When it comes to the Time Warner Center, the general reaction of New Yorkers is mixed. While some have dismissed this as yet another ambitious skyscraper standing among the hundreds (or is it thousands?) here, others go to the extent of calling it the new Rockefeller Center of New York. Ada Louise Huxtable of the Wall Street Journal says that the Time Warner Center is “exactly what a New York skyscraper should be–a soaring, shining, glamorous affirmation of the city’s reach and power, and its best real architecture in a long time…the wonder is the delicacy, the elegance, of these perfectly calibrated, glittering glass facades, the suave, sharp-edged precision that is amazingly subtle and refined for a structure of this enormous size.”

Well, one thing’s for sure, it’s hard to miss this “huge, mixed-use, twin-towered, reflective-glass-clad” building that is a relatively new addition to the city of the towering buildings. The project was completed in 2004 and the Time Warner Center came up in place of the former New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle. Undeniably, this was a huge scale project and close to $2 billion was invested in it, in order to give the citizens of New York a new address in upscale shopping, a 5-star hotel, television studios, commercial workplaces, a jazz concert hall, and 225 condominium apartments.

The most notable feature of the Time Warner Center is its curved base that faces the Columbus Circle. It houses the four-story retail mall & “luxury” restaurants. Furthermore, from the retail lobby and the jazz facility, you get spectacular views of the Columbus Circle and Central Park South through the huge windows. The southeast corner of this base has a beautiful light sculpture that usually draws attention and comments from the people passing by.

Having said that the Time Warner Center is a great shopping and eating out destination, let’s look at what this place has to offer to its visitors. Beginning with shopping, there are more than 40 luxury and specialty retailers here that turn this place into a hot attraction for shopaholics. Some of the major retailers are Hugo Boss; A|X Armani Exchange; Joseph Abboud; Cole Haan; Sephora; J. Crew; Coach; Thomas Pink; Eileen Fisher; Stuart Weitzman; and Tourneau. The basement of the mall has the Whole Foods Market that is spread over 60,000 square feet. It offers shoppers an incredible variety of prepared and fresh baked foods, reminding one of the great London food halls like Harrods and Harvey Nichols.

Moving to the eating out options, two of New York’s best restaurants (and the most expensive ones too) can be found here – Chef Thomas Keller’s Per Se and Masa Takayama’s sushi restaurant and Sake bar, Masa. If these are too jam packed, you are still spoilt for choices and you can choose from among Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Rare; Gray Kunz’s CafÅ Gray; Rande Gerber’s bar/lounge, Stone Rose, and Charlie Trotter’s seafood brasserie.

World class shopping and international levels of dining – seems like Time Warner Center has got the best names under one roof!

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