While most of YIMBY’s recent supertall coverage has focused on the 57th Street corridor projects like 220 Central Park South (nearly supertall) and 217 West 57th Street (Central Park Tower), there’s also a commercial supertall set to shine over Midtown, and it’s getting closer to beginning its ascent.
Demolition has progressed significantly on the cluster of pre-war commercial buildings on the block bound by East 42nd and 43rd streets and Madison and Vanderbilt avenues, directly west of Grand Central Terminal in Midtown East. The existing structures are only a few more months from being removed, as seen in the photos by ILNY posted to the YIMBY Forums. In their place will rise a 67-story, 1,514-foot-tall office tower called One Vanderbilt, being developed by SL Green Realty Corporation and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. The tower will encompass 1,732,955 square feet of space, of which 1,295,140 square feet is designated as commercial.
SL Green’s planned tower next to Grand Central is making significant headway, and demolition for the site’s former buildings is already ongoing. And while we had previously revealed several prospective views of the 1,500-foot supertall, which was approved by the City Council this past May, a tipster has sent along a few more renderings, giving a more comprehensive overview of the tower within the context of its Midtown surrounds.
SL Green’s 1.6 million-square-foot office tower at One Vanderbilt Avenue will not only be a test case for the city’s ambitious Midtown East rezoning plan, but it’s one of the few times in recent memory that a private developer has agreed to finance and perform substantial construction work for the MTA.
With a vote of 49 to zero, the City Council unanimously approved the application for a 63-story office tower at One Vanderbilt, as well as the rezoning for a five-block stretch of Vanderbilt Avenue between 42nd and 47th Streets.
