Brookfield Place
230 Vesey St, New York, NY 10281
Was all that shaking this morning your collective excitement for this week’s newsletter??? Y’all flatter me so much! Anyhoo, let’s get on with learning about Brookfield Place!
This shopping center & office building complex has been a part of my New York journey since the beginning. My lovely husband, Parker, has worked in this building since 2019 and I even worked there as well before the pandemic. Located across the street from the World Trade Center, this building (technically it’s a collection of towers & an atrium all connected at the base) was originally built as the World Financial Center back in 1988. And guess what pals! It only took 5 years to build all of this! thicc italian accent thatsa lotta building! (sorry @gina if you’re offended by that) Comparing this to the Skinty Building (week 7) & The Greenwich (week 10) both taking a decade to be built makes this even more impressive. Well… is it impressive or is it ridiculous how long buildings take to be built nowadays? K, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
The building sustained significant damage during the 9/11 attacks. The Winter Garden was pretty much completely destroyed. After a whopping $250 million in repairs & renovations, Brookfield Place ceremonially reopened a year later on September 11, 2002. That’s really such a slay. A luxury shopping center, palm trees, and a boujee food court were added to the first two floors. Now, these buildings connect to the Oculus via an underground passageway. You have to take the world’s longest escalator (exaggerating) down several floors underground and walk by a 280 foot long screen (not exaggerating). It’s sort of like what I’d imagine entering purgatory feels like, assuming purgatory still has advertisements (seems like a fair assumption tbh).
Okay I know I shit on boring buildings a lot, but I have a special attachment to this place. Plus, the Winter Garden adds a lot of points in its favor. I think maybe since it’s not all glass, then it’s not as bad? Maybe I’m just a Brookfield Place apologist. There’s surprisingly a lot of character here with the fun events put on throughout the year.
An annual design competition between architects, engineers, & contractors where they build sculptures made entirely out of unopened cans of food. These sculptures are always super fun & impressive. This takes place leading up to the holiday season & all of the food is donated after.
The Luminaires
(not to be confused with the Lumineers)
A bright display of 640 colorful lanterns that LAB at Rockwell Group put up during the holidays. These sync up to various songs into a stunning light show & are a fun FREE (in this economy??? Unheard of) thing to go see.
During the winter, an ice skating rink is open outside the Winter Garden. If you go at the right time, you may see Parker fighting for his life on skates while I laugh in the background. During the summer, a cute popup deck is open with an outdoor bar & ample seating.
Fun Facts
The palm trees in the Winter Garden are real!! And they were actually replaced in 2013 because they grew too tall. Apparently the old trees were mulched and used around local hospitals to, I guess, honor their role in the building? Something about symbolizing new beginnings and change? I mean, sure? if you say so?
Deep in the underbelly of Brookfield Place, in the storage room of Madewell, there are various slurs sketched into the walls. The artist (unknown) of this installation made sure to cover a wide array of groups. Intersectionality at its finest.
There is said to be a curse on the Madewell there. No matter how long you worked for the company, if you work at that location, you will quit Madewell forever. Is it something about the energy in the space or is it because Madewell corporate loves to harass the employees at that specific store? I’ll never know because all my friends & I who worked there quit.
To my core, I am a mall girl. I’ve loved hanging out at malls my whole life & even though this one is boujee-er than the standard, this place is always a fun time.
Anyway, see you next week!! Toodeloo!
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