Pershing Square, Manhattan

Pershing Square is a public plaza in Manhattan, New York City, located where Park Avenue and 42nd Street intersect in front of Grand Central Terminal.

[2] The hotel was condemned via eminent domain in 1914, and it was subsequently demolished to make way for the construction of the New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station, which ran diagonally below the site.

[4] The former Grand Union Hotel space was proposed for use as an open plaza[5] with a three-story memorial called "Victory Hall".

[11][12] Mandel gave the Bowery Savings Bank the center part of the Pershing Square block, which would be developed into an office building at 110 East 42nd Street,[13] completed in 1923.

[30] By mid-1995, the section of Park Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets was closed to traffic every weekday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and office workers began eating lunch there.

[31] In November 1995, the city and the Grand Central Partnership unveiled plans to spend $2 million restoring the space under the viaduct and leasing it as a restaurant, as well as closing part of Pershing Square.

The details in the cafe included slot-headed screws, the only ones available when the viaduct was built; chairs and electric cords imported from Paris, and a hand-rubbed paint scheme.

[34] Manhattan Community Board 5 recommended in 2009 that the service roads between 41st and 42nd streets be closed and turned into a public pedestrian plaza.

[35] The New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced in 2013 that it would spend $2 million to permanently close the western roadway (which carried southbound traffic) and convert it into a plaza with asphalt-and-concrete blocks, a rain garden, and terraces.