Previously, the site was occupied by the 1878
Florence Apartment House. 225 Park Avenue South was built in 1909 as the American Woolen Building. The old address number was kept when the section of Fourth Avenue between 17th and 32nd Streets was renamed Park Avenue South in 1959. Historically. the
American Woolen Company occupied floors 13–19. In 1998, Guardian Life moved its headquarters to the
Financial District of Manhattan.
Crown Publishing Group had its headquarters at 225 Park Avenue South, occupying of space.
Random House received the space when it acquired the company. In 1990, Random House signaled intentions to sublease the space. In 2001, the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey moved its headquarters to the 225 Park Avenue South complex after its previous headquarters, at
1 World Trade Center in the former
World Trade Center complex, were destroyed in the
September 11, 2001 attacks. PANYNJ, which said it intended to use the facility only as a temporary headquarters, leased a total of in 225 Park Avenue South and 233 Park Avenue South. The Office of Medical Services was at 233 Park Avenue South. In 2014 and 2015, PANYNJ moved to
4 World Trade Center. In 2016, Facebook signed a lease for of space in the building, with on floors 17–19. , 97.9% of its space was leased. Its 10 tenants included
BuzzFeed,
Facebook, and
STV Inc., which occupied the largest spaces in the building. At the time, the building was only 40% occupied. By December 2024, the two buildings were valued at $217 million, less than one-third of their 2017 valuation of $750 million. ==References==