Tall & Urban News

Rochester’s Former Rotating Rooftop Restaurant Gets New High-Tech Tenant

The penthouse was built specifically for New York state’s first revolving restaurant.
The penthouse was built specifically for New York state’s first revolving restaurant.
23 September 2019 | Rochester, United States

On September 19th, Panasonic, a Japanese electronics company, announced that it has opened an office in First Federal Plaza‘s flying saucer-shaped penthouse, which offers panoramic views of downtown Rochester.

The company’s move comes months after it acquired Rochester-based Omni-ID’s Industrial Internet of Things Solutions Group, explained Tracy Gay, Panasonic’s marketing director.

Featured Buildings

She said about 40 workers —engineers, sales, and marketing people—began working in the penthouse, located on the building’s 21st floor, on September 5th. Panasonic is currently retrofitting an area on the first floor of the iconic skyscraper to use as a demonstration laboratory, she said.

The penthouse was built specifically for The Changing Scene, New York state’s first revolving restaurant, which was in business from 1977 to 1988. The restaurant’s appeal was that its windows, ledges and central core remained stationary while the dining section —a 10-foot (3-meter) -wide ring around the core— rotated slowly, offering ever-changing views.

Following the closure of the restaurant, the space was home to a series of businesses, which altered the layout by adding walls to create offices. Panasonic made changes before it moved in to make the penthouse more open again, Gay said. During periods of vacancy, it was used for other purposes. In July 2017, it hosted a concert by Joywave, and in September 2018 it served as a Rochester Fringe Festival venue.

It also inspired the work of artist Ron Brancato, who, in late 2018, created a poster portraying the penthouse as a real flying saucer lifting off for daily flights to the planet Mars.

For more on this story go to the Democrat & Chronicle.