Under Construction: 160 West 62nd Street, 598′ Tall

The new tower is going to be one of the tallest on the Upper West Side, rising just shy of 600 feet to the top floor (597.93 feet, to be exact), with any architectural element likely to take the total height to approximately 650 feet. The tower will also have 54 floors with 339 apartments, as well as a small commercial component–Douglaston’s site notes the tower will include a high-end restaurant. The only renderings that have been released may be outdated, however they give a good idea as to the likely massing of the new tower–

160 West 62nd Street: Image from Douglaston Development

While the tower dwarfs most everything around it in this rendering, that will not be the case for long in reality. 160 West 62nd will certainly be one of the tallest in the neighborhood after completion, but there are several buildings within a few blocks that will also be taller than 500 feet. The closest is Fordham’s other residential tower that will soon be going up on the corner of 60th and Amsterdam; also nearby is Extell’s Riverside South development, which may feature multiple buildings of 500′ and greater. Here is the first phase of Fordham’s expansion once more, showing where each of Fordham’s new 50+ story buildings will rise:

Phase 1 Build-Out: Image from Fordham’s development application, posted by NYGuy at skyscraperpage.com

Until quality renders of the project are released, it will be impossible to gauge the building’s architectural standing, although the one rendering that has been released makes the project look fairly basic.

One thing is certain: Fordham’s expansion will add immense density to the super-block, and the immediate vicinity will increasingly resemble Midtown rather than the Upper West Side, given the scale of development. Still, the building stays within the bounds of other tall Upper West Side buildings–the tallest towers nearby are all roughly 600 feet to the top, besides the Time Warner Center. 160 West 62nd should act more as a ‘stepping-stone’ to the peaks of Midtown rather than as a monolith by itself, and will hopefully make an excellent addition to the growing skyline of the lower Upper West Side.

If only some quality renderings were finally released!