First Official Rendering of AvalonBay's Condo-Rental High-Rise on the Upper West Side

AvalonBay is forging ahead with their 300,000-square-foot residential tower at 1865 Broadway on the Upper West Side. Now with demolition of the pre-existing building nearly complete, the project’s first official rendering has been posted on the site's perimeter construction fence. The 33-story high-rise will ascend from a prime corner lot at Broadway and West 61st Street, between Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center. Its design penned by Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) will accommodate 160 residential units and two levels of retail. Its two-tier massing provides for a 6-story podium and a setback 27-story slab rising to the height of 416 feet.

Per the new rendering, the rigorous neo-Brutalist exterior bares many similarities to the site’s prior building that just so happens to have also been designed by SOM. The former 12-story building served as the headquarters to the American Bible Society for nearly a half century, and according to a New York Times article by David Dunlap, religious symbolism inspired its ladder-like exterior. The new tower bares a similar, structurally-robust appearance and provides even deeper recesses that will be opportune for private terraces.

Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities purchased the property for $300 million in February of 2015. Being a half-block from Central Park, the site is surrounded by coveted real estate such as Robert AM Stern’s 15 Central Park West and the Time Warner Center one block south. The Real Deal reported the building will hold both rentals and condos. Permit filings indicate that amenities will include a fitness center and swimming pool, a game room, several lounges, a communal pantry, a roof terrace, bicycle parking and tenant storage. Above the eighth level, there will be no more than 4 apartments per floor, and upper-level apartments will capture glimpses of Central Park and the Hudson River.