The New York Times Building

This article is about The New York Times headquarters building since 2007. For other uses, see New York Times Building (disambiguation).

The New York Times Building
General information
Type	Office, retail
Location	620 Eighth Avenue New York, New York 10018 USA
Coordinates	40°45′23″N 73°59′24″W / 40.75639°N 73.99°W / 40.75639; -73.99Coordinates: 40°45′23″N 73°59′24″W / 40.75639°N 73.99°W / 40.75639; -73.99
Construction started	2003
Completed	2007
Height
Antenna spire	1,046 ft (319 m)
Roof	748 ft (228 m)
Technical details
Floor count	52
Floor area	1,540,000 sq ft (143,000 m2)
Elevator count	32 (24 passenger, 8 service)
Design and construction
Owner	The New York Times Company (58% owner) and Forest City Ratner Companies (42% owner)
Management	Forest City Ratner Companies
Main contractor	AMEC Construction Management
Architect	Renzo Piano Building Workshop, FXFOWLE Architects
Developer	Forest City Ratner Companies
Structural engineer	Thornton Tomasetti
References
[1]

The New York Times Building is a skyscraper on the west side of Midtown Manhattan that was completed in 2007. Its chief tenant is The New York Times Company, publisher of The New York Times as well as The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune, and other newspapers. Construction was a joint venture of The New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner Companies—the Cleveland-based real estate firm redeveloping the Brooklyn Atlantic rail yards—and ING Real Estate.

Planning and development

The project was announced on December 13, 2001, entailing the erection of a 52-story tower on the east side of Eighth Avenue between 40th and 41st Street across from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Bus Terminal. The project was announced shortly after the Hearst Corporation was given approval to construct a tower over their landmark six-story headquarters along the west side of Eighth Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets. In conjunction with the Hearst Tower, the site selection represents the further westward expansion of Midtown along Eighth Avenue; a corridor that had seen no construction following the completion in 1989 of One Worldwide Plaza.

In addition, the new location keeps the paper in the Times Square area, which was named after the paper following its move to 42nd Street in 1904. The New York Times Company had most recently been located at 229 West 43rd Street.

The site for the building was obtained by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) through eminent domain. With a mandate to acquire and redevelop blighted properties in Times Square, ten existing buildings were condemned by the ESDC and purchased from owners who in some cases did not want to sell, asserting that the area was no longer blighted (thanks in part to the earlier efforts of the ESDC). The ESDC though prevailed in the courts.^[2][3]

Once the 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m²) site was assembled, it was leased to The New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner for $85.6 million over 99 years (considerably below market value).^{[citation needed]} Additionally, The New York Times Company received $26.1 million in tax breaks.^{[citation needed]}

Design

The building under construction in September 2006.

The tower was designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFOWLE Architects, with Gensler providing interior design. The lighting design for the building's nighttime identity was designed by the Office for Visual Interaction Inc.

The tower rises 748 feet (228 m) from the street to its roof, with the exterior curtain wall extending 92 feet (28 m) higher to 840 feet (260 m), and a mast rising to 1,046 feet (319 m). As of 2008^[update], the building is tied with the Chrysler Building as the third tallest building in New York City and the seventh tallest in the United States.

The steel-framed building, cruciform in plan, utilizes a screen of 1 ⁵⁄₈" (41.3 mm) ceramic rods mounted on the exterior of the glass curtain wall on the east, west and south facades. The rod spacing increases from the base to the top, providing greater transparency as the building rises. The steel framing and bracing is exposed at the four corner "notches" of the building.^[4]

Sustainability

The New York Times Building at night, rear view

The building is promoted as a Green structure, though it is not LEED certified.

The design incorporates many features for increased energy efficiency. The curtain wall, fully glazed with low-e glass, maximizes natural light within the building while the ceramic-rod screen helps block direct sunlight and reduce cooling loads. Mechanized shades controlled by sensors reduce glare, while more than 18,000 individually-dimmable fluorescent fixtures supplement natural light, providing a real energy savings of 30 percent.^[5][6]

A natural gas cogeneration plant provides 40 percent of the electrical power to The New York Times Company' space within the building, with the waste heat used for heating and cooling. Floors occupied by The New York Times Company utilize a raised floor system that allows for underfloor air distribution, which requires less cooling than a conventional ducted system. The building also incorporates free-air cooling, bringing in outside air when it is cooler than the interior space, which saves additional energy.^[5] In excess of 95% of the structural steel was recycled.

The building, like many in midtown Manhattan, has no on-site parking, with most employees arriving by public transit. Since December 2007, building management has provided an indoor parking area for 20 bicycles.^[7]

The story of the tower's construction is showcased at the Liberty Science Center's exhibition "Skyscraper! Achievement and Impact".

Tenants

The main entrance on Eighth Avenue

The New York Times newsroom

The New York Times Company owns about 800,000 square feet (74,000 m²) on the second through the 27th floors. Forest City Ratner owns about 700,000 square feet (65,000 m²) on floors 29 through 52, as well as 21,000 square feet (2,000 m²) of street-level retail space. The lobby and floors 28 and 51 are jointly owned.^[5]

Six law firms have their offices in the building: Covington & Burling LLP; Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (36th floor); Pepper Hamilton LLP (37th floor); Seyfarth Shaw LLP (31st-33rd floors)^[5]; Goodwin Procter LLP (leasing floors 23-27 from the New York Times and floors 29-30 from FCRC) and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.

