Capitalist Oppressors In Action: Some History Of A New York Office Building

The socialist creed preaches a narrative of Capitalist Oppressors, often large corporations, who somehow collaborate and conspire to keep the oppressed masses down.  I was reminded of that narrative when I recently saw a post at the website called New York YIMBY (“Yes In My Back Yard”), that provided some history of a certain office building in midtown Manhattan, 1301 Avenue of the Americas.  The post, by Max Gillespie on September 7, is titled “1301 Avenue Of The Americas Fully Leased In Midtown, Manhattan.”  It happens that I am very familiar with this building, since I worked right across the street from it for about 18 years.

The history of 1301 Avenue of the Americas provides a small look into the constant change and churn that are endemic among corporations in the real world.

Here from YIMBY’s post is a picture of 1301 Avenue of the Americas, credited to one of the building’s former owners, the Paramount Group.  

This building, built in 1964, is not particularly famous or notable in the forest of high-rises that characterizes midtown Manhattan.  However, as you can see, the building is quite large — 609 feet high, 45 stories, and 1.8 million square feet.  Over the years it has been home to a number of large corporate tenants.  And yet, one by one these tenants have downsized, shrunk their footprint or even vacated the building and gone out of business altogether.  Nevertheless, YIMBY reports that, with a recent renewal and expansion by a Cleveland-based bank called KeyBank, the building is now fully occupied:

KeyBank has renewed and expanded its lease at 1301 Avenue of the Americas . . . .  The Cleveland-based bank added 15,292 square feet under a 15-year renewal, bringing its total footprint to 112,924 square feet across the entire 35th through 37th floors and portions of the 28th and 38th floors. With the deal, the tower is fully leased.