Deutsche Bank Center

Site

The center is on the west side of Columbus Circle, on the border of Hell's Kitchen and the Upper West Side, in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It occupies an irregular plot of land bounded by 60th Street to the north, the Coliseum Park apartment complex to the west, and 58th Street to the south. The eastern boundary consists of Eighth Avenue, Columbus Circle, and Broadway from south to north. The land lot covers 149,560 square feet (13,895 m2), with a frontage of 519.03 feet (158.20 m) on Columbus Circle and a depth of 492 feet (150 m). Deutsche Bank Center's primary address is 1 Columbus Circle. The building also uses the addresses 25 Columbus Circle for its south tower and 80 Columbus Circle for the north tower.

The building is near Trump International Hotel and Tower to the northeast, Central Park to the east, 2 Columbus Circle and 240 Central Park South to the southeast, and Central Park Place to the south. Entrances to the New York City Subway's 59th Street–Columbus Circle station, served by the 1​, A, ​B, ​C, and ​D trains, are directly outside the building. As part of the construction of what was then Time Warner Center, the existing subway staircase was refurbished and an elevator was added to the subway entrance. Because the building did not include a zoning bonus, the developers did not need to fund a renovation of the subway station, as Hearst Communications was obligated to do when it built Hearst Tower one block south.

Deutsche Bank Center occupies the site of the New York Coliseum, which itself replaced two city blocks bounded by Columbus Circle, 60th Street, Ninth Avenue, and 58th Street. The Coliseum opened in 1956 as New York City's main convention center, being superseded by the Javits Center in the 1980s. Around the same time, the area around Columbus Circle was being redeveloped, in part because of the Coliseum's success. This prompted the Coliseum's owner, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), to place the building up for sale in 1985. An agreement on the site's redevelopment was not finalized until 1998, and designs for the Coliseum replacement itself were not in place until 1999. This was in part due to disagreements over the site, as well as a weak economy in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Architecture

Deutsche Bank Center was designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), working with T. J. Gottesdiener and Mustafa K. Abadan of the same firm. Specific portions of the interior were designed by different architects. AOL Time Warner, Apollo Global Management, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Palladium Company, and the Related Companies were the developers. Stephen M. Ross, CEO of the Related Companies, said that SOM had been selected since they "create great architecture but also speak the language of business". Bovis Lend Lease was the construction manager for much of the interior, including mechanical systems. Another 80 to 100 subcontractors were also hired for different parts of construction.

Deutsche Bank Center includes towers to the north and south, joined at the base. The building is split into eight different ownership units: the basement parking garage, the Shops at Columbus Circle mall, Jazz at Lincoln Center's facilities, the original AOL Time Warner office space, the six other office stories, the condominium units in the north and south towers, and the Mandarin Oriental New York hotel. The building has about 2.8 million square feet (260,000 m2) of interior space in total. About 668,700 square feet (62,120 m2) of mechanical and underground space is not counted under zoning law. This gives a gross floor area of 2,101,990 square feet (195,281 m2), which is close to the maximum area allowed under a floor area ratio of 15. Deutsche Bank Center uses a total of 20 acres (81,000 m2) of glass, as well as 26,000 short tons (23,000 long tons; 24,000 t) of steel and 215,000 short tons (192,000 long tons; 195,000 t) of concrete.

Form and facade

The base of Deutsche Bank Center measures 480 feet (150 m) wide, as measured from north to south, by 434 feet (132 m) deep. The building is designed to face Central Park, with a general trapezoidal shape. Two towers with a parallelogram-shaped massing rise from the base. The towers are aligned with Broadway, which runs diagonally relative to the Manhattan street grid, while the base is aligned with the street grid. The space between the towers is on axis with 59th Street and Central Park South. The western and eastern facades of both towers are aligned 30 degrees counterclockwise from the axis of Eighth Avenue and Central Park West. Both towers are 55 stories tall with a roof height of 749 feet (228 m). The pinnacle of each tower consists of a lantern measuring 60 feet (18 m) tall.

