Extra Grand Central

It rises like a giant tombstone above the skyline of Manhattan's East Side. It has been described as ugly--and undoubtedly it is not beautiful. But it claims to be the world's largest commercial office building.* And last week it opened with scissors snipping away at ribbons and oratory almost as windy as the wintry gusts that swirled around its 59 stories.

The Pan American Building is not as high as the Empire State, nor does it sprawl over as much acreage as the Pentagon, nor is it as monumental as the Roman Baths of Caracalla, after which Penn Station was modeled. But set down where it is, near one of the world's busiest railroad stations, shaped as it is (eight sides), lit with incandescent lighting installed by Broadway Lighting Expert Abe Feder, it is bound to command attention.

Each day it will be inhabited by 17,000 people. Most of them will be whisked into the building by four electric escalators moving directly from Grand Central Terminal itself into the grandiose lobby brooded over by a bust of the founder, the late Erwin S. Wolfson. The fastest of the building's 65 elevators will rocket passengers to the top at the rate of two floors a second.

Few buildings have been built over so many protests. Esthetes argued that it would ruin the view down Park Avenue (it does). Commuters were fearful that it would overtax already swarming Grand Central Station. Argued Yale Professor Vincent Scully: "Except for brute expediency, it shouldn't be there at all." It was suggested that the site be used for a park instead. Wolfson agreed, but added conclusively: ''Who can afford to dedicate a $20 million plot to a park?"

Yet despite all the protests, the Pan Am got built, and by last week 91% of its space had been leased. The tenants were drawn there by the compelling fact that the building was on Manhattan's most convenient site--handy to the trains from Westchester and the Lexington Avenue subway, which would deposit employees right on the corporate doorstep. Among the tenants were U.S. corporations ranging from Aluminum to Vanadium, branch offices of Canadian, British, Italian, Mexican and Japanese companies. And, of course, Pan American World Airways, which has leased one-quarter of the 2,400,000 sq. ft.

Since 1947, about 150 Class A office buildings, with some 50,632,000 sq. ft. of space, have been built on crowded Manhattan Island. Nearly all of them are rented at or near capacity (the overall vacancy rate is 3%). As the U.S.'s Headquarters City, New York seems to find eager customers for every new square foot. Only 30 years ago, the skeptics laughed derisively when John D. Rockefeller Jr. built Rockefeller Center in midtown. But now that real estate, foot for foot, is probably the most valuable in town.

* Chicago's Merchandise Mart is larger, but it is also an exhibition hall as well as an office building.

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