Demolition has concluded at 417 Park Avenue, the site of a 220,000-square-foot office tower in Midtown East. Developed by GDS Development (GDSNY) and Klövern AB, which paid $184 million for the property, the building will rise from the corner of Park Avenue and East 55th Street with a floor area ratio of 25 under Midtown East Rezoning regulations.
At the time of our last update in September, demolition was just getting started on the 105-year-old 14-story co-op building that formerly stood on the site. Now the structure has been fully razed and the 8,725-square-foot parcel sits covered in rubble.
417 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
The site is surrounded by wooden boards, and parts of the ground toward the back eastern end have undergone some excavation. To the immediate south is a two-story, 4,300-square-foot structure addressed as 407 Park Avenue. GDSNY owns this building and has also filed full demolition permits for it, though it currently remains standing. Ancora Engineering is listed as the applicant of record for both 409 and 417 Park Avenue.
417 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
417 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
417 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
Rising high across East 55th Street is Foster + Partners‘ nearly finished commercial office skyscraper at 425 Park Avenue.
417 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
The nearest subways from 407 and 417 Park Avenue are the E, M, and 6 trains at the Lexington Avenue-53rd Street station, one avenue to the east.
There is still no official rendering, architect, or completion date for 417 Park Avenue.
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For the past half century, this has been the last standing of the original apartment houses of the Grand Central development in midtown. I’ve always admired that about it. It’s a shame that the city permitted its destruction.
This destruction was a crime. This City is complicit.
Scene of the crime.
This is beyond disgusting! This building should never have been taken down! All it needed, if anything, was some modification.
Agree. These types of buildings and related preservation areas are “living” museums to me. I’m 73 y/o. I know what NY is with Grand Central Terminal, and I know what NY would be like w/o it; I was 16 y/o when Penn Station was destroyed.
Well done! That 104 year old apartment building had already served its residents, it is the time to replace it, and time to modernize the entire NYC, as the infrastructure here in New York is deteriorated. Honestly, every single building that exceeds 50 years should be rebuilt for safety concern except super-tall and historic sites.
What a true loss…
another historic architectural building turned into landfill to be replaced by a generic office tower, that NOBODY will notice!
The photos about are like an episode of “Law & Order”, where a brutal murder has occurred. 🤤
I really wonder if ANYTHING is SAFE in NYC, to stop the wrecking ball?
What’s next… Carnegie Hall or the any of the famed hotels lining Central Park?…
The Plaza, The Sherry Netherland, The Pierre? 🤔
Remember DEVELOPERS with big money seem to decide what stays or goes! 😠
The demolished building was a relatively generic coop building which remained in the middle of what is now a prime commercial district. It had some nice stonework, but such buildings are also fairly typical higher up on Park Avenue.
It is easy to pine about he demolition of these buildings on the internet, but old buildings with ornate stonework and ancient mechanical systems are increasingly expensive to maintain in this city. Local Law 11 alone is a major continuing expense, and Local Law 97 is only going to accelerate the process with huge fines for environmental non-compliance in a couple years. This is especially true to for mid-sized buildings with a smaller unit count which can’t easily spread the cost among multiple parties.
If you want to incentivize the retention of the buildings, perhaps we should ease up on the regulatory burdens required to maintain them. Otherwise, I feel the drive to replace them with new developments using modern materials and systems will only accelerate.
do you really have the balls to stand up for ULTRA RICH GREEDY DEVELOPERS destroying these historical structures!
Who in the world feels compassion for these people destroying NYC history.
Read the comments here on a YIMBY site no less and see how your view isn’t shared by anyone else
I don’t know if you are being serious or satirical with this response.
It’s only response in the entire thread that should be taken seriously. An unremarkable and obsolete building with no reasonable prospects is being replaced for a more productive use. That’s that way it’s supposed to work.
We are not talking about Chartres here. Nostalgia for mediocrity is a sad
as lunch at Schraft’s in 1955
It’s too bad, especially since the replacement won’t be too much of an upgrade. But, maybe I’ll be suprised.
Lunch at Schraft’s was always delish- I miss it and the Automat!🥧
Let me guess. Another glass box. From a star architect, that a child could draw.
And that will be half empty.
Those buildings are all “green” certified but stay illuminated at night, with noone inside.
The madness.
I worked as a doorman back in 2004! Sorry to see it go!
I work as a doorman there from 1992 – 1999
Great families lived there, The Sullivans, Movie producer Martin Bregman, the Hovninans, etc…..
Great people who never sold out to the many offers to keep the history alive. Unfortunately, I guess time changes all………