Construction is close to topping out at 32 West 48th Street, a 31-story hotel tower in Midtown, Manhattan’s Diamond District. Designed by SLCE Architects and developed by Extell, the 456-foot-tall structure will span 213,158 square feet and yield 534 guest rooms with an average scope of 316 square feet. AECOM Tishman is the general contractor for the project, which is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, directly south of Rockefeller Center, with a narrow annex extending south to West 47th Street.
The rest of the reinforced concrete superstructure was created and formed since our last update in late January, when the first few levels of the building were only visible. Since then, recent photographs show the slender northeastern and southwestern profiles, as well as the wider northwestern and southeastern elevations that are most pronounced and visible when standing along Fifth Avenue. This is thanks to the completed demolition process for Extell’s future development across the street at 570 Fifth Avenue, and the remaining holdout being razed on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 48th Street. A wide open void in the cityscape provides a temporary perspective of 32 West 48th Street. Meanwhile, facade installation is progressing above the multi-story podium and across the bottom half of the main tower. This is the most visible on the main northern elevation. YIMBY predicts the hotel project to top out before the end of August.
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
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Here we see more sections of the envelope on the opposite southwestern wall, and part of the southeastern face with a mixture of single windows spread out in a widely spaced grid. The main window wall system uniformly wraps around the corner directly above.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The main rendering of 32 West 48th Street depicts the northern elevation’ podium enclosed in a mixture of narrow floor-to-ceiling glass windows framed by white columns and mullions. A setback then separates the podium with the tower that rises with a dark reflective glass cladding and a dense grid of thin vertical fins. However, it appears the latter has been eliminated from the final design and appearance of the building. Nonetheless, the building’s still expected to culminates and top off with a mechanical bulkhead covered in the same glass material.
The closest subways from the property are the B, D, F, and M trains at the 47-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center station.
32 West 48th Street’s anticipated completion date is posted on site for September 2024, though YIMBY expects work to conclude sometime in 2025. A hotel operator still has yet to be confirmed.
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Wonderful photos of this building rising within the midtown cityscape.
Curious… what is that building with the graphic zig-zag glass?
🤔
JPM
This is a very solid design and a great location for a hotel, compared to the craziness of Times Square.
I learn a lot from the comments left here, so feel free to tell me why I’m wrong…but this building looks utterly generic to me. I’m not saying it’s Gene Kaufman bad. Just blah. And a pretty big blah at that. That poor podium has a lotta work to do to make this building pop.
Only the cool air conditioner can be heard, when the window is installed. And I couldn’t see the debris strewn about: Thanks to Michael Young.