Demolition preparations are ramping up at 415 Madison Avenue in Midtown East, the site of a 605-foot-tall commercial skyscraper and number 25 on our year-end countdown. Designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill and developed by 415 Madison Avenue LLC, the 40-story building will yield 343,100 square feet of office space and replace a 66-year-old structure currently owned by Rudin Management at the corner of Madison Avenue and East 48th Street. YIMBY last reported that the LLC was seeking special permits as part of the ULURP process to build in compliance with the East Midtown sub-district regulations. This would allow for the reconstruction of overbuilt floor area in a new development, as well as obtaining air rights from the nearby landmarked St. Bartholomew’s Church along Park Avenue. The new property will also include a 350-square-foot ground-floor retail pavilion and a 2,400-square-foot open-air public concourse.
415 Madison Avenue. Renderings by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
The current 24-story building contains floor plates ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 square feet and upper levels that step back from the street. The new 415 Madison Avenue would yield an estimated 323,500 square feet within the superstructure and around 19,600 square feet below street level. The latter would be designed to connect with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) concourse as part of an agreement with the MTA to construct an entrance to the much grander East Side Access project at Grand Central Terminal and the Metro-North Railroad (MNR) lines. The scheme also includes a Metro-North Rail passageway on the ground floor along East 48th Street.
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
Photographs from the end of November show black netting and metal scaffolding quickly covering the majority of the façade, with progress finishing up across the western and southern elevations. Directly across to the south of the corner project site is 270 Park Avenue, the upcoming supertall headquarters of J.P. Morgan Chase that’s quickly taking shape. Stay tuned later this month for an update on that development.
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
415 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
Exterior renderings depict a light-colored façade made up of a modular design of double-height cubes, some with pocketed loggias on the second level. The building is clad with floor-to-ceiling glass and features multiple landscaped terraces on the first several floors before transitioning to a fairly straightforward rectangular massing culminating in a flat roof parapet. The diagrams below show the different sides of the structure and compare its size to the massive 270 Park Avenue.
415 Madison Avenue. Renderings by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Proposed Project Elevations and Axonometric View of 415 Madison Avenue. Courtesy of SOM
Illustrative rendering of the concourse. Courtesy of SOM
Illustrative rendering of the With Action Development Site from Madison Avenue. Courtesy of SOM
Excavation, foundations, and construction on the LIRR East Side Access entrance began earlier this year and is anticipated to meet the 2023 deadline as detailed in the MTA agreement. Work on the tower itself is expected to last 18 months following the completion of the LIRR East Side Access entrance.
In the event that special permits are not approved, 415 Madison Avenue would then be built as a shorter 36-story, 468-foot-tall office building yielding 298,100 square feet, utilizing the floor area permitted on an as-of-right basis. This scenario would also allow for the transfer of 36,100 square feet of development rights from St. Bartholomew’s Church and nearly 40,900 square feet of existing non-complying floor area to be utilized for the new tower. Office space would account for 273,800 square feet with 2,200 square feet of retail space fronting on Madison Avenue, as well as 2,500 square feet for the LIRR East Side Access entrance. The transit concourse would account for 19,600 square feet below grade.
YIMBY last reported that the total construction period for 415 Madison Avenue is expected to last around four years, putting the completion of the new skyscraper sometime in 2024.
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With the size of 270 Park Avenue, it looks short and small. But beautiful on facade all covering, and any elevations. These details are important to know, as well as renderings: Thanks to Michael Young.
There would seem to be no limit for the need of new office space.
Not a problem. A very good thing.
Indeed,the Group of 35 report decades ago identified a need for a great deal of new Manhattan office space even before the 9/11/01 attacks destroyed millions of square feet of Lower Manhattan’s best space.
Developers are playing catch-up.
Nice looking design, but has anyone been to this neighborhood lately? Like a ghost town from all empty offices…and yet they’re building more office space!?
Most companies will NEVER go back to full-time in-office, the current state is working and saving big money. Why are we building more office space in this city?
“Most companies will NEVER go back to full-time in-office, the current state is working and saving big money. Why are we building more office space in this city?”
I gotta get my hands on that magic crystal ball you have. Something tells me companies building billion dollar office buildings know more about the future work culture trends than you do.
Smaller spaces and more tenants over time. Older office space is more likely to get phased out and converted or demoed.
I have been to this neighborhood lately, and “ghost town” is not the term I would use to describe it.
Sometimes I feel these comments have more to do with what certain people would like the future to be, rather than what it will actually be. Is “Stanley” someone who actively goes to midtown east on a daily basis, or someone who used to have an awful two hour commute from Duchess County who is desperately afraid they might have to return to the office?
“Why are we building more office space in the city?”: Because there’s an obvious demand for it. For example, the new “Spiral” is now more than 50% leased, and the building is still under construction. And that’s just one new building. And I’ll also single-out the new Google and Disney OFFICE buildings in Hudson Square – tech companies that have a predominant young workforce. Working at home (with the technology available to do it) was fine in the interim to just keep companies afloat, but it is NOT a long-term/permanent solution for the work masses. Many jobs are simply not suitable for long-haul work-at-home. CEO Barry Diller said it best: “You cannot run a global corporation from everybody’s living rooms.”
I worked at 420 Madison in the 80’s & 90’s such a great vibe 7 fun memories …
I think there was a Dosanko downstairs at 415
We Love NYC
Upstairs on 415 Madison’s 13th Floor back in the swingin’ 1960s, was the “Home of the Good Guys” – the studios of “Fabulous 57” WMCA radio.
Anyone who asserts that Midtown is a “ghost town” right now is trolling from afar. Midtown has been insane since Thanksgiving. I think the tourist crowds are bigger than pre-Covid. Yeah, the office buildings are all still at least half-empty but that’s temporary. I know of no major firm that isn’t planning an eventual return to office. All the financial firms, law firms and the like will be working mostly from office at some point in 2022.
Hopefully the upcoming change in mayoral administrations will result in a more pro-business mindset to allow NYC to do what it does best: Business. And allow businesses to get back to business in the city. Not in everybody’s living rooms.
Exactly.
I’ll miss this building. The new one looks pretty good too. It almost looks like the original actually.