Constructed in the 1970s, the complex originally was intended to be middle-income apartments before the developers halted construction and left the unfinished structures vacant.

Manhattan Plaza houses the 43rd St Kids Preschool, a non-profit, parent cooperative school for children ages 19 months to 5 years.

More than 1,500 one-act plays have been staged in the West Bank Cafe in the complex. Bruce Willis, Aaron Sorkin and Jerry Seinfeld did their earliest work there.

When AIDS appeared on the scene, Manhattan Plaza had the highest number of cases of any block in the country. A grass-roots volunteer program sprang up.