The base of Deutsche Bank Center contains a limestone facade with large window openings, which taper off into glass bands. The facade of the upper stories is clad with glass. There are small, projecting glass fins every 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3.0 m), which, from an angle, give the facade the appearance of a myriad of small shards. The glass panes were initially specified to be 6 millimeters (0.24 in) thick, but the architects changed the specification during construction to 8 millimeters (0.31 in) to stiffen the panes. The architects had originally intended for the glass to be light gray, but a darker shade was later specified. Atop the towers are glass parapets that absorb natural lights.

A multistory cable structure, facing 59th Street across Columbus Circle, serves as the entrance to an atrium between the building's twin towers. The structure consists of a grid of stainless-steel cables 7.5 feet (2.3 m) apart vertically and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) apart horizontally. Laminated-glass panels measuring 0.75 inches (19 mm) thick are placed within the cables. Measuring 86 feet (26 m) across and 149 feet (45 m) high, the cable structure was the largest in North America at the time of its completion. It was designed by James Carpenter Design Associates. According to Carpenter, the cable grid was intended "to be as delicate, transparent and diaphanous as possible" to allow simultaneous views into and out of the atrium. Abby Bussel, author of a book about SOM, wrote that the main entrance was intended to "project a civic face to the community" at night.

The southeast corner of the building, at Eighth Avenue and 58th Street, contains a triangular wedge-shaped glass structure measuring about 150 feet (46 m) tall. For the first months of the complex's existence, the glass structure was empty. As part of an agreement with the New York City government, the structure could not include advertising. Prow Sculpture, an art installation by David Rome, was then installed in the structure by 2004. This consists of 12 sets of 36 translucent panels, each supported by 121-foot-tall (37 m) vertical trusses. The panels each contain light-emitting diodes that change color once every few minutes. The panels also change color to display the time at 15-minute intervals. The lights can be illuminated in different colors to mark special occasions. The artwork requires 200 tons of air conditioning (equivalent to 2,400,000 British thermal units per hour [700,000 W]), as well as frequent cleaning.

Lower stories

The base of the building contains a steel superstructure with the Shops at Columbus Circle, Jazz at Lincoln Center, broadcast studios, and originally AOL Time Warner's headquarters. The towers' concrete superstructures rest above the base. Structurally, the building's base also includes the steel-framed lower sections of both towers. The steel frame extends 315 feet (96 m) high below the north tower and 349 feet (106 m) high below the south tower. The steel superstructure allowed the architects to use several column arrangements to accommodate the differing needs of each tenant, and it allowed the architects to create large, column-free spaces for hotel ballrooms, broadcast studios, and offices. Twenty-four entrances were originally provided at the base. To avoid interfering with the entrances and other open spaces, the building uses diagonal steel columns; concrete columns with stepped notches; and columns hanging from trusses.

The property's foundation is surrounded by a concrete cofferdam measuring 33 feet (10 m) deep and 630 feet (190 m) across. The building plans were technically an "alteration" to the New York Coliseum, since the building incorporates the Coliseum's underground parking garage. The parking garage, originally leased to the Central Parking Corporation, has 504 spots. The garage spans three stories and has sensors to monitor how many vehicles are parked in the garage. The garage also has a valet parking service. At ground level, the lobby for the south tower's residences is on 58th Street while the north tower's hotel and condominium lobby is on 59th Street. In addition, there are office lobbies on both 58th and 59th Streets; that on 58th Street originally served the Time Warner lobby.

Deutsche Bank Center has a four-story retail mall, the Shops at Columbus Circle, which opened in 2004 along with the rest of the complex. Designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects, it was known during planning as the Palladium. The mall's ground-floor tenants include designer shops and restaurants. Among the first retail tenants in the mall were a Whole Foods Market, as well as an Equinox gym, both in the basement. The third and fourth stories contain the Restaurant Collection, with two Michelin 3-star restaurants as of 2023 (Masa and Per Se), as well as other eateries such as Porter House New York and Bad Roman.

