although were in the process of being leased. Among the building's early tenants were credit-rating agency Duff & Phelps, as well as AXA Reinsurance Companies, which was initially the building's largest tenant. The South Street Seaport Museum exhibition opened in October 1990. 17 State Street was 40 percent occupied by 1993. TIAA set up a website to attract tenants in October 1994, displaying videos and photographs of the building; at the time, relatively few office buildings had websites. Within a year, companies from as far away as Geneva and Hong Kong had expressed interest in the building. AXA remained the largest tenant in 1997, when it expanded to four stories. The building was almost fully leased by July 1998, when real estate investor Steve Witkoff agreed to pay TIAA $320 million for 17 State Street, along with ten other office buildings in the United States. By early the following year, average rents at 17 State Street had increased to over , although the average rent per square foot was still lower than those for buildings in Midtown Manhattan. RFR ownership RFR Holding LLC, a partnership led by German investors Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, bought the structure in late 1999 for $120 million. This was one of several properties that RFR had acquired in the span of several months. In purchasing 17 State Street and another building at 757 Third Avenue, Rosen said the structures were "both great buildings in outstanding locations". The New York Unearthed exhibition inside the building became popular among schoolchildren, but it was effectively closed in 2005 after most of the exhibit's staff were fired. During this decade, the building was occupied by numerous technology, financial, and consulting firms. Software companies Fidessa Group and SpeechWorks had become the building's largest tenants by the 2010s, though SpeechWorks ultimately subleased its space after being acquired by another firm. 17 State Street was affected by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, primarily by water damage to electrical equipment in the building's basement. The storm caused several million dollars worth of damage at 17 State Street. The building was closed for repairs for approximately two weeks and was one of the earliest office buildings in the Financial District to be reoccupied after the storm. The building's tenants in the 2010s included software developer AppSense, global stock exchange BATS Global Markets, artificial intelligence company IPsoft, and financial firm MashreqBank. In 2017, the