The building site originally held the United States Assay Office, the last public gold refinery in the United States. It also melted damaged coins and incinerated damaged paper money. In 1983, the United States Mint put the property up for auction. Beginning at US$3 million, the winning bid was made by New York developer Howard Ronson's HRO International Ltd., at $27 million. The sale established it as the most valuable government estate sold at public auction. The Assay office building was demolished in 1986. In 1987, HRO built the 36-floor building that stands today, naming the 23-43 Old Slip property One Financial Square. The Paramount Group purchased the property for $135 million in 1995, financing the purchase with a $96 million loan from now-defunct Japanese bank Sanwa. Paramount signed American International Group to a 10-year, lease in 2006, which was one of the largest leases in Manhattan that year. AIG occupied seven floors of the building next door to their headquarters at 180 Maiden Lane. In August 2007, Paramount sold the building to Beacon Capital Partners for $751 million, which is one of the largest sales on record of an office building in Lower Manhattan. Beacon financed the acquisition with a $350 million loan from MetLife. Like many buildings in Lower Manhattan, 32 Old Slip was battered with storm waters during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In contrast to most in the region, the building was designed to resist a powerful earthquake, which in part made the structure less prone to flooding. Within a year the building's market value declined by 21.6%. In 2013 a renovation effort began to add improved flood barriers, pumps and piping systems to better ward against future storms. In January 2013, construction firm Hunter Roberts left Brookfield Place for the building, signing a lease for the tenth floor. Later the same month, the United States Census Bureau leased in the building, covering the 8th and 9th floors. RXR Realty agreed to purchase the building from Beacon Capital Partners in December 2014 for $675 million, over $75 million less than the building was purchased for in 2007. RXR financed the purchase with a $325 million loan from GE Capital. Shortly after RXR's purchase, health care advertising firm Cement Bloc signed a lease for the 15th and 16th floors of the building. The American Arbitration Association subleased on the 33rd and 36th floors in September 2017 from insurance company Axa XL. In October 2018, law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel signed a lease to move their headquarters from nearby 80 Pine Street. Under the terms of the lease, the law firm will occupy AIG's old space on floors 17 to 22 for 20 years starting in 2020. The same month, commercial insurance brokerage Alliant Insurance Services signed a lease and creative agency Decoded Advertising signed for a space in the building. The building's construction was documented in a film by Gary Pollard.
Architecture
The building is considered to be postmodern. Four sides of granite and silver-tinted glass make up the base, which give way to stepped transitions, eventually resulting in an octagonal, entirely glass curtain wall. The floor sizes range from 23,404 to 38,750 rentable square feet, totaling 1,161,435 rentable square feet. It consists of columnless interior on each floor and a lobby. There are 26 elevators in service and a parking garage beneath the structure. The ground level side and rear of the building feature a privately owned arcade and urban plaza.
