Bertelsmann Building, originally known as 1540 Broadway, is a 42-story

Storey

A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...

, 733 foot (223 m) office tower in Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

 in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, standing at West 45th Street. The building is the North American headquarters of Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann AG is a multinational media corporation founded in 1835, based in Gütersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 102,983 workers , which makes it the most international media corporation in the world. In 2008 the company reported a €16.118 billion consolidated...

.

Started in 1989 and finished in 1990, the tower is one of the few in Times Square to contain class A office space. Also found in the tower is Planet Hollywood

Planet Hollywood

Planet Hollywood, a restaurant inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood, was launched in New York on October 22, 1991, with the backing of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.-History:...

's first Official All Star Café, and also there's Mac Flagship, Disney Store

Disney Store

Disney Store is an international chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive. Disney Store is a business unit of Disney Consumer Products. James Fielding serves as the President....

, and Forever 21

Forever 21

Forever 21 is an American chain of clothing retailers with branches in major cities in The United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East that offers fashion and accessories for young women and men....

 

In the 1990s the Bertelsmann subsidiary of Random House

Random House

Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...

 looked to build a skyscraper across 45th Street from its parent and be connected to it via a neon-lighted bridge across 45th Street connecting them. When the deal fell through it built the Random House Tower

Random House Tower

The Random House Tower and Park Imperial is a 52-story mixed use tower in New York City that is used as the headquarters of Random House and a luxury apartment complex called Park Imperial. The book publisher entrance is on Broadway and goes up to 27 floors, while the apartment complex entrance...

 10 blocks uptown.

Further reading

• Jerry Adler (1994). High Rise: How 1,000 Men and Women Worked Around the Clock for Five Years and Lost $200 Million Building a Skyscraper, HarperCollins Publishers
  HarperCollins
  HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
  
  . ISBN 0-0609245-6-X