Google Earth of future Midtown skyline with KPF's Lotte World Tower superimposed at 100 West 37th Street (CityRalty)
Earlier this week The Real Deal reported that developer Isaac Chetrit and Ray Yadidi have commissioned the architecture firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) to design an 80-story skyscraper north of Herald Square. While the paper says the bet is far from certain, enlisting the high-rise experts suggests that a game-changing tower may be in store for the Garment District.
One of the two office building part of Chetrit's assemblage (CityRealty)
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Google Earth aerial with the Chetrit/Yadidi site highlighted (CityRealty)
The site in question comprises a half block along West 37th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. Three structures would need to be razed, including a partially-risen shell of a kaput hotel project at 100 West 37th Street. TRD says that construction likely won’t begin until at least 2020 when an office tenant’s lease at 989-991 Sixth Avenue expires. Another hitch may be that Chetrit and Yadidi are seriously considering selling the site. “They have received several offers north of $200 million from prospective buyers,” sources tell the paper.
KPF is behind two “supertall” skyscrapers now underway in Manhattan. They are SL Green’s One Vanderbilt, which just popped out of the ground across from Grand Central, and Related/Oxford’s 30 Hudson Yards, now well on its way toward Far West Side domination. The threshold height for a supertall is usually pegged at 300 meters or about 980 feet high. New York City has 7 completed towers above this height and another 10 under construction. The figure makes our city third in the world behind Shenzhen (13) and Dubai (12) according to statistics compiled by CTBUH.
KPF's 30 Hudson Yards (tallest building under construction)
One Vanderbilt as of mid-November (CityRealty)
New York’s supertalls differ from most around the world in that their lofty heights are more driven by economic practicality rather than vanity. Whether it be providing a tower of full-floor apartments with park views on Billionaires’ Row or fully capitalizing on a transit-rich location, a developer’s bottom line has far more weight than a building’s impact on the skyline.
However, the city's developers have found less expensive ways to get high. Four of the city’s 7 supertalls have toothpick-like spires that count towards their “official” building height. They are the New York Times Building, One Bryant Park, the Chrysler Building, and most famously, One WTC. Additionally, many luxury towers have incredibly high ceilings which escalating a building's height without using additional floor area. To increase the perception of height, phantom floor counts are often marketed. The "130-story" Central Park Tower for instance, will in reality have 95 floors according to city filings. A 7-level Norstrom flagship and lofty mechanical/amenity floors fit for 16-wheelers are said to justify the tactic.
SWFC superimposed into a future Midtown skyline (we know some buildings shown are
Of course, this pissing contest means little to most New Yorkers. The tall tower has been a reliable source of angst and controversy for decades. Some ongoing fights include the incursion of 300+-foot-tall buildings in Greenwich Village, five residential slabs planned for the Two Bridges waterfront and a homely co-op tower in Sutton Place seeking to prevent other buildings of its size or greater from rising around it. Then, of course, there’s the Municipal Arts Society’s (MAS) re-released report called “Accidental Skyline” which explains that “excessive air right transfers” and “insufficient public reviews” have bred a new crop of “out of scale” towers. Won’t somebody please think of the children.
But as the world’s premiere skyscraper city (arguably), developers continue to find ways to build tall on Manhattan’s increasingly limited and woefully expensive real estate. The Chetrit assemblage is relatively safe from the NIMBY mob since there are few residents in the Garment District and the as-of-right zoning sets no height limit for the site.
The 123-story, 1,819-ft-tall Lotte World Tower in Seoul (Photo via KPF
The International Commerce Center and Shanghai World Financial Center (KPF)
What is more likely to keep a lid on height is the parcel’s modest 375,000 buildable square feet that have been cited by sources. KPF’s three recent supertall towers in Asia are far larger and have have bigger footprints. The 118-floor International Commerce Center in Hong Kong is 2.8 million square feet, the 123-floor Lotte World Tower is Seoul is 5.44 MSF (includes retail podium) and the 101-floor Shanghai World Financial Center is 4.1 MSF. We threw them into the Manhattan Google Earth skyline just for perspective.
ICC superimposed on the site (CityRealty)
TRD says the development team is mulling a tower of at least 70 stories, meaning the building will be relatively slender. It is rumored the team is devising a mixed-use project that will have offices, retail, and apartments or a hotel. While supertalls of 3 or more uses are now common around the globe, they are rare in New York. SOM’s now-rising 35 Hudson Yards is the only supertall we know of with such a mix.
The mixed-use programs of Lotte World Tower and ICC (sections via KPF)
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New Developments Editor
Ondel Hylton
Ondel is a lifelong New Yorker and comprehensive assessor of the city's dynamic urban landscape.
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