SL Green Realty and Allianz own One Astor Plaza, which as of 2022[update] serves as the headquarters for Paramount Global (previously ViacomCBS).

[11] The site had contained the eleven-story Hotel Astor, which had been designed by Clinton & Russell in a Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1904 with 1,000 guest rooms.

[12][13] According to architecture writer Robert A. M. Stern, the Astor inspired "a new species of popular hotels that soon clustered around Times Square, vast amusement palaces that catered to crowds with scenographic interiors that mirrored the theatricality of the Great White Way.

"[12] One Astor Plaza was developed by the Sam Minskoff and Sons company and designed by Kahn and Jacobs,[4][14] with Der Scutt as the principal architect.

[14][18] Under normal zoning regulations, the maximum floor area ratio (FAR) for any building on the tower's site was 15, but the developers received two bonuses of 20 percent each, bringing the FAR to 21.6.

[9] The building has two privately operated public spaces: the open-air Shubert Alley, as well as a ground-floor arcade beneath the center of the tower.

[24][57] According to MTV president Judy McGrath, the studio had full-height windows on Times Square because "We want to get people to feel what it's like to be in New York, to be part of that incredible playground down there".

[79] Webb and Knapp's former president William Zeckendorf formed Place de L'Etoile Inc. in December 1965, seeking to buy the Astor Hotel,[80][81] but this was unsuccessful.

[79] The New York Times attributed the hotel's decline to the fact that, because of the growing popularity of automobiles, visitors could stay in a suburb rather than the city's center.

[82] In January 1966, Sam Minskoff and Sons paid $10.5 million for the Hotel Astor and the eastern section of Shubert Alley, with plans to erect a 40-story office building on the site.

[92] In January 1967, Kahn and Jacobs announced that Minskoff's tower, One Astor Plaza, would be 50 stories tall with a facade of stone and tinted glass.

A second plan called for a tower, which Richard Weinstein of the UDG subsequently recalled as "a mindless, ominous, faceless structure, legal under existing zoning, with two low, clawlike appendages [...] pinching a small plaza between them".

[108][109] As planning progressed, members of the Broadway-theatre industry expressed concerns that theatrical experts had not been consulted in the design of One Astor Plaza's theater.

[14][111] At the time, the vacant site was being used for parking, since the Minskoffs were requesting city approval for another modification that would allow a movie theater to be built in the basement.

[127] The project faced some delays due to the inclusion of the Broadway theater at the building's base,[31][128] as well as rising costs and decreasing demand for office space.

[142] One Astor Plaza was still incomplete at the time, but Fawcett's lease at its previous location had already expired, forcing the company to move into the building.

[155][156] Further issues concerned the building's valuation, which had been reduced from $45.3 to $40.8 million during 1971–1972; the reduction had been granted because the Minskoffs falsely stated that One Astor Plaza was mostly vacant.

[162] Also in 1979, the architectural firm of Battaglia, Seckler completed a three-story complex for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater within One Astor Plaza.

[168] At the time, the real estate market in New York City was growing, and Equitable had projected that the building would generate $40 million in gross income by 1991.

[175][174] One Astor Plaza needed to be renovated to comply with modern building codes, including the addition of fire sprinklers and the removal of asbestos.

Furthermore, several existing tenants including Diamandis Communications and Ted Bates Worldwide were moving out, leaving the owners without enough income to make further improvements to the building.

[181] 1515 Broadway Associates LP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 1990,[182][183] shortly after Tishman Speyer gave up its general-partnership interest.

[173] As a result of the Chapter 11 proceeding, ownership of One Astor Plaza reverted to Manufacturers Hanover Trust, one of several banks that had collectively lent $300 million to the partnership.

Throughout these legal disputes, Equitable continued to maintain the building's services and attempted to not only retain existing occupants but also attract new tenants by providing favorable concessions.

Equitable's success in leasing One Astor Plaza was also influenced by the lack of tenants at two newer developments nearby, 1540 and 1585 Broadway, during the early 1990s.

[206] In March 2002, a joint venture led by SL Green Realty acquired One Astor Plaza for approximately $480 million, the city's largest real-estate transaction since the September 11 attacks.

[214] SL Green also bought out the lease of the Loews Astor Plaza movie theater and closed it in 2004;[34] reopening it the next year as an event venue operated by AEG Live.

[231] SL Green also agreed to upgrade 1515 Broadway for Viacom[232] and installed three-story-tall advertising screens on the Times Square facade in 2013;[26] the building was refinanced that year for $900 million.

[263] When One Astor Plaza was completed, city officials had expressed hope that the building would precipitate the transformation of Times Square into an entertainment hub.

This did not happen immediately, leading architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern to write that "Times Square somehow seemed all the more tawdry for its overscaled, underembellished corporate guest", One Astor Plaza.