On September 25, the New York City Council unanimously approved the construction of 350 Park Avenue, a nearly 1,600-foot supertall office skyscraper in Midtown East, Manhattan. Designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Vornado Realty Trust, Rudin, and Ken Griffin, the massive 62-story structure will yield 1.8 million square feet of Class A office space with a capacity of 6,000 employees. Griffin’s companies Citadel and Citadel Securities will serve as the anchor tenants, occupying at least 850,000 square feet. The 53,000-square-foot property is located between East 51st and 52nd Streets.
The recent news comes after the completion of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which kicked off back in mid-March during our last update, with the final City Council vote of 48 to zero. Demolition is now expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026 on three structures that currently occupy the site. These include a 30-story office tower at 350 Park Avenue, a 23-story office building at 40 East 52nd Street, and a five-story office building at 39 East 51st Street.
The following photo shows the current occupant of 350 Park Avenue with its midcentury architectural exterior. Norman Foster’s recently opened 270 Park Avenue towers only a few streets to the south.
350 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
350 Park Avenue’s construction will utilize $150 million of air rights purchased from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Saint Bart’s Church, and will contribute more than $35 million to the city’s East Midtown Public Realm Improvement Fund. The project will include a 12,500-square-foot outdoor public plaza designed by Field Operations stretching the full length of the property, as well as 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a cafe along East 51st Street, and a restaurant on the opposite side of the base along East 52nd Street. Plans also call for the widening of the sidewalks on both East 51st and East 52nd Street by an extra 5 feet.
The below exterior renderings depict one of the upper setbacks of the supertall office skyscraper, focusing on a landscaped terrace with glass railings providing tenants with panoramic views over Midtown, Manhattan.
Rendering courtesy of Foster + Partners.
The below street-level perspective shows the widened sidewalks, landscaped public plaza with outdoor seating and raised garden beds, and the 40-foot-tall lobby. The first story features a glass envelope with rounded corners matching tower floors above.
Rendering courtesy of Foster + Partners.
Citadel would temporarily occupy 504,000 square feet across 20 floors at Brookfield Properties’ 39-story 660 Fifth Avenue, while 350 Park Avenue gets demolished and rebuilt into its newer and taller form.
350 Park Avenue is expected to cost $4.5 billion and is anticipated to be completed by 2032.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Those glass panels in the lobby are immense. The present structure on the site will be no great loss.
One of the few remaining Emery Roth and Sons buildings. It was built as the corporate headquarters for Manufacture Hanover
Interesting that two former MHT headquarters (270 and 350 Park) are being replaced with supertalls.
This looks like a beautiful addition to the skyline.
Amazing!
Foster’s designs are beginning to feel repetitive and monotonous think its time to give the other firms a go. Also 39 east 51st is a beautiful building too bad that couldn’t be kept.
Eduardo, if you’re comparing 270 Park with this rendering of 350 Park, I find them quite different..270 is a dark, brooding fortress of a building, ( to give its banking clients a sense of security? ) whereas 350 has a much lighter, almost Miami Beach vibe to it. And yes, both buildings use ‘setbacks’, but so do probably half the towers in the city, Foster & Co. didn’t invent them.
Yeah. Why not keep #39 where it is and just add the square footage to the top? Why does every piece of history have to be erased from a block?
Yes, that’s the one bright spot on that block.
25 foot ceilings?
Good point. When are people and the city going to stop approving gigantically tall skyscrapers with only a more stories than the buildings they replace – just 4 more in this case: 62 vs. 58 in the combined floors of the 3 buildings being replaced.
No one will ever occupy most of those 25 foot high floors, yet they have to be heated and cooled. How is this energy efficient? These caverns make people feel small. Is that the intent?
Why is it that we complain when we have ordinary exteriors on buildings that we have to look at? Why don’t we complain about the cost of doing these extra extravagant exteriors? We don’t and we shouldn’t. So why do we complain about having these beautiful interiors with 25 foot ceilings?
I guess it comes down to whether you’re looking in or looking out
25-foot average slab to slab heights. That includes structure, mechanical plenums, double height lobby, mechanical floors, and likely a couple double height trading floors.
Ceiling heights will be higher than normal, but likely still in the 12-15-foot range for average office floors.
I thought we had a large vacancy rate in office space. If companies move from other buildings into this Class A building, there will more vacancies elsewhere. Maybe turn those into housing?
New York City actually has very low office vacancy rates, lowest large city in the U.S.
Joe is correct.
That’s the plan, see City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. Enables more office to residential conversions.
I guess Ken Griffins (male body part) is bigger than Jaime Diamond.
That’s funny and how these type of guys think
Lmao yes. They’re having a pissing contest apparently
By old bldg stds, that’s 160 stories. A mere 4 blocks from blocks from the north end of LIRR ESA…having worked on that project for over 30 years and involved with the Midtown East Rezoning, transportation services are all coming together as the City modernizes its building stock as it needs to do.
200 Amsterdam on roids.
I’m all for new development but I do love those mid-century glass and steel office buildings along Park Avenue.
Just as long as Lever House stays forever.
AGREED!
So very tall, so few floors. Corporations have our money to burn while most people scrape by paycheck to paycheck. The problem with Foster’s 2 new supertalls is that they only look good from certain directions, despite being seen from all directions. Facing east or west will produce 2 huge rectangle slabs on our skyline. Let’s hope this new building won’t be covered in LEDs also.
It looks like it’s time to start listing mid-century buildings as protected history.
“Our money?” I have some good news for you, the US is still a capitalist nation where we still have private property rights. Now if you’re saying you own stock in Citadel, then you need to complain to the board.
By investing in this building, they are putting their money back into the economy, which will generate thousands of high paying jobs. Those who get employed by the project will then put their earnings back into the economy too, which is why capitalism works so well.
looks great. lots of great jobs (instead of in Miami) construction jobs, existing building is not architecturally significant (to be kind). skyline addition will be a huge plus.
build it !
I fear the west facing exterior will be a blank eyesore. Whenever the 360 view is not presented, I feel they are hiding something.
My thoughts exactly…lol let’s see that western side!
I presume they purchased light and air easement from West Side neighbor ?
lot line windows here? no bueno
This design is a simpler version of two SOM buildings currently going up in Chicago. The SOM buildings have nicer detailing.
This is beautiful in the rendering! 1,600ft is going to be massive. I’ll reserve full judgment until it’s finished
I like tower verre in the rendering It’s neat to see these new towers dwarf the other buildings. I still like One Vanderbilt, 270 Park is interesting but seriously massive and boxy. This new addition is softer and lighter which is nice.
If the West side of the building is blank, that is HORRENDOUS
New tallest to roof?
My old employer (Beth Steel Corp)was in the next building to the north.(The Seagram Bldg) I. M. Pei design. I hope it will not be overwhelmed
The Seagram Building was designed by Mies van der Rohe.
Why stop at 1600 feet? Why not soar past the 1776 foot height of the Freedom Tower? This, since our basic freedoms are already being eroded in so many ways and in so many aspects of government, institutions, business. law, the independent judiciary and society in general. Soon the Freedom Tower’s symbolic name & height “limit: will lose it’s meaning with our “no holds bared” power-hungry president celebrating his coup next year with a UFC fight on the White House lawn. Buildings get highe while America descends…..
Foster Foster Foster, i like Foster, but Steven Holl? Diller Scofidio, Studio gang? Oma, ole schereen, rex, kengo kuma….all by FOSTER’???? why?