Time Warner Center Officially Becomes Deutsche Bank Center
German bank taking more than 1 million square feet of office space later this year
By Nicholas Rizzi May 24, 2021 6:41 pm
reprints
The two-skyscraper complex One Columbus Circle in Manhattan officially became the Deutsche Bank Center on Monday, as the German lender prepares to move into its more than 1 million-square-foot office there later this year.
Related Companies unveiled a plaque outside the building, formerly known as the Time Warner Center, with its new moniker. The complex welcoming its new tenant, which will have 5,000 employees in the location, comes as numerous companies have started to call staff back to the office as more people receive coronavirus vaccines.
“One Columbus Circle transformed an entire neighborhood when it opened nearly 20 years ago,” Related CEO Jeff Blau said in a statement. “Today, the building continues that legacy as it becomes Deutsche Bank Center and another positive catalyst in the continued economic recovery of New York City.”
Related spent four years trying to find a replacement for WarnerMedia in Columbus Circle, after that company moved to Hudson Yards in 2018, following a 20-year lease there for 1.1 million square feet. (Deutsche Bank later cut nearly 120,000 square feet from its deal as it lost staff, The New York Post reported.)
As part of the deal, Deutsche Bank got naming rights for the part-mall, part-hotel, part-apartment, part-office building, part-concert hall that has been colloquially known as Time Warner Center since it opened.
The newly named Deutsche Bank Center is on the former site of the New York Coliseum convention center, the brainchild of infamous master builder Robert Moses and which The New York Times called a “low point for New York public buildings.”
Long controlled by organized crime, the New York Coliseum finally shuttered in 1986, and Related eventually won a bid to construct two 750-foot tall towers with office space, a 251-room hotel and 198 condominiums to replace it. Related started construction in 2000, and opened the $1.3 billion development in 2004.
Deutsche Bank’s move to the tower comes as several of its competitors call staff back to the office after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to work from home.
JPMorgan Chase opened its offices on May 17 and mandated that all workers return on a rotational schedule as soon as July, while Blackstone Group wants its fully vaccinated workers back full time on June 7.
