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The new glass office tower west of Times Square looks like it was assembled out of several separate building blocks, including a curving base that fronts the busy corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue and a towering facade that pitches forward, hanging over the sidewalk.
Ross Mantle for The Wall Street Journal
The 11 Times Square site had no tenants signed up for three years.
That assemblage mirrors what the building's architects tried to do inside the building: make separate spaces to appeal to a variety of possible tenants. Architect Dan Kaplan of FXFowle, which designed the tower known as 11 Times Square, said he sought to create "multiple buildings within a building."
Unlike Manhattan's other shiny new skyscrapers, 11 Times Square didn't have any tenants signed up when New Jersey developer Steve Pozycki broke ground on the 40-story project in 2007. That meant that Mr. Kaplan had to create plenty of lobby space and check-in desks to give multiple potential tenants their own territory in the building's public areas. He also couldn't shape the building to represent a specific company—the way he did in helping design the New York Times and the Thomson Reuters buildings nearby.
"Here you have to create a good-looking, classic, interesting building that isn't hand-tailored towards one specific brand," Mr. Kaplan says.
To make it interesting, Mr. Kaplan inverted the "wedding-cake" model of skyscraper architecture. Rather than start with a fat base that gives way to a slender tower, FXFowle had the building's facade slope outward—opening up street-level views and expanding space on the valuable upper floors.
In May, law firm Proskauer Rose LLP finally signed on to occupy 14 floors. And Toronto developer Jerry Shefsky says he's hoping to wrap up $115 million in financing to build an aquarium as a tourist attraction on the seven lower floors.
It's very enlivening for the 8th Ave streetscape, especially considering where it is accross the street from the bus terminal and NY Times tower.
Good job all around.
This has turned from just another addition to the Times Square transformation to probably my favorite of the TS additions. It really has changed the immediate area, particularly on the 41st Street side, where what was once a dreary corner has become alive. Great work. Closing remarks?
Agreed this is a great addition to the Times Square area. I think in 10 to 20 years this intersection will be completely transformed when towers rise from the Port Authority and Duane Reade sites.
This has turned from just another addition to the Times Square transformation to probably my favorite of the TS additions. It really has changed the immediate area, particularly on the 41st Street side, where what was once a dreary corner has become alive. Great work. Closing remarks?
Only that it goes to show that a tower need not be monstrously huge and outlandishly tall to be outstanding. It turned out much better than I expected, frankly, and dominates that corner of the Times Square district with far more presence than the grey slab behind it.
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