One Vanderbilt has been in the makings for quite some time, and while it took several years and a special pre-Midtown East rezoning approval for work to begin at the site, things are now chugging along with gusto. Steelwork for the soon-to-be 1,401-foot-tall tower breached street level about a month ago, and now, the future supertall’s crane has arrived on-site, heralding imminent verticality.
One Vanderbilt Crane, photo by nyc1
SL Green is behind the first true behemoth of Midtown East, and Kohn Pedersen Fox is designing the tower, which will comprise 1.7 million square feet. While building permits indicate the project will rise 67 floors, the official count per the PR team is only 59 floors.
The layout of the building will be somewhat atypical for supertalls, at least on the upper floors. The top three levels will feature an observation deck, the first of its kind in the neighborhood. The base of the structure will have 200,000 square feet of retail and office space, to be occupied by TD Bank.
One Vanderbilt rising above street level, photo by Tectonic
While the rest of Midtown East is likely to host a new forest of even taller towers in the coming decades, One Vanderbilt benefitted from SL Green’s commitments to improving the neighborhood’s transit infrastructure, in conjunction with the impending opening of East Side Access. There will be a 4,000-square-foot transit hall linked to the main concourse of Grand Central, which will also integrate into the imminently-improved lower levels of the Terminal.
Completion is expected by 2020.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Fantasy: based on fruits and designs; if the futures have new architectures I would like to suggest with. Pineapple facade – apple crown – banana corner – mango entrance – and tamarind window. (Don’t worry about it just my crazy create comment)
Call me old fashioned, but I think the neighboring Lincoln Building and the near distant ESB are far more attractive. One Vanderbilt is just another steel and glass box with unimaginative angles.