 112
Times Sq Nov 2021 112

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 neighborhood of 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 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 smaller tower section measuring 745 feet (227 m) tall. 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sold its ownership stake in 1990, just before Equitable filed a bankruptcy proceeding against the building, which was withdrawn after a lawsuit.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. Since 2003, SL Green Realty has owned or co-owned the building in some capacity.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article One Astor Plaza (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

One Astor Plaza
Broadway, New York Manhattan

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Wikipedia: One Astor PlazaContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 40.757777777778 ° E -73.986388888889 °
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One Astor Place (VIACOM Building)

Broadway 1515
10019 New York, Manhattan
New York, United States
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Times Sq Nov 2021 112
Times Sq Nov 2021 112
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Minskoff Theatre
Minskoff Theatre

The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named after Sam Minskoff and Sons, the building's developers. There are 1,621 seats in the auditorium, spread across an orchestra level and a balcony. Over the years it has served as host to musicals, dance companies, and concerts. The Minskoff was designed by Kahn and Jacobs, who designed One Astor Plaza. It was one of the first theaters constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967. The theater's main entrances are from a midblock passageway that runs between 44th and 45th Streets. There are escalators leading from the ground floor to the lobby, where further escalators lead to the auditorium. One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof. One Astor Plaza was initially proposed in 1967 without any theaters. The Minskoff Theatre was added during the planning process; in exchange, One Astor Plaza's developers were allowed to add several floors of space. The first major production at the Minskoff, Irene, was followed by a series of short-lived productions in the 1970s. The theater subsequently hosted long runs such as West Side Story, The Pirates of Penzance, Black and Blue, and Sunset Boulevard in the 1980s and 1990s. Though many of the Minskoff's early productions were unprofitable, since 2006 it has housed the musical The Lion King, which is the highest-grossing Broadway musical ever as of 2014.

1501 Broadway
1501 Broadway

1501 Broadway, also known as the Paramount Building, is a 33-story office building on Times Square between West 43rd and 44th Streets in the Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Rapp and Rapp, it was erected from 1925 to 1927 as the headquarters of Paramount Pictures. The building is designed in the Art Deco style, with Beaux-Arts influences. The office wing on Times Square contains numerous setbacks as mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, while the rear wing housed the Paramount Theatre from 1926 to 1967. Newmark & Company owns 1501 Broadway. The facade is mostly designed with brick walls, though the first five stories are ornamented with limestone piers. The main entrance is on 43rd Street. There is also a five-story arch on Broadway, facing Times Square, which leads to a Hard Rock Cafe; it is an imitation of the former Paramount Theatre entrance. Atop the building is a four-faced clock, with two large faces and two small faces, as well as an illuminated globe that could display the time. The ground floor historically had an ornate lobby leading to the theater, which had 3,664 seats over four levels. The modern building contains office space in both the original office wing and the theater wing. Paramount predecessor Famous Players-Lasky proposed the theater in 1922, but Rapp and Rapp had revised the plans to include an office tower by 1924. The theater opened on November 19, 1926, though the offices did not open until the following year. The clock and globe on the roof were blacked out during World War II. A group led by David Rosenthal converted the theater to offices in 1967 and removed the theater's original arch. The Paramount Building's facade became a New York City designated landmark in 1988. The arch, clock, and globe were restored starting in the late 1990s, and the main entrance was relocated in another renovation in the 2010s.

2010 Times Square car bombing attempt
2010 Times Square car bombing attempt

On May 1, 2010, a terrorist attack was attempted in Times Square in Manhattan, New York. Two street vendors alerted NYPD after they spotted smoke coming from a vehicle, and a car bomb was discovered. The bomb had been ignited, but failed to explode, and was disarmed before it caused any casualties. Two days later, federal agents arrested Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistan-born resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who had become a U.S. citizen in April 2009. He was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He admitted attempting the car bombing and said that he had trained at a Pakistani terrorist training camp, according to U.S. officials.United States Attorney General Eric Holder said that Shahzad's intent had been "to kill Americans." Shahzad was charged in federal court in Manhattan on May 4 with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and other federal crimes related to explosives. More than a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot. Holder said the Pakistani Taliban directed the attack and may have financed it.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of "severe consequences" if an attack like this were to be successful and traced back to Pakistan. The Obama administration saw a need for retaliatory options, including a unilateral military strike in Pakistan, if a future successful attack was to be traced to Pakistan-based militants.On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment in June, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.

V-J Day in Times Square
V-J Day in Times Square

V-J Day in Times Square is a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt that portrays a U.S. Navy sailor embracing and kissing a total stranger—a dental assistant—on Victory over Japan Day ("V-J Day") in New York City's Times Square on August 14, 1945. The photograph was published a week later in Life magazine, among many photographs of celebrations around the United States that were presented in a 12-page section entitled "Victory Celebrations". A two-page spread faces a montage of three similar photographs of celebrators in Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Miami, opposite the Eisenstaedt photograph that was given a full-page display on the right hand side. Eisenstaedt was photographing a spontaneous event that occurred in Times Square during keen public anticipation of the announcement of the end of the war with Japan (that would be made by U.S. President Harry S. Truman at seven o'clock). Eisenstaedt said that he did not have an opportunity to get the names and details, because he was photographing rapidly changing events during the celebrations. The photograph does not clearly show the face of either person involved, and numerous people have claimed to be the subjects. The photograph was shot just south of 45th Street looking north from a location where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge. Donald W. Olson and his investigative team estimate that the photograph was taken at 5:51 p.m. ET. In their history pages, Life has noted that the Eisenstaedt photograph was taken with a Leica IIIa camera.