The mall is designed to follow the curve of Columbus Circle, measuring 450 feet (140 m) long. It contains an atrium 150 feet (46 m) high, leading west from Columbus Circle. This atrium, known as the "Great Room", is about 85 feet (26 m) wide and 120 feet (37 m) long with 10,000 square feet (930 m2). A passageway, extending north and south from the atrium, covers 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2).

Upper stories

The apartments and hotel rooms on the upper floors have a concrete superstructure, since they did not need the large column spacing or small columns that a steel superstructure would provide. The concrete superstructures weigh 42,000 short tons (38,000 long tons; 38,000 t) each. There is a truss at the 17th floor of the north tower, 248 feet (76 m) above the ground, and at the 23rd floor of the south tower, 314 feet (96 m) above the ground. The trusses distribute the weight of the concrete above to the steel columns below; they also contain ducts, elevator rooms, and hallways between the emergency stairwells of the towers and the base. Each tower also has a concrete core measuring 40 by 140 feet (12 by 43 m) across, which extends to the layer of Manhattan schist below the building. The cores are up to 2 feet (0.61 m) thick at the base.

The north tower contains the Mandarin Oriental New York hotel, designed by Brennan Beer Gorman. The hotel contains 248 units in total, composed of 202 guestrooms and 46 suites. The Mandarin Oriental New York spans floors 35 through 54, taking up 290,000 square feet (27,000 m2) in Deutsche Bank Center. The hotel in general is designed in an Art Deco-inspired Asian contemporary style. The interior decorations were mostly created by Hirsch Bedner Associates, except for the Asiate restaurant, which was designed by Tony Chi. As of 2022, Reliance Industries owns a majority stake in the hotel.

The only entrance to the hotel is from 60th Street, where there are elevators to the hotel lobby. The ground-floor vestibule, designed as an ellipse, contains a glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly. Floor 35 contains the hotel lobby, the Asiate restaurant, and the MObar lounge. Also in the hotel is a two-story, 14,500-square-foot (1,350 m2) spa. There is also a fitness center with a 75-foot-long (23 m) lap pool overlooking Central Park, as well as banquet rooms and ballrooms. Each of the guest rooms has a different set of decorations with Asian artwork and complex color schemes, as well as full-height windows. The layouts of the different hotel suites also vary.

Both towers contain residences, though they begin 24 stories above ground in the south tower and 37 stories above ground in the north tower. The north-tower residences are marketed as the Residences at Mandarin Oriental, while the south-tower residences are marketed as One Central Park, despite the fact that there is no street named Central Park. There are 66 residences in the north tower, occupying sixteen stories. The residents of the north tower are given access to the Mandarin Oriental New York's amenities, being treated as if they were permanent guests of the hotel. These include spa and health club access as well as room service. The south tower has 133 or 134 residences, occupying twenty-nine stories. The condominiums have multiple entrances, including through the hotel, garage, and mall.

Mechanical features

Deutsche Bank Center includes a system of four emergency diesel generators for the residential tenants, each capable of 2 megawatts (2,700 hp). The base is powered by two diesel generators, also capable of 2 megawatts (2,700 hp). There is also a 1-megawatt (1,300 hp) uninterruptible power system that runs at all times. The backup generation system powers three elevators, as well as lighting in each hallway and apartment intercoms, in case of emergencies. Two service rooms were installed by Zwicker Electric. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system was automated, increasing its efficiency by 10 to 15 percent.

