Rising at the southwest corner of Columbus Circle is the Time Warner Center, now called Deutsche Bank, and the Shops at the Columbus Circle. Built for Time Warner Inc., it was designed by David Childs and constructed between 2000 and 2003.
The Scale and Symbolism
Its scale is huge. At a cost of $1.7 billion, the Time Warner Center was, at the time of its completion, the largest and most expensive mixed-use building ever constructed in New York City. The building brings together corporate offices, ultra-luxury condominiums, the five-star Mandarin Oriental New York, high-end retail, CNN studios, and the 1,200-seat home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The sense of scale and power was exacerbated by the unplanned significance of the new twin-towered building in New York so soon after September 2001. Though construction began before 2001, the building’s completion gave it unexpected symbolic weight: the Time Warner Center became the first major project finished in Manhattan after the September 11 attacks.
A homage to the streets of New York
The design of the complex echoes New York’s city grid. The curvature of the base frames Columbus Circle, the angle of the two towers aligns with Broadway, and the space between the towers gives the illusion that 59th Street continues directly through the building. The rectangular patterns on the glass curtain wall overlooking Columbus Circle suggest the Manhattan street grid.
Breaking New York real estate records
From the moment it opened, the Time Warner Center redefined the upper limits of New York real estate. Even before construction was complete, the building began breaking records. In the early 2000s, beauty executive Sandie Tillotson purchased the top floor of the north tower for $30 million, setting a new benchmark for condominium sales at the time. That record was quickly surpassed in 2003, when financier David Martínez paid $54.7 million for a penthouse—then the highest price ever paid for a residential property in New York City. According to Corcoran, a duplex penthouse spanning two floors sold for more than $40 million, offering panoramic views of Central Park, the Hudson River, and the Manhattan skyline. At its peak, apartments in the Time Warner Center exceeded $4,000 per square foot, placing the building among the most expensive residential addresses in the city.
The building itself briefly held the distinction of having the highest-listed market value of any property in New York City—estimated at $1.1 billion in 2006.
Three-Star Dining at Columbus Circle
The Time Warner Center is home to two of New York’s most celebrated—and expensive—restaurants.
Masa, New York’s Most Exclusive Sushi Counter, was the first Japanese restaurant in the U.S. to earn three Michelin stars and held that status for many years. With very limited seating (around 20–30 guests) and highly seasonal, often rare ingredients flown in from Japan, Masa offers an exclusive omakase experience priced at over $750 per person before drinks or tax, placing it at the very top tier of global fine dining.
French Per Se is built around a fixed-price tasting menu that changes daily. There is no à la carte ordering—each course is part of a structured progression, designed to unfold like a narrative. Since opening, it has held three Michelin stars and remains one of the most consistent fine-dining restaurants in the country.
10 Columbus Circle vs One Central Park West
Building’s identity has always been tied to naming—and positioning: One Central Park West sounds so much more prestigious than 10 Columbus Circle.
While its official address is 10 Columbus Circle, the developers used the name “One Central Park” to promote the residential units. However, the address One Central Park West belongs to the Trump International Hotel and Tower across the street, owned by Donald Trump. Upon the completion of the Time Warner Center, Trump mocked the competition by hanging a large sign on his building, gloating, “Your views aren’t so great, are they?”
While it’s true that the Trump Tower is closer to Central Park, the vistas from Time Warner are still quite spectacular.
Name Change and New York Nostalgia
Such as the reality of the constant change in NYC’s landscape—nothing stays the same. Ownership of the Time Warner Center changed when the building was acquired and rebranded as the Deutsche Bank Center. Yet, like so many places in New York, the original name lingers.
The name changed, but even such modern structures as this one entered the realm of New York’s nostalgia, where some people, like myself, still refer to it by its original name, the Time Warner.
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