When Liberty Tower went up for sale in Manhattan’s financial district in 1978, there was only one bidder for the 33-story skyscraper. The building was dated and dilapidated, and even though rent had plunged to $5 a square foot, it was two-thirds vacant. New York City itself had tumbled into a downward spiral after a severe fiscal crisis and a deep recession. “The financial district was failing. Liberty Tower was the first major residential conversion of an office building in New York’s financial district.

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Persons: Joseph Pell Lombardi, ” Mr, Lombardi, Nobody Organizations: Liberty, New, Sinclair Oil, New York Stock Exchange, World Trade Center Locations: New York City, New York, Liberty, New