As part of the construction of Time Warner Center, its developers spent $21 million on technological advances. From the building's opening, the entirety of Time Warner Center was equipped with Wi-Fi, which at the time was still relatively uncommon in New York City buildings. A direct Ethernet connection was also included in the building when it was built, and each residence had an in-house internet phone service. In addition, residents received a notebook computer that served as their "digital concierge", where they could look up the building's restaurants, stores, and entertainment areas. The security screening systems at the elevators contained fingerprint readers. While the Wi-Fi services were available to visitors for a fee, the other tech services were only offered to residents and Mandarin Oriental hotel guests. Time Warner provided internet service for its own office space, but the residences and hotel rooms were served by RCN's network instead, because RCN service was less expensive than Time Warner service.

History

Planning

After putting the Coliseum up for sale in 1985, the MTA received numerous bids for the redevelopment of the site. Mortimer Zuckerman's Boston Properties won the bidding contest, with plans to erect a headquarters for Salomon Brothers on the site, to be designed by Moshe Safdie. The community heavily opposed Zuckerman's initial plan, and the sale was nullified in 1987, with Salomon Brothers withdrawing from the project.

New York City and Boston Properties first hired David Childs in 1987 to design the Coliseum replacement, to be known as Columbus Center. Childs's initial plan, released in June 1988, called for a set of brick-and-glass towers rising as high as 850 feet (260 m). Similar to what would ultimately be built, the complex would have been composed of twin towers. Childs's plan faced heavy opposition from the community, leading to a redesign of the project. His second proposal was published in April 1988, with a twin-towered complex rising 752 feet (229 m), as well as a pedestrian bridge connecting the two towers. This plan, too, faced political opposition and lawsuits. Following the prolonged delays, Zuckerman and the MTA severed negotiations for the site in 1994. Related CEO Stephen Ross had proposed converting the Coliseum into a Kmart store, though nothing came of that plan. As a result, Ross contacted his friend, Kenneth A. Himmel, to devise a proposal for the site.

Planning for Columbus Center restarted in May 1996, with the MTA outlining several criteria for the shape of the proposed development, as well as a stipulation that the winner could not seek tax breaks. The city and MTA received nine proposals for the site that November. The Municipal Art Society displayed models of these proposals to gauge public opinion for the project. By May 1997, the city and MTA had selected five finalists: Related Companies, Trump Organization, Tishman Speyer, Bruce C. Ratner & Daniel Brodsky, and Millennium Partners. New York state officials tentatively considered selecting Millennium Partners' bid that July, to be designed by James Polshek. To the surprise of the developers submitting the bids, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani announced he would revoke a tax break that he had promised to give to the winning bidder. Giuliani also threatened to block any potential sale of the Coliseum unless the project contained a theater of 1,000 to 2,000 seats for Lincoln Center. The mayor's demand for a theater had hitherto been unknown to the public, but Lincoln Center executives expressed interest in the proposal.

In February 1998, the city and state agreed that the new building would have a 1,100-seat concert hall for Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as rehearsal rooms and educational spaces. The facility would cost $40 to $45 million, of which Jazz at Lincoln Center would raise $20 million and the city would raise $18 million. The developers were asked to resubmit their bids. That April, Time Warner partnered with the Related Companies, with plans to move CNN's New York City offices and NY1 broadcast studios to the development if Related's bid was successful. Ross and Himmel had convinced Time Warner CEO Richard D. Parsons the previous year to join the project. The joint bid was $45 million less than the high bid offered by Trump, though government officials preferred Millennium's and Related's twin-tower plans to Trump's single slab. Nevertheless, city officials were mainly considering Millennium's and Related's bids by June 1998. Millennium had proposed two luxury hotels and 450 residential condominiums, while the city government backed Related's bid because of Time Warner's involvement. By then, Childs, who had designed Related's proposal, had designed five separate plans for the site.

