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7 Hudson Square
Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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7 Hudson Square (also known as the Robert A. Iger Building) is a 22-story, 338-foot (103 m) tall office building in Manhattan, New York City.[2] Completed in 2024 and designed by SOM, the contemporary terracotta building consolidates the New York operations of The Walt Disney Company and several of its subsidiaries, incorporating studio facilities for its flagship television station WABC-TV, ABC News, and ESPN.
The building's official address is 137 Varick Street; its vanity address of 7 Hudson Square is in homage to WABC-TV, which broadcasts on channel 7.[3]
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History
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In 2018, The Walt Disney Company announced that it would move its office from West 66th Street in Upper West Side for Hudson Square, which is home to other businesses such as Google, Oscar Health, and Warby Parker. Disney has signed a 99-year lease on Hudson Square site for $650 million, the land of which is owned by Trinity Church[4] and the four structures previously on site were demolished by Skanska.[5] New Hudson Facades began construction of the exterior facade in April 2021 and completed installation in the fall of 2023.[6][1]
The building was completed in 2024; in September, ABC's daytime talk show The View became one of the first productions to relocate to 7 Hudson Square.[7][8] ABC News was projected to begin migrating its operations to the building throughout 2025;[9] the ABC News late-night newscasts World News Now and Good Morning America First Look relocated in January 2025,[10] followed by WABC-TV in February 2025,[11] and World News Tonight in March.[12] WABC-produced syndicated talk show Live with Kelly and Mark relocated in April 2025, followed by New York-based editions of ABC's Sunday talk show This Week.[13][14] ABC's morning show Good Morning America relocated in June,[15] followed by ESPN's New York-based studio shows First Take and Get Up.[16]
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Studio facilities
The building performs the role of being the New York headquarters for The Walt Disney Company and several of its divisions, as well as consolidating the New York-based production operations of ABC News, ESPN, and its New York flagship television station WABC-TV (channel 7).[17]
- WABC-TV (from 7 Lincoln Square)
- Live with Kelly and Mark (from 7 Lincoln Square)
- ABC News (from 7 Lincoln Square)
- Good Morning America (from Times Square Studios)
- Good Morning America Weekend (from Times Square Studios)
- GMA: The Third Hour
- World News Tonight
- This Week (New York-based editions)
- Nightline
- World News Now
- Good Morning America First Look
- ESPN (from Pier 17 at South Street Seaport)
- First Take
- Get Up
- Unsportsmanlike
- The View
- Tamron Hall (from 7 Lincoln Square; shares The View's studio)
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Design and location
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Designed by SOM and developed by Silverstein Properties, the 320-foot-tall building has a terra cotta exterior with a grid of rounded, lichen green columns, and has towers on the east and west sides. The green exterior mirrors Aldo Rossi's 2001 Scholastic Building in Soho, which also sports thick columns. All of the building's windows feature Arnold Glas Isolar panels, which are designed to reduce bird–window collisions.[2][18] At ground level, the southern Spring Street features an entrance hall and waiting area to accommodate studio audiences for ABC tapings so that the crowd is not exposed to the elements or crowding the sidewalks outside of the building.[4] Wide halls and large elevators help maintain crowdflow towards four underground taping facilities, engineered with Cerami & Associates, with a food court planned to serve refreshments to taping attendees.[2][19]
The building features a screening room, and a wood-paneled library and reading room with mini-exhibits of authentic artifacts from the histories of Disney, Pixar, ABC, and New York, including some from the 1964-1965 World's Fair in Queens, and the cafeteria featuring reproductions of Disney's movie posters upon its walls. Sports memorabilia is housed in the reading room, and appropriate sports photography is highlighted along the walls of ESPN's floor. In the great room, there is a double-height space with louvered skylights and a wall-size screen. The hall forms a bridge between the two 19-story towers. The inspiration for the great room is cited as the Emeryville, California facility for Pixar, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.[2][19]
ABC News oversaw the technical aspects of the new building in consultation with ESPN.[16] ESPN's presence consists of three main studios; Studio 1X and 2Y are used by Get Up and First Take respectively, while Studio Q is used for ESPN Radio and podcasting, and a flex studio was allocated for New York-based contributors to other ESPN studio programs. As with its previous New York location on Pier 17, the studios' facilities are linked to ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, with production conducted remotely.[16]
The 10th floor acts as a communal space, which sits 155 feet above the ground, that also splits between the towers of the upper floors.[19] From April 7–11, 2025, Live with Kelly and Mark broadcast from a temporary set in the space while final testing of its new studio was conducted, with segments throughout the week being used to highlight the new headquarters.[14][20]
The building plans aimed to exceed the NYC energy code by at least 25 percent and to work with the Hudson Square Business Improvement District (BID) to aesthetically complement the surrounding sidewalks.[19]
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See also
References
External links
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