Edging out a field of formidable competitors—including LEED Platinum, Silver and BOMA 360 certified buildings for such corporate giants as Adobe, Hunt’s Foods and Nationwide—SL Green’s 1515 Broadway has won the BOMA International TOBY for Corporate Facility, it was announced at the Association’s global conference in late June.
Photo by Peter Loppacher
The TOBY, which stands for The Outstanding Building of the Year, now takes its place at the nearly 2 million-sf tower which has seen its share of Tony and MTV awards as the world headquarters of Viacom and home to the blockbuster Broadway hit, The Lion King.
But for all the sizzle of its Times Square location and 6-story show business base, the 56-story tower won on the merits of its management team, led by Manager Kevin Reade, RPA; Assistant Manager, Mia Pali, and Chief Engineer, Imer Lita, SMA/SMT.
The team won not only the highest award in their profession, but another record for New York City, making their win the third year in a row that a BOMA/NY Pinnacle winner has gone on to win Corporate Facility internationally, a streak started by Hearst Tower two years ago and continued by 575 Fifth Avenue (LÓreal’s US headquarters) last year.
Says BOMA/NY President Louis J. Mantia, “SL Green and its team at 1515 Broadway have upheld the essence of the TOBY awards by doing everything that is expected of management, engineering and finance, and then pushed themselves further to provide excellent, innovative and highly responsive customer service. They are a proud example of what our business is today.”
In 1972, 1515 Broadway made its Broadway debut, ushered in office development on the Great White Way, and has been rewriting its role ever since under various occupants and owners. It was developed for WT Grant, but with the discount chain’s demise, it was repositioned repeatedly. Today under SL Green, it has returned to its corporate roots as the world headquarters for multi-media entertainment giant, Viacom. Fully-occupied and continuously upgrading its premises, 1515 enters its fifth decade on Broadway in its most powerful position to date.
Among its strongest suits: the deftness of the tower’s most recent repositioning, solidifying its role as a Times Square leader and a patron of its neighborhood’s artistic endeavors; robust tenant relations integrating education and service to earn high marks from tower occupants; an ambitious energy conservation program reflecting close cooperation between Viacom and management; standard-setting environmental/sustainability and emergency preparedness programs, and a high level of commitment and accomplishment in building staff training.
BOMA/NY is the greater New York area local Association of BOMA International and the largest in the BOMA federation, with more than 750 corporate members. Every February, BOMA/NY stages the Pinnacle Awards, the local round of the most rigorous and prestigious international award in real estate management, and has been a major contender at the international level with ten victories in the past 11 years. It is also a major voice for advocacy at City Hall in the areas of energy conservation, sustainability and workplace safety. BOMA/NY is the provider of the BOMI designations (RPA, FMA, SMA and SMT) that represent the highest level of educational achievement in commercial management.
Photo: 1515 Broadway, 1515 Broadway management team Photos by Peter Loppacher
