1981: Plans released for 7 WTC
The Port Authority revealed detailed plans for 7 World Trade Center, the final structure in the seven-tower complex, 27 years ago this month. Built without a prime tenant lined up, it was the largest speculative office project in the mid-1980s.
Original plans for the 43-story office tower, developed by Silverstein Properties, indicated that it would cost $260 million and be completed in 1984. But the 1.8 million-square-foot building was not finished until 1987, after its height had grown to 47 stories and its budget to $300 million.
The red granite-clad building was 610 feet tall and built on a trapezoidal footprint on land leased from the Port Authority.
In 1986, Drexel Burnham Lambert signed a $3 billion, 30-year lease, which fell through after an insider-trading scandal rocked the firm. As a result, the building remained more than 80 percent vacant in the spring of 1988. Silverstein’s luck turned around later that year, when Salomon Brothers agreed to lease 1 million square feet.
After the World Trade Center attacks of 1993, the city emergency command center was transferred to the building.
The skyscraper was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by structural damage and fires caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers. Work began on the new 47-story
7 World Trade Center in 2002, and it opened on May 23, 2006.
1951: Empire State trades for record building price
When the Empire State Building sold for $51 million 57 years ago this month, it was the highest price paid for a single building at the time. A syndicate including Roger Stevens and the Chicago Crown family bought the office tower and leased the land from the Prudential Insurance Co. of America.
The Depression-era office tower was sold by the estate of the late financier John Raskob, who had led the group that built the $41 million project.
The 102-story building, which towers above Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets, replaced the Chrysler Building as the tallest in the world when it opened in May 1931. Despite this distinction, it had difficulty finding tenants for much of its 2 million square feet of office space until after World War II.
The Crown family sold the building and their land-lease in 1961 for $65 million — a new record price for a single building — to Empire State Building Associates, a real estate investment group headed by financier Lawrence Wien. That organization then sold it to Prudential in a complex leaseback deal arranged because the insurance company was not permitted to invest more than $50 million in a single property, according to the New York Times.
Prudential sold the Empire State Building in 1991 to a Japanese investor, who in 2001 sold to a group related to the leaseholders.
In May 1981, both the building’s exterior and lobby were designated city landmarks.
The building was the tallest in the city until One World Trade Center was opened in 1972. Following the destruction of the Twin Towers, the Empire State Building reclaimed its title as the city’s highest building.
1927: First skyscraper in Queens opens
The first skyscraper in Queens, a branch of the Bank of the Manhattan Company in Long Island City, was dedicated 81 years ago this month.
The 14-story tower was the largest office building in the borough and was built at a cost of $1 million, the Times reported. The building, located at 29-27 41st Avenue, has a four-faced clock tower, and was 85 percent leased when it opened.
The tower is now home to unions, professional services and small businesses. During World War II, it housed the offices of the U.S. Employment Office of the War Manpower Commission.
The building is not landmarked and was included in the 2001 rezoning intended to increase density in Queens Plaza. The 52,000-square-foot building is modest by today’s standards and since 1989 has been dwarfed by the tallest building in the borough, the 50-story Citibank tower located several blocks south, at Court Square.
Compiled by Adam Pincus