The building at 55 Broad Street had stood empty for 5 years in the mid-1990s. It was gutted, rewired for high-technology, and renamed the New York Information Technology Center to attract high-tech companies to Silicon Alley, the New York version of Silicon Valley. The first tenant, new media company N2K, signed a "cyberlease" using a digital computer tablet and pen connected to a monitor in a public ceremony.

The lobby, with an interactive 13-foot video wall on one side and a windowed control room on the other, provides a place for the high-tech tenants to showcase their work, and for public lunchtime gatherings highlighting new media innovations.