This building, located at 32 6th Avenue in TriBeCa, was built in 1933 as the headquaters of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Fitting with AT&T's historic practice, it was also a telephone central office. In later years, after AT&T moved uptown, the building was used for a call center. Today, with AT&T itself a shadow of what it once was, the building is best known as one of Manhattan's largest “carrier hotels”—a neutral place where telecommunications companies can install equipment to serve local customers and connect to each other. (My employer, MIT, has a fiber connection to this building, where the MIT network connects with other research networks and with commercial providers.)
We are here today because Clear Channel has, since mid-2007, been constructing new studios here for all of its New York stations. The construction project is under the supervision of regional Director of Engineering Josh Hadden, who just this week officially moved his own office from one of the company's New Jersey studios to the new facility. (Clear Channel will maintain facilities in New Jersey even after all the stations have moved to the new building, for disaster recovery.) The new studios will be located on the second and third floors, with a large auditorium (for live performances and meetings) on the ground floor. Thanks to Josh for showing us around.
Copyright 2008, Garrett Wollman. All rights reserved. Photograph taken 2008-01-16.