Construction is underway on The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Tower, a 12-story waterfront expansion of the Hospital For Special Surgery at 535 East 70th Street in the Lenox Hill section of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Designed by EwingCole, the $200 million addition will span 100,000 square feet directly over FDR Drive and connect to the main hospital wing to the south via a sky bridge. Tishman Construction Corp. is the general contractor for the property, which is located between East 71st and 72nd Streets.
Recent photographs show the elevated platform comprised of large steel diagonal trusses, which will support the entirety of the new wing above the FDR Drive. Crews were seen welding within this superstructure, and we could likely see the first steel columns, girders, and beams for the main tower rise in the next couple of weeks. Temporary scaffolding is installed above the FDR Drive to protect vehicles from any falling debris, and to allow crews to work on the underside of the platform.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Renderings show a straightforward rectangular massing with a reflective glass curtain wall. The most distinctive architectural element is the series of white trusses on the eastern elevation that extend up from the waterfront pedestrian pathway and fork out into diagonal beams that connect to the tower between the forth and fifth story. A multifaceted mechanical bulkhead clad in light-gray panels with cut-out corners caps the structure in line with the height of the main hospital tower directly to the south.
Rendering courtesy of EwingCole.
Rendering courtesy of EwingCole.
Rendering courtesy of EwingCole.
Rendering courtesy of EwingCole.
The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Tower will increase the hospital’s operating capacity by 25 percent with more private patient rooms and reconfigurable operating rooms, doctors’ offices, and clinical and research facilities. The expansion is part of the $300 million renovation to the Hospital For Special surgery complex.
The nearest subway from the property is the Q train at the 72nd Street station along Second Avenue.
Rendering courtesy of EwingCole.
Rendering courtesy of EwingCole.
An anticipated completion date for The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Tower at the Hospital For Special Surgery remains unclear, though sometime in 2025 is possible.
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How much are these places paying the city to build on public land?
Or public air anyway
Do the two fugly towers egg each other on, or do compliment each other into one giant void of ugly?
You start looking at one and it just gets worse. Switch to the other, then that structure just makes you sad.
Biggest crime is presenting this system of symmetry and then breaking it with the box’s form. Every one of those superstructures ends “nicely” at a corner and then BAM! They bite a massive chunk off a whole face.
Extensive platform to protect the cars on the FDR, but hey let’s just close the pedestrian promenade entirely.
Yeah, I always wondered why this stretch of the FDR gets so many buildings built above. Is there a special land use agreement?
Michael Young is a New York treasure!
Nice he’s finding these places I never heard of! Didn’t even know this was even happening LOL XD
Actually, I believe the land was private until the FDR was built. The River House lost access to its dock which was used by the wealthy for their trips from the Gold Coast of LI to Manhattan.
Many of these places find Michael Young.. 😀
Why not build 52 stories and all of a sudden there is affordable housing for nurses