The Howard Johnson hotel was built five years earlier and in the same style, and is now operated as a La Quinta Inn.

[1] Its facade is constructed entirely of pre-cast concrete paneling designed to provide sun protection and visual depth.

[6] At the northeast corner of the building is a freestanding three-story concrete structure, formerly a sign for the Armstrong Rubber Company.

The structure, built concurrently with the building, contributes to the site's National Register of Historic Places listing.

The hotel includes 165 guest rooms, a lobby, a restaurant called BLDG, bar, and event space.

These include triple-glazed windows to stabilize inside temperatures, all-electric machinery for laundry and kitchens, as well as solar panels covering its parking lot and hotel roof.

[2] Armstrong Rubber Co. first initiated the building's construction in 1966 with the presentation of a proposal to develop a site at the intersection of Interstates 91 and 95 to then-mayor of New Haven, Richard C. Lee.

[10] While the company originally proposed a low rise structure, Lee suggested a building with eight to ten stories.

In response, the project's architect, Marcel Breuer, designed a plan suspending the company's administrative offices two stories above a two-story research and development space.

[13] Beginning in May 1999 and spanning over a decade, the Pirelli Tire Building was unoccupied and largely unused, as plans evolved for the site.

In 2017, New-Haven-born visual artist Tom Burr utilized the entire first floor of a conceptual art exhibition titled Body/Building.

The plan was criticized by the Long Wharf Advocacy Group, a local coalition that sought to pursue alternatives for the site that better preserved the structure.

[4][16] IKEA's store on the site opened in July 2004; the company used the building and its sign to hang massive billboard-like advertisements on the structures, facing the interstate.

[19] The building was also planned to be the first Passive House-certified hotel in the US, meaning it generates its own heat, electricity, and hot water.

The work instead focused on modern interiors and sustainability efforts including solar panels, a battery system, and all-electric mechanical equipment.

[16] Financial Times listed it in "Architecture to see in 2023", as a striking Brutalist landmark and a successful renovation following new life brought to the Marcel Breuer-designed 945 Madison Avenue, serving the Frick Collection.