Demolition is nearing completion at 625 Madison Avenue, the site of a planned 1,310-foot residential supertall skyscraper in Midtown East, Manhattan. Developed by Related Companies under the 625 Mad Realty LLC, the 68-story structure is slated to span 496,000 square feet and yield 101 condominium units with an average scope of 4,918 square feet. The project will also include nearly 75,000 square feet of retail space on the first two levels, a fourth-floor restaurant and private dining area, and a suite of amenities. The multi-billion-dollar project will rise along Madison Avenue between East 58th and 59th Streets.
SLCE Architects has been reported as the “lead designer,” though it will likely serve as the architect of record. The main architect has yet to be announced.
The former 17-story occupant was almost fully razed since our last update in late December, when scaffolding was being assembled over much of the midcentury structure and crews were gutting its interiors. Only a couple floors remain standing at the southwestern corner, while excavators work to clear away piles of rubble on the remainder of the lot behind the wraparound fencing. YIMBY expects the remaining demolition to conclude at 625 Madison Avenue by the winter.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
625 Madison Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
The following new axonometric and section diagrams give an early preview of the overall building massing. The skyscraper will begin with a large multi-story podium, followed by the main tower rising fairly uninterrupted with a setback toward the bottom of the rear eastern elevation and corner cutouts on the main western face. The structure will culminate with a final wraparound setback and a rectangular mechanical bulkhead.
The residential levels are denoted in blue, interspersed with gray mechanical floors. The amenity spaces are marked in beige, sitting above the podium, which will contain the retail space, shown in orange.
625 Madison Avenue diagram.
The below site plan diagram provides a top-down view of the new structure with sectional cuts.
625 Madison Avenue diagram.
Amenities at 625 Madison Avenue will include squash and pickleball courts on the fifth floor, screening and meeting rooms on the sixth floor, a swimming pool on the seventh floor, and a “sky garden” on the ninth floor. Condominiums will occupy floors 12 through 66 with two residential units per level, excluding mechanical floors. An outdoor roof deck with a capacity of 130 people will cap the structure.
Related Companies purchased the property from SL Green for $632.5 million last summer and the new tower is able to be fully built as-of-right.
The nearest subways from the development include the N, R, and W trains at the 5th Avenue–59th Street station to the west and the 4, 5, and 6 trains at the Lexington Avenue–59th Street station to the east.
A construction timeline and finalized renderings for 625 Madison Avenue have yet to be revealed.
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On the plus side they are taking down a bland office building and putting up housing. On the negative side, the average condo size of 5,000 square feet is ridiculous.
I try to justify these projects in that the super-rich are going to put their gigantic condos somewhere. I would rather they demolish an office building on 58th street than 300 relatively affordable pre-war apartments on the upper east/west side to facilitate it. I just wish the taxation of these things was a little more aggressive. I question how much of a difference there will be between the assessment of the old office building versus the sum of the 100 new condos.
Agree!
When we have historically overbuilt luxury housing in NYC we would divide the oversized homes into smaller, affordable apartments for the working class, and I would like to think we could someday do the same with many of these giant apartments on Billionaires Row, yet in order to do so we need to create a new right to subdivide as condos and coops boards will resist with tooth and nail the inclusion or conversion of larger apartments into smaller ones for fear it will attract ‘undesirables’. With a new right to subdivide apartments, it should be as easy, if not easier, to divide apartments into smaller, but still above the legal minimum apartment size, than it is to combine apartments into larger units.
You can’t just subdivide them. The piping simply isn’t there. If they do just 5000 sq ft apartments throughout, then you can’t just add kitchens and bathrooms without redoing the entire building….
I agree with Cheesemaster above. There is no compelling reason for this project as far as the housing situation goes. I think there is profit to be made building a mixed income building at this or any site. I work on them and the developers get paid. A policy that says new buildings have to have apts ranging from studios to 3 bedrooms with, sure, a few penthouse style units should be the min at this point Yes we need supply, but this supply will never ever be relevant to anyone but the super rich.
I can’t pretend to fully grasp the size of the luxury market in Manhattan, but the average scope of these units is similar to the $80 million penthouse at 432 Park Avenue. Do you believe Manhattan has an appetite for an additional 100 such units? Me either. 432, the penthouse at CPT, 30 Wall St- they all sat on the market for very long periods of time. I’m sure we’ll find out there’s more nuance to the details, otherwise this may be a tower of bankruptcy.
I hope they have more success with the long term viability of the tower than 432- which is already needing substantial repairs to the concrete exoskeleton. This building may be one more headache for 432- it will impede some of the park views.
I’m a 77 y/o retired NY trial lawyer, a Marine veteran, a lifelong Democrat, a “hack” yellow cabbie, Local 4046 Taxi Drivers, and a kid who was born in Bklyn and grew up in Flushing/Bayside. I don’t agree that “affordable housing” should be mandated on some of the most valuable earth on the planet – 58th & Madison? Growing up, even I knew from my mother that Fifth and Park Avenues were for rich people. The fact is that the mega-wealthy from around the world who buy these types of apartments on the “new” Fifth Ave (57th St) pay highly assessed real property taxes. Even better, those who buy them are hardly like working stiffs who are almost always home because they can’t afford frequent vacations or travel around the world.
Yes, and when you live a thousand or so feet up, your neighborhood is as much the ‘sky’ as it is any specific street or avenue.
How was I completely unaware of this building? And why no renderings yet? Short of utter hideousness, this is a good thing. Development fees and property/sales tax revenue, but little increased traffic load, as the condo owners are seldom if ever there.
They’re installing fare beating barriers in subway stations now, so people who will live at 625 Madison will no longer be able to jump the turnstiles..
Another monument to our corruptly rigged economic system.
At first due to the size (1,310ft tall) I was thinking this was 350 park Ave or 175. Apparently not. Lots of supertalls going up in the next few years
The buildings you mention are proposed to be taller than 1,600′ and are commercial, mixed use. But to your point, this is 1 of 4 supertall residential towers in some stage of development, all north of 56th.
Love Michael Young’s photo of the ‘ghost outline’ of a demolished building on the 59th street side of this site, sort of sums up the real-estate world..
Hopefully this will be designed by a good architect. Fingers crossed!
The symmetrical front facade does remind me of 220 Central Park South by RAMSA
I hope we see what the final design will look like very soon. Bet they will immediately start excavation once they clear the land of the old building and not waste any time
So there are now 4 super-tall residential projects north of 56th. Which do we think will go vertical first, and do you think all 4 will be built within the decade?
Maybe within the decade of the 30’s
Agree.