While Extell has avoided posting any information on-site or online for 217 West 57th Street, YIMBY has brought you two sets of plans for the building, with the most recently obtained versions (dated June of 2014) depicting a 1,795-foot pinnacle. We have now obtained an official rendering Extell is using for the project, dated from this March, confirming it will look almost identical to both versions previously revealed by YIMBY as well as the image of the tower created in-house at Smith + Gill.
It is certainly possible that plans have continued to change over the past few months, but foundations are already being poured and construction is beginning to creep upwards from the pit that currently sits nearly 100 feet below 57th Street. The documents list a pinnacle height of 1,515 feet or 462 meters, which would be just shy of the 1,530-foot figure indicated in the design from June of 2014.
This rendering also shows a pinnacle shorter than 1,795′, likely matching the previous estimate of 1,775′. While actual buildings are subject to strict DOB rules, rooftop adornments (like any sort of spire) are much more flexible, and the lack of mandated transparency means that Extell could easily add whatever height is necessary to top One World Trade Center at the last minute, though this image would confirm Gary Barnett’s statement to the New York Post that “The Nordstrom Tower will categorically not be taller than 1 World Trade Center.”
The length of the spire’s last segment can easily be adjusted upwards, and while Barnett issued a denial the project would be taller than One World Trade Center, YIMBY believes there is no reason it would be shorter, considering the building will handily grab the title of New York City’s tallest roof — in itself, hardly a measure of deference towards One World Trade. And given the fact that 217 West 57th Street was planned to be the city’s tallest as of last summer, it is apparent there was never any consideration of “respect” for the WTC, not that there should be, as it was value-engineered beyond any symbolic merit.
Regardless of what ultimately happens at the tip-top of the tower, 217 West 57th Street is going to be very prominent on the overall skyline, and its northern neighbor at 220 Central Park South has also been added into the rendering. The combination will add two significant punctuation marks to the western end of the 57th Street skyline, balancing the verticality of 432 Park Avenue on the other side.
The documents come with new information indicating a total of 184 condominiums, and their expected sales volume will total $4.4 billion, as reported by Eliot Brown in the Wall Street Journal yesterday.
YIMBY can expand upon the Journal’s reports, and internal documents note Extell intends to turn a profit margin of no less than 30% on the project, which would net the firm at least $1.3 billion in profit if sales meet expectations. Completion is expected by the end of 2018, and the building will total 1.155 million square feet, with the bottom seven floors to be occupied by Nordstrom.
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Hey Gary Barnett, do your think anyone categorically gives a sh*t? Paul Fireman is going for 1777ft…
While this rendering is seductive to those who embrace tall buildings in Manhattan, 220 CPW is drawn much farther east and, in reality, will be blocking much more of the portion of Nordstrom Tower that faces the park.