Brookfield Place (New York City)

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Brookfield Place, originally known as the World Financial Center, is a shopping center and office-building complex located across West Street from the World Trade Center site in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Overlooking the Hudson River, Brookfield Place has been home to offices of various companies including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, American Express, Bank of New York Mellon, Time Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management, among others. In 2014, the complex was given its current name following the completion of extensive renovations.

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Ownership and structure

Brookfield Place is owned by Toronto-based Brookfield Office Properties, except for the spaces occupied by American Express, which is owned by the American Express Company. Brookfield Place also serves as the United States headquarters for Brookfield Office Properties, which has its headquarters located in 250 Vesey Street. Brookfield Place also has its own zip code, 10281. The building's original developer was Olympia and York also based in Toronto.

The buildings are:

200 Liberty Street, formerly One World Financial Center, (1986) height 577 feet (176 m), 40 stories
- Leasable area: 1,628,000 square feet (151,200 m²)
- Rooftop: truncated square pyramid
225 Liberty Street, formerly Two World Financial Center, (1987), height 645 feet (197 m), 44 stories
- Leasable area: 2,491,000 square feet (231,400 m²)
- Rooftop: round dome
200 Vesey Street, formerly Three World Financial Center, (also known as American Express Tower) (1985), height 739 feet (225 m), 51 stories
- Leasable area: 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m²)
- Rooftop: pyramid
250 Vesey Street, formerly Four World Financial Center, (1986), height 500 feet (150 m), 34 stories ("North Tower")
- Leasable area: 1,800,000 square feet (170,000 m²)
- Rooftop: ziggurat
Winter Garden Atrium (1988) a 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²) glass domed pavilion housing various plants, trees and flowers, also shopping areas, cafes (located between buildings 2 and 3) Rebuilt 2002 after terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
- Leasable area: 295,000 square feet (27,400 m²)
One North End Avenue, also known as the New York Mercantile Exchange building (1997), height 253 feet (77 m), 16 stories
- Leasable area:500,000 square feet (46,000 m²)

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History

Designed by architect César Pelli, with Adamson Associates, the World Financial Center complex was built by Olympia and York between 1982 and 1988 on landfill used to build Battery Park City. The fill material consisted of dirt excavated during the building of the World Trade Center, as well as garbage and other debris.

During the September 11 attacks in 2001, Three World Financial Center had a massive piece of steel shot into its east side, and other debris severely damaged the lobby and lower floors causing the building to be in danger of collapse. It has since been fully restored and significant repairs were made to the other buildings in the complex. The Winter Garden Atrium received major structural damage to its glass and steel frame, but ceremonially reopened on September 11, 2002.

After the attacks, the World Financial Center underwent a $250 million renovation and expansion project, in conjunction with the construction of a new east-west passageway linking the complex with the World Trade Center site. The project included a transit pavilion to be built as an extension of the existing Winter Garden Atrium, on the West Street side. Preliminary plans called for the demolition of the Grand Staircase, which was the main focal entry point to Winter Garden and the waterfront, as it connected to the Vesey Street pedestrian bridge adjacent to the original World Trade Center. The Grand Staircase has also been used as an amphitheater; thus, the plans for demolition had outraged residents, who promptly appealed for its preservation in the latest redevelopment plans. The transit pavilion opened in 2013, and is located at 100 West Street.

Leasable space on the lower floors of the office towers underwent conversions and expansion to accommodate new retail. One notable example is 2 Brookfield Place: a European-style marketplace and dining terrace opened in 2013. The space between 3 and 4 Brookfield Place, at 225 Vesey Street, which contained retail, expanded to accommodate in-line retail and high-end fashion retail, according to the plans and renderings. With some restaurants and retail temporarily closed due to construction, a food truck court was in operation beginning in early 2012 on North End Avenue. Various food trucks that operate around New York City, serving a variety of foods, service the Brookfield Place/Battery Park City area five days a week during lunch hours. A new 2,000 food court comprising existing restaurants, such as Le District and Hudson Eats, and new restaurants, opened in stages between November 2014 and March 2015; the food area is projected to generate about $12 million of revenue annually. Overall, the intent is to drive more tourism in the area with the retail and the new access to the passageway under West Street. It is also being developed as a catalyst to integrate and drive development in the Battery Park City area, of which the World Financial Center sits promptly in between the largely residential neighborhood.

Brookfield Properties bought the adjacent One North End Avenue building, headquarters of the New York Mercantile Exchange, in 2013, for US$200 million, and integrated it into the complex. Following expansion, the entire World Financial Center complex was renamed Brookfield Place, in conjunction with similar complexes in Toronto, Calgary, and Perth owned by Brookfield. The name change took place in 2014.