AOL Time Warner’s Future Home Is Damaged by Fire

The AOL Time Warner Center, which is to house AOL Time Warner Inc.’s headquarters when construction is complete, was damaged early Tuesday morning by a fire that spread to four floors, New York City fire officials said.

The four-alarm blaze was brought under control at 2:35 a.m. EDT, about two hours after the first report of flames at the 54-story building on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, fire department spokeswoman Amanda Schmidt said.

Officials said the cause was under investigation. An elevator mechanic suffered minor injuries and 13 firefighters suffered smoke inhalation.

The fire began on the northeast corner of the sixth floor, the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, said Mary Costello, spokeswoman for Bovis Lend Lease Holdings Inc., the project’s contractor.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is one of 12 organizations affiliated with New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and will be the cultural centerpiece of the building.

The $1.7-billion, 2.1 million-square-foot complex, featuring twin towers that will soar 80 stories above street level, is located at the southwest corner of Central Park.

The flames spread to parts of the fourth, fifth and seventh floors, Schmidt said. There were no details on the extent of the damage to the structure.

The AOL Time Warner Center was scheduled for completion this year. The development is the largest U.S. commercial real estate project.

AOL Time Warner officials have said the world’s largest media company planned to take title to its 879,000-square-foot section of the complex in June.

The company will have its corporate headquarters there, and its CNN cable news channel plans to have a studio.

The center also will have condominiums, a hotel, restaurants, and additional office space and retail outlets.