New York Coliseum
The Coliseum was planned by Robert Moses, an urban planner and the chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA).
The TBTA's successor, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), started looking for buyers in order to raise money for its operations.
[1] Gray quoted another magazine, Art News, as stating that the complex contained a "total lack of relation to its site".
[1][8] The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority's chairman, Robert Moses, first envisioned a convention center for New York City in 1944.
[9] Separately, in 1946, the Madison Square Garden Corporation proposed building a large sports arena along the western edge of Columbus Circle between 58th and 60th Streets, supplementing the existing Madison Square Garden (MSG) ten blocks south.
[12][13] The plans were delayed in February 1947, when the New York State Assembly's Ways and Means Committee failed to act on a bill that would have authorized the construction of the new MSG building.
[17] During this delay in the plans, several private interests purchased large tracts of land on the site of the proposed MSG annex.
[27] Slightly more than half of the plot was to contain an apartment complex so Moses could receive two-thirds federal funding for clearing the slums on the site.
[28] By October 1952, Moses said that builders were ready to start construction on the Coliseum, but he emphasized that the MSG arena was no longer part of the plan.
[28] In December of that year, the plan to build a convention center and two 12-story residential towers was submitted to the New York City Board of Estimate and Mayor Vincent R.
[29] The Board of Estimate quickly voted to approve the Coliseum project because of an expected turnover in Housing and Home Finance Agency leadership, which in turn was occurring due to the election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower that year.
[31] The Grand Central Palace held its last show in late 1953, and due to the delays in building the Coliseum, it was anticipated that New York City would not have a convention space for the following three years.
[47] The opening of the Coliseum, as well as other nearby projects such as a new tube for the Lincoln Tunnel, gave rise to a new zoning plan for the Far West Side of Manhattan.
However, the Coliseum had a limited amount of space, and exhibitions started to move to other cities with larger convention centers.
[62] Many community members expressed concerns that the proposal did not fit in with the mostly residential character of the surrounding neighborhood of Lincoln Square.
[63] Notable opponents included the Municipal Art Society, which, led by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, filed a lawsuit to try to stop the project from being approved.
[66] Ultimately, there were two finalists: a joint venture between Boston Properties and Phibro-Salomon Inc., and another between New York Land Company and Kumagai Gumi.
[67] Boston Properties' plan was selected in July 1985[68] and unanimously approved by the New York City Council in December 1986.
Under Boston Properties' plan, the Coliseum would be demolished by 1988 and replaced by a headquarters for Salomon Brothers, a subsidiary of Phibro-Salomon.
[69] Boston Properties would also have renovated the New York City Subway's 59th Street–Columbus Circle station for $40 million as part of the project.
[64]: 36 In December 1987, a state court ruled that the proposed building violated the city's own zoning ordinances and nullified the sale.
[74][75] New York City and Boston Properties renegotiated the deal to call for a 52-story structure with a reduced price of $357 million for the site.
In August 1990, the agency announced that several improvement projects worth $500 million would need to be delayed if the coliseum was not sold by the end of 1991.
In early 1994, newly elected mayor Rudy Giuliani requested that a third party appraise the site, which Zuckerman wanted to purchase for $100 million.
[87] In the late 1990s, another attempt to sell the Coliseum was made, this time to an investment firm headed by Israel Englander, who proposed to build luxury apartments and a ballroom on the site.
However, with the real estate market rebounding, a critical $50 million tax break was withdrawn by then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani (who saw a tax break for a property that would not draw permanent jobs to the site as unnecessary), at which point Englander's Millennium Partners walked away from the project.
At this point, the entire area around Columbus Circle was being redeveloped, but six separate government agencies were handling different parts of the process.
The president of the Municipal Art Society said, "This is the last time in our lifetime that such an important chunk of Manhattan is going to be up for redesign and rebuilding.
"[88] In 1998, the MTA finally agreed to sell the property to a joint venture of Time Warner and The Related Companies for $345 million.
[90] Time Warner's proposed headquarters consisted of twin towers, but they were clad with glass and stood only 55 stories tall.
