The race to the sky in Lower Manhattan continues at a breakneck pace, and while projects like 30 Park Place have sped right along towards completion, the process of building other new towers has not been nearly as easy. That’s especially true at 56 Leonard Street, but now YIMBY has news that the Herzog & de Meuron-designed skyscraper is finally topping-out.
Construction of the tower was particularly difficult, with both economics and design conspiring against any sort of rapid completion. The foundations for the building were poured as the 2008 Financial Crisis was just kicking into high gear, leaving the site primed to rise, but lingering on the drawing board.
Things did not change much in the years following, but once construction finally did resume — back in 2013 — there were additional issues. Construction had slowed to a crawl by December of that year, when Lend Lease replaced the project’s concrete subcontractor. Since then, things have been moving relatively smoothly.
56 Leonard
The 821-foot tall and 145-unit condo building has 60 total floors, and is being developed by Alexico and Hines. 56 Leonard is Herzog & de Meuron’s most high-profile tower on the skyline to date, though with cladding still creeping up the exterior, the jury is out on the absolute final appearance.
Still, much of the outside is now encased in glass and balconies. The building tapers slightly inwards and outwards over the course of its rise, with floor heights also increasing for the tower’s top levels. Once the facade encases the top floors, the effect will probably be much more dramatic, fleshing out the current skeleton more fully, and making the cantilevers more obvious.
The news regarding the topping-out comes from a tipster on the YIMBYgram, who noted that the final floor’s pour was beginning late last week. 56 Leonard’s uppermost floors return to the individual and unique layouts of the project’s lowest levels, which is why construction has appeared to proceed at a very slow pace (and one year ago, the project had already passed the halfway point).
Opening day is ultimately anticipated for next year.
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