Vornado Realty Trust

May 25, 2022

Bennett Raglin/AP Images for Empire BlueCross BlueShield Empire BlueCross BlueShield opened a new headquarters in Midtown on Tuesday, renting 70,000 square feet from Vornado Realty Trust in the remodeled building at 1 Pennsylvania Plaza for $90 per square foot. The insurance company was previously housed in a temporary space at 14 Wall St. in the Financial District. The company declined to give the square footage of its former headquarters. “We are building a very amazing space,” Alan Murray, the company’s president and CEO , said. “We came from a fairly traditional office environment and are now moving into a hybrid office environment. The idea is to be collaborative and culturally more inviting.”  Related Articles The company wants to show its commitment and support to revitalizing the city following the pandemic, the CEO explained. To mark the occasion, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, in partnership with its philanthropic arm the BlueCross BlueShield Foundation, will announce a grant to Breaking Ground, a program that is the city’s largest provider of street outreach and permanent supportive housing for people experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness. Penn 1 hosts a number of amenities to entice workers to return to in-person meetings. The flexible work spaces will give meetings the space they need instead of forcing them into a predetermined space, Murray said. Murray says the timing is right to create a flexible, collaborative work space where workers feel comfortable. He emphasized the need to have a space that focuses on the workers’ well-being. “Employees are the absolute center of everything a company does,” Murray added. Empire BlueCross BlueShield is the largest health insurer in the state, supporting more than 4 million members and more than 38,000 businesses, unions and small employers.