NEW YORK | 425 Park Ave | 860 FT | 42 FLOORS - Page 25

NYguy · #**481** Posted **Mar 2, 2018, 8:40 PM**

A neighbor gets ready for an upgrade...

https://archpaper.com/2018/03/405-pa...ks-air-rights/

405 Park Avenue buys St. Patrick’s air rights for a glassy upgrade

By JONATHAN HILBURG
March 1, 2018

Quote:

Only two days after AN reported that the owners of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in East Midtown, Manhattan, were planning on selling a portion of the venerable church’s air rights to an undisclosed buyer, Crain’s New York has reported that the transfer will go towards enlarging 405 Park Avenue. The 17-story, currently unassuming brick-and-glass office tower will grow another four stories and have its facade replaced with an all-glass curtainwall courtesy of global architecture firm Gensler.

jsbrook · #**482** Posted **Mar 3, 2018, 3:03 PM**

Just 4 stories. Is that the biggest addition these air rights could provide? While the 1950s renovation left this downgraded and with an unremarkable facade, it seems kind of a waste to do this for mostly a facade renovation and not that much additional space.

Submariner · #**483** Posted **Mar 3, 2018, 5:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Just 4 stories. Is that the biggest addition these air rights could provide? While the 1950s renovation left this downgraded and with an unremarkable facade, it seems kind of a waste to do this for mostly a facade renovation and not that much additional space.

Useable square footage diminishes with height, mostly because the core has to become larger to accomodate extra elevators, stairs, HVAC, etc. Four stories may be the sweet spot in terms of extra floor space / cost.

The latest round of building re-skins is mostly beneficial to our eyes and the streetscape. L&L added only eight stories to 390 Madison, but compare the renderings to the original building and you'll find something far brighter and airier than before, not to mention, the quality of the facade is a substantial upgrade from the 50's cladding it had.

Hopefully We get a 390 Madison / 425 Park-quality facade out of this...

jsbrook · #**484** Posted **Mar 3, 2018, 5:58 PM**

But that's double the additional floors, 390 Madison is 30+ floors and was in great need of modernization, which was accomplished by -- among other things -- doubling ceiling heights on lower floors. Seems like they are getting more bang for their buck in that project. Still, if someone felt this renovation was worth it, who am I to argue?...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Submariner

Useable square footage diminishes with height, mostly because the core has to become larger to accomodate extra elevators, stairs, HVAC, etc. Four stories may be the sweet spot in terms of extra floor space / cost.

The latest round of building re-skins is mostly beneficial to our eyes and the streetscape. L&L added only eight stories to 390 Madison, but compare the renderings to the original building and you'll find something far brighter and airier than before, not to mention, the quality of the facade is a substantial upgrade from the 50's cladding it had.

Hopefully We get a 390 Madison / 425 Park-quality facade out of this...

NYguy · #**485** Posted **Mar 4, 2018, 4:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Submariner

Useable square footage diminishes with height, mostly because the core has to become larger to accomodate extra elevators, stairs, HVAC, etc. Four stories may be the sweet spot in terms of extra floor space / cost.

The latest round of building re-skins is mostly beneficial to our eyes and the streetscape. L&L added only eight stories to 390 Madison, but compare the renderings to the original building and you'll find something far brighter and airier than before, not to mention, the quality of the facade is a substantial upgrade from the 50's cladding it had.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbrook

But that's double the additional floors, 390 Madison is 30+ floors and was in great need of modernization, which was accomplished by -- among other things -- doubling ceiling heights on lower floors. Seems like they are getting more bang for their buck in that project. Still, if someone felt this renovation was worth it, who am I to argue?...

Sometimes these boutique office buildings get higher rents. I'm just guessing, but it's also possible they will get more with that 4 floor addition (especially if they're double height floors) than they are currently getting in the entire building. Also keep in mind that it's a small site, they may be adding as much as possible under the rezoning. That's one of the reasons the rezoning doesn't mean large buildings will go up everywhere, you have to have a large enough site to accommodate enough additional square footage to create one.

NYguy · #**486** Posted **Apr 3, 2018, 1:56 PM**

https://nypost.com/2018/04/02/425-pa...glass-stunner/

425 Park Avenue finally nears transformation into steel-and-glass stunner

By Steve Cuozzo
April 2, 2018

Quote:

The new 425 Park Avenue is finally turning from a nearly two-decade-old dream into a steel-and-glass reality.

...Look up: There’s truly a new building coming into focus. When completed late next year, it will make an arresting sight on the Park Avenue corridor mostly lined with obsolescent, office towers that are 50 to 80 years old. The new tower is at the cutting edge of efforts to help the district north of Grand Central Terminal reclaim its former glory and arrest the exodus of tenants to the Far West Side and Downtown.

Levinson said, “Finally we have a new building. What we needed to save is subsumed by the new structure.”

