When the lease of its longtime headquarter at 201 East 50th Street was ending, Random House decided to expand its headquarters and move to a newly built tower. They originally planned in 1998 to build a tower at 45th and Broadway across from its parent company Bertelsmann's headquarters at 1540 Broadway with a neon-lighted skyway across 45th Street connecting them, but after long negotiations the owner of the property withdrew from the plans. Looking for an alternative, the company spoke with various developers, who were already planning apartment buildings, and in 1999 decided for the project of Stephen M. Ross at Broadway and 55th Street, which was already under construction. Following that they assigned architects to develop a new design. Separate architects designed each of the sections. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the office portion, which has a steel frame. Ismael Leyva Architects and Adam D. Tihany designed the residential portion, which has a concrete frame. The two sections do not entirely line up, and trusses were built on the 26th and 27th floor to transfer the load. The apartments have three-meter ceilings, and there are five penthouses of up to in size. Although the apartments start above the 27th floor of the office portion, the residential floors are numbered 48-70 for marketing purposes. Among the first tenants were P. Diddy and New York Yankees pitcher Randy Johnson. The complex is on a trapezoidal block between 55th Street and 56th Street and follows the angle of Broadway. It has jagged setbacks, similar in shape to the towers of Rockefeller Center, to improve the views of Central Park. Critics have noted that its three main towers give it the impression of being three books. While the building has functioned as Random House's headquarter ever since, the 2013 newly formed Penguin Random House parent company initially worked from Soho at 345 and 375 Hudson Street until in 2016, two years before the lease of the Random House Tower would end, the company extended the contract till 2033 and also moved to the tower of its subsidiary. There Penguin Random House occupies and employs 2,400 people, while the rest of the tower houses 130 apartments, as well as of retail space.