Other office tenants include: Barclays Center/New Jersey Nets, JAMS, Legg Mason, Markit Group Limited, The Resolution Experts, Samoo Architecture P.C., Autonomy Inc. and SJP Properties. Retail tenants include: Inakaya, Dean & DeLuca, and MUJI.^[5]

Towards the end of 2008, BT Group hope to have started consolidating their NY employees into new offices on the 45th and 46th floors.^[8]

On the first floor is the Times Center, an event space consisting of a 378-seat auditorium, a 900 square foot (84 square meter) gallery for exhibits and receptions, and 5,000 square foot (464 square meter) hall for banquets and parties.^[9]

Some types of tenants are prohibited under the terms of the lease of the property from the Empire State Development Corporation. These include medical offices, employment agencies, job training centers, and social-services offices.^[10]

Climbers

Alain Robert climbing The New York Times Building on June 5, 2008

In the summer of 2008, three men illegally climbed the external facade of The New York Times Building within a month of each other, with the first two on the same day. The three climbers were not associated with one another.

On June 5, 2008, a professional climber, Alain Robert, dubbed "The French Spiderman," climbed the north side of The New York Times Building. He was able to scale the building from first floor all the way to the roof. During his climb, Robert attached a fluorescent green neon sign to the building that read "Global warming kills more people than a 9/11 every week." Robert also wore a t-shirt promoting the website "The Solution is Simple".^[11] Robert was met on the roof by the NYPD emergency service unit team where he was put in a harness to ensure he did not fall and placed under arrest.

Later that day, a second climber^[12] scaled the western face of the building. He also was arrested for climbing the building facade after reaching the roof. The climber, 32-year old Brooklyn resident Renaldo Clarke, was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Malaria No More" written on it.^[13]

The third climber was David Malone, 29, from Connecticut, who also scaled the west side of the building on July 9, 2008. Unlike the two previous climbers, Malone did not attempt to make it to the roof. He hung a banner around the fifth floor upon the first "T" of The New York Times sign, that had a picture of Osama Bin Laden holding Bush like a puppet - "Bin Laden's Plan" (the title of his book and Web site). He then climbed higher, stopping at the 11th floor, and remained hanging on the building for four hours before being arrested. Malone said he was protesting Al Qaeda's "crusader baiting," and "intentional provocation of the U.S."^[14][15]

See also

• List of tallest buildings in New York City

References

1. ^ The New York Times Building at SkyscraperPage
2. ^ Dunlap, David W. (2001-10-25). "Blight to Some Is Home to Others; Concern Over Displacement by a New Times Building". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E3D61231F936A15753C1A9679C8B63 
3. ^ Moses, Paul (2002-06-17). "The Paper of Wreckage". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0225,moses,35773,1.html 
4. ^ "A statement in steel: The New York Times Building". GoStructural.com. 2004-06-15. http://www.gostructural.com/article.asp?id=603. Retrieved 2007-11-29 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} "The New York Times Company Enters The 21st Century With A New Technologically Advanced And Environmentally Sensitive Headquarters" (Press release). The New York Times Company. November 19, 2007. http://www.newyorktimesbuilding.com/pdf/FactSheet2007.pdf. 
6. ^ "The New York Times Building: Designing for Energy Efficiency Through Daylighting Research". Science Beat. 2004-02-17. http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sb-EETD-NYT-building.html. Retrieved 2007-11-29 
7. ^ "New York Times Employees Say Renzo Forgot the Bike Parking". 2007-12-06. http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/12/06/new-york-times-employees-say-renzo-forgot-the-bike-parking/#more-2983. Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
8. ^ ""New York Flagship Location"". http://www.btplc.com/today/art80080.html 
9. ^ "The Times Center". The TimesCenter. The New York Times Company. http://thetimescenter.com/. 
10. ^ Moses, Paul (2005-08-16). "'Times' to Commoners: Go Elsewhere". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0533,moses,66887,5.html 
11. ^ Nicholson, Marcy (2008-06-05). "French "Spiderman" scales New York Times building". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN0534354520080605. Retrieved 2008-06-05. 
12. ^ "2nd Man Climbs West Side Building in Copycat Stunt". New York Post. 2008-06-04. http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042008/news/regionalnews/2nd_man_climbs_west_side_building_in_cop_114131.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
13. ^ Roberts, Georgett (2008-06-08). "Spidey 2: No Fear At All Times". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/seven/06082008/news/regionalnews/spidey_2__no_fear_at__all_times_114552.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
14. ^ Cruz, Wil; Coffey, Jill (2008-07-08). "Times climb - again! Man scales paper's headquarters to protest Al Qaeda". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/07/08/2008-07-08_times_climb__again_man_scales_papers_hea.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
15. ^ yahoo.com, Man climbs up The New York Times' headquarters^{[dead link]}

External links

Media related to The New York Times Building at Wikimedia Commons

• The New York Times Building official website
• "The New York Times Company Enters The 21st Century With A New Technologically Advanced And Environmentally Sensitive Headquarters" (Press release). The New York Times Company. November 19, 2007. http://www.newyorktimesbuilding.com/pdf/FactSheet2007.pdf.