The 60-story tower rising at 605 West 42nd Street, on the Far West Side, is barely halfway to its peak, but the builders have given passers-by something to look at: the glass façade is about halfway up the height of the structure, as captured in photos taken by YIMBY Forums user Tectonic. The building is the second of two towers developed by the Moinian Group, following the original Atelier condo tower by about one market cycle. (The skyscraper currently rising was originally called Atelier 2, but the project reverted to its street address for marketing purposes.)
The Goldstein Hill & West-designed building will contain a total of 1,189 rental apartments (with 20 percent being let at below-market rates), making it the largest residential tower in Manhattan. It will stand 656 feet tall – not huge for Midtown, but its position on the far western edge of 42nd Street, just west of 11th Avenue, means it will have a prominent place on the skyline.
605 West 42nd Street, by Tectonic
In most cases, you can tell if a new building is a condo or a rental in New York City based on its air conditioning systems. If there are PTACs – easily visible even very far away because of the vents located below each window – it’s likely a rental. If it has a cleaner façade, it’s likely a condo building with central air. Moinian’s two West 42nd Street projects, however, turn this logic on its head – the original Atelier is a condo building with PTACs, whereas the tower going up now is a rental building with central air and no visible grills.
Because of the lack of PTACs, 605 West 42nd will have a façade less cluttered than its older condo brother and the other rental towers on the same street. Whatever the reason for this design choice, YIMBY applauds it, and encourages other developers to follow Moinian (and TF Cornerstone’s) lead.
The tower will eventually hold nearly 1.2 million square feet of floor space, and is expected to be completed in late 2015.
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