(tallest tower in the center of the image) and
City Investing Building (second tallest, with slanted roof) , facing One Liberty Plaza, 17 days after the
September 11 attacks. The
Singer Building, the tallest in the world from 1908 to 1909, and the
City Investing Building adjacent to it were demolished from 1967 to 1968 to clear land for One Liberty Plaza's construction. One Liberty Plaza had more than twice the interior area of the two former buildings combined. In 1972,
Merrill Lynch became an anchor tenant in the building, occupying 40 floors in the building and acquiring 25% ownership of the building. By the early 1980s, Merrill Lynch owned the entire building, purchased for $100 million. By 1984, the company was outgrowing the space and relocated to the nearby
World Financial Center. Merrill Lynch sold One Liberty Plaza for $375 million to
Olympia and York, developer of the nearby World Financial Center. After selling the building, Merrill Lynch continued to lease space at One Liberty Plaza, occupying 20 floors. The building had a substantial renovation in 1989, which involved the creation of a new lobby and elevator system. The lobby and elevators have an extensive security system, and the building has a connection to the
New York City Subway's
Fulton Street/
Fulton Center station () in the basement. In 2001, Brookfield Properties bought the property for $432 million. Following the
September 11 attacks, and the subsequent
collapse of the World Trade Center nearby, One Liberty Plaza sustained significant facade damage. At one point there was a rumor going around that the building was in danger of collapse. These claims were quickly refuted by
The New York Times: But the day before it was to happen, it was decided that it was not yet sufficiently safe for employees to return to the office tower. The tower reopened on October 24, two days after originally scheduled. , it was the 656th tallest building in the world.
Morgan Stanley placed a $784 million loan on the tower in August 2017 and placed a partial ownership stake on sale for $1.6 billion two months later. That December, Brookfield sold a 49% stake in the tower to
Blackstone, valuing the tower at $1.55 billion. Brookfield and Blackstone considered selling the building in 2020 for up to $1.7 billion. The sale ultimately did not occur, and June 2024, Brookfield refinanced the building with $750 million from Morgan Stanley. ==Tenants==