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WWBC has served over 4500 clients
WWBC passes 4500 clients served thoughout the decades. Some clients have been with us for more than thirty years. -
World-Wide Business Centres opens at 445 Park Ave, NYC
Alan Bain opens WWBC, the first of its kind, at 445 Park Avenue. Locatated in 1500 sq ft, the facility offered 3 offices, a conference room, reception/work area. an IBM typewriter, hand-cranked pencil sharpener, Roneo duplicating machine, telex and rotary phones. WWBC introduces the "Virtual Plan" to the business traveller through its "Identity Plam". The Plan allowed clients to use the address, phone and telex number, a conference room and have access to staff support while travelling. -
WTC was close to completion
Construction begins on March 21,1966 at the WTC site with the demolition of 78 Dey Street. In Oct 1970, the North Tower of the WTC exceeds the height of Empire State Building, making it the tallest building in the world. -
WWBC Services
Services are targeted at the Business Traveller. They are available as needed and paid for as used. These included access to phone and telex communication; office and conference rooms availabble by the hour; manil and delivery receipt; with staff support available charged in quarter hour increments. -
Business Communication of the day
Business Communication was either by mail, a land line telephone call or on a teletype/telex machine -
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WWBC spearheaded other projects
From 1971 to 1985 WWBC spearheaded projects that resulted in the opening of a travel agency, International Travel Bureau, Inc. and business centers in London, Philadelphia, Tokyo, North Miami Beach, Palm Beach, including one right here in Manhattan called The Tribeca Film Center. -
WWBC Opens London Office
WWBC opens a London office in response to British Overseas Airways Corporatioon's decision to promote WWBC to its Business Travelers. -
WWBC Moves to 575 Madison Avenue
WWBC had a portion of the 10th Floor with 28 offices and two conference rooms and a staff of six. -
Switchboard
Calls were answered using a plug board switchboard and all messages were written by hand -
NYC Celebrates the Bicentennial
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WWBC continue to grow
As sections of the 10th Floor became available, WWBC added to its inventory more than 50 new offices, affectively tripling its size by the end of 1976 -
NY Times Article
WWBC is featured in a NY Times piece. -
NYC Blackout
First time WWBC is closed -
WWBC Installs Wang WP System
WWBC installs a "State-of-the-Art" Wang Word Processing System. At the time, the Word Processing department, one of our more profitable services, with a full time staff both during the day and evening, helped many clients with business proposals, merge letters and envelopes, resumes, and legal documents. -
NYC Transit Strike
On April 1, 1980, New York City experienced a Transit Strike. Many of our employees carpooled to work and many of the newspapers were filled with stories and pictures of thousands crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, with cheerleader Mayor Koch at the Manhattan end shouting "how'm I doin?". The strike was resolved on April 11 -
Micheal Bloomberg rents an office at WWBC
"I started with one office at a reasonable price while maintaning the ability to be flexible...By the time I left World-Wide, I occupied over twenty offices. After I moved into my own space, the risks seemed to grow. I had to make long-term commitments which I previously didn't have to do at WWBC." Micheal Blloomberg went on to build a very successful business as well as becoming Mayor of New York City for three (3) consecutive terms, a feat no other mayor has ever done. -
WWBC Expands to 9th Floor
In 1982 WWBC took on a major renovation project , remodeling its entrance and reception area on the 10th Floor, added most of the 9th floor, the former headquarters of Marvel Comics, installing an internal staircase for easy acces to the 9th floor, 6 more conference rooms; as well as furniture upgrades. -
WWBC purchases Apple II's
WWBC Finance Department installs an Apple II Plus and an Apple IIe, to meet the heavy demands of the department. Using VisiCalc, a sheadsheat program, WWBC was able to produce financial documents to track the profitability of each sevice center. -
WWBC New Phone System
WWBC is the first business center in the country to install its own PBX, The Nortel SL1. To achieve the transition from NY Telephone's switchboard system, WWBC pioneered the development of a computerized telephone answering system that revealed the recipient's name and details and allowed operators to type messages into a data base for easy retrival. This system also captured and priced all outgoing call by client extension. -
