Post by Doc on Apr 23, 2006 2:01:13 GMT -5
www.brillbuilding.com/history4.html
In 1966, the Inch Corp., reportedly owned by the Queen of England, bought the land on which The Brill is located and became the building's new landlord. In 1973, at lease renewal time, the Brill family walked away from the building because they couldn't afford the terms of the new lease. This was the beginning of the end for the music industry in the building. When The Inch Corp. took over it quickly canceled all the current leases in order to negotiate new ones. Stupid move. The City was about to go bankrupt, there was a glut of first class office space on the market, Times Square was a toilet and the Inch Corp wanted to play hard ball with music publishers? Things got so bad in the building that The Times noted in 1976 that it was two-thirds vacant and had recently had a shooting. In 1979, Aaron Diamond and George E. Transom, Jr., bought the property and began rehabilitating it after years of deferred maintenance. In 1998, Allen V. Rose, brought Diamond's interest in the property.
The Brill Building is Tin Pan Alley's most favorite relic, and the place where more American and world wide hit songs were written.
And so the Queen purchased it in 1966.
