(Near) 8th Avenue, Manhattan (No.7)
229 West 43rd Street, formerly known as The New York Times Building, is an 18-story office building, located at 229 West 43rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenue near Times Square in Manhattan, New York City. It was the headquarters of The New York Times newspaper from 1913 through 2007. Currently, the office portion of the building is owned by Columbia Property Trust while Kushner Companies owns the first six floors as a retail and entertainment complex.
The building was built in three stages between 1912 and 1937. It was originally designed by Mortimer J. Fox, of the firm Buchman & Fox, and called the New York Times Annex because it was designed to supplement the One Times Square Times Tower, built in 1905 at Broadway and 42nd Street (which gives Times Square its name). In 1922, the Ludlow & Peabody firm designed a 100-foot (30 m) extension on the west side as well as a five-story setback attic level in the style of the French Renaissance, including the Mansard roofs. From 1930 to 1932, architect Albert Kahn designed a further expansion to the west including a second lobby and roof-top studio. Further expansions included a 12-story New York Times North building adjoining it to the north on 44th Street.
The New York Times Company sold the building in 2004 to Tishman Speyer for $175 million. Tishman sold it to Lev Avnerovich Leviev's Africa Israel Investments in 2007 for $525 million. The company reportedly considered converting the building into luxury condominiums as well as partnering with The Walt Disney Company to open a branded Times Square hotel. As of September 2008, Africa Israel was in the midst of a $175 million renovation including adding a new sign on the top and replacing a digital clock in place since 1962 with an analog version. Africa Israel officially called it "The Times Square Building". The company also opened the horror-themed Jekyll & Hyde Club based on the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. However, the club received extremely negative reviews and closed in 2015. In 2009, the company leased the building's basement for Discovery Times Square Exposition.
In 2011, The Blackstone Group purchased the building for $160 million and spent another $105 million on renovations that included leasing the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th floors to Yahoo!. The company subsequently sold the office space on floors five through 16 to Columbia Property Trust for $516 million in July 2015.
In 2012, Guy Fieri's first New York City restaurant, Guy's American Kitchen and Bar, opened to scathing New York Times coverage by Pete Wells that Larry Olmsted of Forbes called "the most scathing review in the history of the New York Times", and "likely the most widely read restaurant review ever." Fieri, for his part, accused Wells, the nation's highest profile reviewer, of using Fieri's fame as a platform for advancing his own prestige.