WWBC Celebrates its 15th Anniversary
World-Wide celebrates its 15th Anniversary, with friends and family, cruising around Manhattan aboard the World Yatch. -
WWBC Expands Again
In mid 1985, WWBC increases its size by approximately 15%....it now had 41,000 sq feet with 164 offices and 10 conferences rooms -
WWBC Celebrates 20th Anniversary
WWBC Staff -
WWBC replaces Wang WP System
The Wang Word Processing System is replaced with PC's using WordPerfect software, increasing both efficiency and productivity. -
WWBC's 25th Anniversary
A 25th Anniversary Party was held at the Universaity Club celebrating with our Staff, Clients and Friends who helped us through the years. -
NYC Blizzard
NYC experiences it's worst blizzard in 48 years with a record of 20.20 inches of snow. This is the second time WWBC is closed in its 26 years of business. -
AOL
AOL dial up is all the rage at 56K. "You Got Mail" -
WWBC Installs High Speed Internet"
A "High Speed Internet" 3 mg pipe is installed giving clients access to the internet. Quiz Communications provided two bonded T-1 lines. The fastest dial-up modem, at that time, was 56K. -
WWBC Celebrates it's 30th Anniversary
The staff celebrated this occasion with an exciting basketball game and dinner at Chelsea Piers. As a "Thank You" to our clients, WWBC hosts a biweekly complementary breakfast which continues to this day. -
September 11, 2001
New York City, and the World, are forever changed. WWBC provides instant, temporary space for many displaced by the tragedy. -
WWBC Expands to the 8th Floor
WWBC adds the 8th Floor, bringing the total offices and meeting rooms to 220 across three floors. Mr. Alan Bain, President of World-Wide Business Centres, Mr. Michael Steinberg, Managing Partner of Steinberg & Pokoik, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg (former client of World-Wide) cut the ribbon for the opening of the 8th Floor. -
The CONFERENCE CENTER At WWBC Opens
The new Conference Center at World-Wide Business Centres is opened to meet a growing need for a quality midtown Manhattan location that is fully equiped and available during the week and on weekends for Business Meetings, Seminars, Training Events, Receptions and the like.
The size and versality of its largest room is unique in the industry. -
NYC Blackout
NYC experiences another blackout.
With flashlights in hand, WWBC employees helped clients and staff exit darken stairwells. -
WWBC Rennovates both the 9th and 10th Floors
After many months of planning and implementing the renovations on both the 9th and 10th floors are completed. This project included updating the reception areas as well as all common areas. -
WWBC 's 35th Anniversary
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Transit Strike
The 2005 transit strike, which took place during the busiest shopping week of the year, lasted only 2 days, but had significantly affected the local economy since many people had then chosen to avoid shopping in New York by either shopping online, or by postponing purchases. -
WWBC remains open during the NYC Blizzard
The city is frozen when a blizzard hits dumping 26.9 inches on NYC. -
WWBC Installs 100 Mb pipe
A 100 Mb pipe is installed to meet the high demand for internet access, increasing our bandwith 33X. -
WWBC installs a New Phone Answering and Conference Booking System
A new windows based phone answering and conference room booking system is installed which allowed us to offer a more personalized service and enabled us to assign conference rooms more effeciiently. -
40th Anniversary of WWBC
WWBC hosted a 40th Anniversary Party to celebrate yet another milestone. Alumni staff and clients, along with our current employees and clients enjoyed catching-up and reminiscing with one another. -
Hurricane Sandy hits NYC
WWBC was closed for three days during Hurricane Sandy. Several of our staff member were serverly affected. -
WWBC renovations all 3 Floors
To add a fresh new look to WWBC...we painted all coridor ceilings on the 9th and 10th floors and all elevator lobby areas., new carpeting and flooring was installed in all common areas, corridors and elevator lobbies. -
World's Tallest Residential Buillding
Right Next door to WWBC, the tallest residential tower in New York—432 Park Avenue— stands at an astounding 1,396 ft. The building was officially topped out on October 10, 2014, making it the highest rooftop in the city.
The building required the demolition of the 495-room Drake Hotel, which was built in 1926. In 2006, the hotel was sold for $440 million to developer Harry Macklowe, and the hotel was demolished the year afterward. -
WWBC Celebrates 45 Years of Service
