is unknown whether anyone submitted a bid to purchase the building, but Allied Chemical ultimately failed to sell it. Parker renovations Alex M. Parker took a long-term lease for the entire building in October 1973, with an option to purchase the structure. Parker then renamed the building Expo America. He planned to convert 17 of the building's stories into an exhibition hall while also continuing to operate the Act I restaurant. Shortly after buying the building, Parker said: "It is my hope that the activity and excitement generated by Expo America will flow outward through the surrounding area, encouraging others to join in the effort to once again make Times Square a great area." In early 1974, Parker announced that the building's zipper would display only advertising and good news because "I've had it with bad news". According to Parker, it cost him $100,000 a year to operate the zipper. Reuters provided the headlines for the zipper. Parker exercised his option to buy the building in 1975 at a cost of $6.25 million. He then hired the architectural firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects to redesign the tower with a glass facade and sloping roof. Under Parker's plan, four stories would be added to the tower, and the facade would be replaced with panels of one-way glass. Parker also planned to host a competition to select a new name for the building. This plan was never carried out. Instead, Parker and mayor Abraham Beame officially reopened One Times Square as an exhibition center on March 2, 1976. Spectacolor Inc. installed a new zipper on the building's facade later that year. The zipper only operated for a short time before being deactivated entirely in 1977. Times Square redevelopment Early plans The City at 42nd Street Inc. proposed demolishing One Times Square in 1979 as part of a plan to redevelop a section of West 42nd Street near Times Square. Parker, who had not been consulted about the proposal, expressed his opposition by calling it "obscene". Another plan for the site, announced in 1981, called for renovating One Times Square into a "potential civic sculpture" with a brightly lit facade. In a plan presented to the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in June 1981, architectural firm Cooper Eckstut proposed doubling the height of One Times Square's northern section. Parker had sold the building to the Swiss investment group Kemekod in February