Quote:

The first full-block new tower on Park Avenue in more than 50 years, 425 Park will be nearly 900 feet tall, twice as lofty as its predecessor but narrower, when it’s completed at the end of next year. Its striking design by Foster + Partners sports two slanted-glass setbacks.

Quote:

Why didn’t L&L wait for East Midtown rezoning, which would have let them demolish the old building entirely? There were no guarantees it would ever happen and “we couldn’t wait any longer,” Levinson said.

Quote:

Hedge fund Citadel has leased 200,000 square feet, of which a relatively small penthouse portion reportedly rented for a record $300-plus per square foot. The restaurant team behind Eleven Madison Park took 14,000 square feet on the first two floors for a sprawling eatery.

chris08876 · #**487** Posted **Apr 10, 2018, 9:38 PM**

From a construction cam.

Prezrezc · #**488** Posted **Apr 10, 2018, 10:10 PM**

Holy crow....She looks to be 1/3 to rooftop.

823' is a breeze it seems.......Actually, that figure (I'm certain) includes the base of the older tower, so it's actually less...?

And again, I also am assuming the total height includes the vertical fins...

...?

tdawg · #**489** Posted **Apr 11, 2018, 1:28 PM**

I'd almost forgotten about this one but am really excited to see it once those art deco fins go up.

NYguy · #**490** Posted **Apr 17, 2018, 9:13 PM**

https://ny.curbed.com/2018/4/17/1724...ruction-update

Norman Foster’s Park Avenue office tower is now halfway to its pinnacle
Construction on the soon-to-be 47-story building has now reached the 27th floor

By Ameena Walker
Apr 17, 2018

Alan Schindler

Fvn · #**491** Posted **Apr 17, 2018, 11:43 PM**

From the webcam today--

artspook · #**492** Posted **Apr 19, 2018, 8:44 AM**

takes a long time to sew brand new steel beams
onto the former tower's steel skeleton remnant . .
Its exasperating when needles & threads, keep bending & breaking . .
They've been picking up the pace recently though . .
trying out some new gorilla glue with duck tape . .

ILNY · #**493** Posted **Apr 23, 2018, 1:34 AM**

425 Park Avenue by NyConstructionPhoto, on Flickr

TechTalkGuy · #**494** Posted **May 3, 2018, 1:18 AM**

Lord Foster must be proud.

Prezrezc · #**495** Posted **May 3, 2018, 11:44 AM**

This beauty had been so under the radar for so long.

If it weren't for the sheer volume of everything else gong vertical, I would've called whatever lack of attention it might've otherwise suffered undeserved.

TechTalkGuy · #**496** Posted **May 3, 2018, 2:24 PM**

I hope this tower may be visible on the East River skyline.
Just like the Hearst Tower (also by Norman Foster), short yet striking; barely visible on the skyline.

Prezrezc · #**497** Posted **May 3, 2018, 5:27 PM**

If you look from the ESB ob deck to the northeast, it should be located roughly equidistant between 432 Park and Citigroup Center (601 Lex).

Perhaps you can extrapolate from that better than I.

I'd post a pic; but I'm afraid I'll screw up at least one aspect of the proper conventions of doing so.

chris08876 · #**498** Posted **May 9, 2018, 11:51 PM**

From the South should be a good perspective once the crown is finished. Yeah its kinda I guess a good feeling when 900 ft is barely visible from some angles if not completely blocked off. Kinda like viewing the skyline from a far in NJ. Doesn't look like Midtown is big, but as you get closer, its a holy shit moment.

Probably one of my favorite views is from the GWB upper level, but the Whitestone Bridge also offers a full skyline panorama, especially on a non-hazy, perfect visibility day.

TechTalkGuy · #**499** Posted **May 10, 2018, 1:03 AM**

Makes me glad to have EZ-Pass.

chris08876 · #**500** Posted **May 10, 2018, 1:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechTalkGuy

Makes me glad to have EZ-Pass.

Even better when the company pays for it.

Although the thing with driving around a lot in this city is that you notice its faults. One of them being the traffic as the result of poor road design (merges especially that are way to short), and never-ending construction. I swear the Belt Parkway has been u/c since the dawn of man. Whitestone Bridge's work has caused a headache. The Grand Central Parkway has these asinine and real sudden merges coming on from certain ramps to where the road splits in two directions, and unless you swerve like a maniac, you'll probally miss the left lane that splits, causing a 15 minute delay as it tracks you off your route. This is where prior experience helps, but for newcomers, I feel bad for them. Also, they really should hurry the hell up and go all EZ-pass on the GWB. Those damn toll booths are enablers of traffic, and the sudden merging after the toll booth.

I wish they would get rid of the no-turning on red rule for some areas. I know it might just be a NJ thing to want to turn right on red, but it adds so much time, especially when there are no cars or pedestrians coming.

But anyways, I'm ranting and off-topic.