Construction

A groundbreaking ceremony for the building occurred on November 14, 2000. At the time, the project was planned to employ 2,300 workers. Bovis Lend Lease was hired as general contractor based on a guaranteed maximum price at-risk contract, while Insignia/ESG was hired as the leasing agent for AOL Time Warner Center. By early 2001, the first large retail tenant had leased space in the building's mall, and the developers were interviewing restaurateurs to operate six eateries in the mall. That June, Central Parking was hired to run the three-story parking garage in the complex's basement. The condominiums went on sale in August 2001. Ross was planning to market some of the higher-story condominiums at between $4,000 and $5,000 per square foot ($43,000 and $54,000/m2), which would make these apartments the most expensive in New York City by far. The condos ranged from $1.8 million for a two-bedroom unit to $35 million for a penthouse unit.

Plans for the 12-screen movie theater in Related's winning bid were scrapped by 2001. By mid-2001, the building had grown to about 2.8 million square feet (260,000 m2), drawing the consternation of neighborhood groups who opposed the project. One such group, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, stated that AOL Time Warner Center was 33 percent larger than what was approved in an environmental impact statement in 1997. Other opponents, like City Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, wished to know why construction plans for the center had been filed as an alteration to the Coliseum, rather than as a new building. The Committee for Environmentally Sound Development filed a lawsuit against the project. While a New York Supreme Court judge ruled against the group in December 2001, the judge noted that a government agency still had to ensure AOL Time Warner Center did not exceed its maximum size.

Following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan later in 2001, work on AOL Time Warner Center was slowed during the rescue and recovery effort, as many skilled workers had left the job to help with the rescue effort at the World Trade Center site. Additionally, since many roads into Manhattan were closed after the attacks, concrete deliveries were delayed, prompting concerns that the building's construction would also be held up. Despite the attacks, the Time Warner complex had reached 19 stories by the end of 2001. Even though a few prospective buyers had withdrawn, forty apartments had sold for a cumulative $200 million between September and December 2001. These included Sandie N. Tillotson, who bought the top floor of the north tower for $30 million shortly after the attacks, then a record for a condominium. Five retailers also leased space in the months after the attacks. To address security concerns, the architects strengthened AOL Time Warner Center's security features at entrances to garages and loading docks. The architects also increased the strength of the steel and added backup generators for the elevators.

Time Warner use

Time Warner Center was the first major building to be developed in Manhattan after the September 11 attacks, and its development had directly resulted in an increase in nearby land values even before its completion. AOL Time Warner sought four companies to sponsor the new building, one each in the electronics, technology, automotive, and financial-services segments; the sponsors would have retail or exhibit space in the building. The first sponsor, electronics company Samsung, signed an agreement in mid-2003. Lincoln Motor Company was the automotive sponsor, while First Republic Bank was the financial-services sponsor. At the end of 2003, Credit Suisse First Boston provided $620 million to refinance part of the development's construction loan.

The development was opened in phases starting in 2003. The first part of Time Warner Center to officially open was the Mandarin Oriental New York, which opened on November 15, 2003, although a formal ceremony was held in December 2003. Time Warner Center's formal opening ceremony was held on February 5, 2004, with a benefit party being hosted upon the completion of the Shops at Columbus Circle. At the time of the mall's opening, over four-fifths of the 40 stores and 10 restaurants were open. There were concerns among retail-industry experts that Time Warner Center's "vertical mall" concept would not be successful since high-rise malls in New York City had historically not been successful.

Final touches were still being placed on the building when, in April 2004, a piece of metal sheeting fell off the facade. This prompted Bloomberg to order that all work on the building be temporarily halted, since this was the fourth time since 2002 that debris had fallen from the building. The retail complex also faced challenges, such as an early 2004 fire in the Per Se restaurant, the first to open in the mall. Jazz at Lincoln Center opened in October 2004, almost a year after the rest of the complex had been completed. In total, the project had cost $1.8 billion.

