Extell's Times Square Development Site May Hold Supertall Prospects

By Ondel Hylton | From Future New York Monday, June 11, 2018

Rendering of Midtown skyline with RB Systems' tower at 245 West 45th Street rendered (RB Systems)

Neither Manhattan’s 1811 street grid nor the city’s zoning resolution easily facilitate curvilinear structures. Though there are exceptions — most notably the Lipstick Building, Madison Square Garden (ugh) and some new soft-cornered towers such as 50 West Street, the Visionaire and Fifteen Hudson Yards — for the most part, Manhattan remains a hard-edged cityscape.

Earlier this year, popular architecture mag Dezeen revealed a concept for a super-slender tubular office and observation tower that would go quite a way towards shaking up the Midtown West skyline. Conceived by Rustem Baishev’s RB Systems, the cylindrical glass and metal tower would soar some 96 stories, 1,312 feet (400 meters) high from a still-in-question development site at 245 West 45th Street, near Times Square. Crowning the tower would be an observation deck on the 96th floor with airplane views of the “Bow Tie” in addition to the rest of metro area.

The uppermost floors of the tower would hold an observation deck and a tuned mass dampener for stability (RB Systems)

At 400 meters tall, an outsized presence on the Midtown West Skyline

RB's tower on the far left joining the Empire State Building, Central Park Tower and 111 West 57th Street

Technologically advanced, RB tells Dezeen that the supertall would be supported by spiraling steel cables that would be anchored into a foundation and tie into various mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) zones in addition to the central core. Inside and out, the design has little precedence in New York and is likely not financially viable to our city’s conservative developers who might frown on the extremely small office floors and the pittance of elevators serving them. Moreso, Eighth Avenue and Times Square isn’t exactly the desired location for the city’s top boutique office tenants.

Nevertheless, the development site remains and will likely give way to a skyscraper of notable size in the coming years. The parcel is owned by Extell’s Gary Barnett — the city’s best-known patronizer of the skyscraper who is concurrently developing Central Park Tower, One Manhattan Square, and Brooklyn Point.

Boston Properties/Related unbuilt design for 740 Eighth Avenue

Podium

Terrace

According to previous reports, Extell picked up the parking garage in 2014 for $45.78M in 2014 and will likely combine it with an even larger parcel they own next door at 740 Eighth Avenue. Prior to the recession and off-loading it to Extell, Related with partner Boston Properties planned a 40-story, 900,000 square-foot office tower and razed a string of prewar buildings to make way for the scheme.

Extell acquired the Eighth Avenue parcel through an unconventional deal with the Related Companies. They traded to Related a Far West Side development site (now 55 Hudson Yards) they once planned to build a vertical healthcare marketplace called the World Product Center. Since under Extell's wing, the Eighth Avenue lot has held a makeshift flea market geared for tourists.

In the past several months, the 7-story parking garage along 45th Street has been demolished in a signal that development may finally be on the horizon. In 2014, real estate experts told the Daily News that the forthcoming project could be Barnett's tallest yet and would most likely be a hotel. Extell is familiar with developing Times Square hotels, having completed the W Times Square Hotel, the Hyatt Centric Times Square in 2013 and is now building a 35-story Hard Rock Hotel on 48th Street. Now with roughly one-million square feet in play at this site, a super-slender vision similar to RB’s may not be so far off.