The Sunshine Group was in charge of marketing the building. Businessman David Martínez bought one penthouse unit and a portion of another; at $40 to $45 million, the unit was the most expensive residence recorded in Manhattan at the time. Other early residents included designer Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill and musician Ricky Martin, as well as architect Jon Stryker, who used Time Warner Center as a temporary apartment because he did not want to rent a residence. The south tower's residents also included Saudi royal Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, art collector Tobias Meyer, producer Verna Harrah, and businessmen Gregory Olsen and John Kluge. Those of the north tower included ten doctors; businessmen Alan B. Miller, Michael Spencer, and Gerard Cafesjian; and two daughters of Turkish businessman Sakıp Sabancı. By late 2004, the apartments were about 85 percent sold. About a quarter of the original buyers were foreign buyers, and a third of the total buyers used shell corporations to obscure their identities.

Deutsche Bank use

In May 2018, Deutsche Bank announced it would lease all 1.1 million square feet (100,000 m2) of office space for 25 years, relocating from 60 Wall Street beginning in the third quarter of 2021. The move represented a reduction in space for the bank, which had occupied 1.6 million square feet (150,000 m2) at 60 Wall Street. Following the news, Related Companies announced that the building would be officially renamed "Deutsche Bank Center" upon the company's arrival. In May 2019, Related refinanced the office portion of the development with a $1.1 billion loan from Wells Fargo. After announcing plans to drastically reduce its overseas activities in mid-2019, Deutsche Bank returned two of the floors, covering 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2), to the Related Companies. Meanwhile, the CNN studios had relocated to Hudson Yards by late 2019.

Between March 2020 and April 2021, the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Time Warner Center was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, undergoing a minor renovation during that time. Time Warner Center was renamed to Deutsche Bank Center in May 2021, with Time Warner signage being replaced with that of Deutsche Bank over a one-week period. The bank was scheduled to relocate 5,000 employees to the building, but the relocation was delayed. The bank's employees were being relocated by July 2021.

Critical reception

When the original design was announced in July 1998, Herbert Muschamp wrote for The New York Times that the glass facade was a "major improvement" compared to Childs's earlier proposals of the late 1980s, but he believed that the design was "skillful, earnest and devoid of meaning". At the end of the year, Muschamp was even more negative, characterizing the building as an example of "architecture of denial" and derided it as indicating "an utter lack of awareness that New York today differs dramatically from the city in the 1930's". Peter Blake, editor of Architectural Record, wrote of the project in late 1998: "Manhattan is about to have a building of singular klutziness imposed upon it." Both Muschamp's and Blake's complaints originated from the fact that the original plans resembled the setback-laden massing of older stone-faced apartment buildings on Central Park West, except with a glass cladding.

When the updated plan was announced in June 2000, Muschamp wrote that the design "is an asymmetrical composition of crystalline contours" and that, in sharp contrast to the previous plan, it was not derivative of older Central Park West towers. Muschamp disliked the "lanterns" that were to be placed atop the towers, and he found the facade of the base to be "infected" by "aesthetic backsliding", but overall he thought the design to be a homage to the city's Art Deco architecture. By contrast, Martin Filler of The New Republic was dissatisfied with the revised glass design, especially as opposed to the masonry plans: "Light construction [...] implies the dual phenomena of weightlessness and transparency; and there is none of the former and little of the latter in evidence here." The plans also faced opposition from community groups that considered the building to be too large.

After the September 11 attacks, the towers of Time Warner Center were compared to the destroyed World Trade Center, though the building's developers denied any intentional similarity to the fallen Twin Towers. In 2003, Architectural Record wrote: "AOL Time Warner Center with its new twin towers is testimony of how the people of the city can overcome great obstacles to get on with life." When Time Warner Center was almost completed, Paul Goldberger wrote for The New Yorker that, though the design had been intended to conform with the surrounding street grid, this was nullified by the building's sheer size. According to Goldberger, "The best you can say is that they prevent it from being worse than it is, or as bad as earlier versions, which date from the nineteen-eighties." Peggy Deamer of the Journal of the American Institute of Architects wrote in 2004: "Shouldn't the designers have broadened the notion of context beyond the building envelope?"