Kicking off our annual Turkey Week rundown of stalled projects in New York City is The Torch, a 1,067-foot mixed-use supertall skyscraper at 740 Eighth Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan. Designed by ODA with SLCE Architects as the architect of record and developed by Extell, the 52-story structure is planned to span 875,372 square feet and yield an 825-room hotel topped by a public outdoor observation deck with a drop ride attraction in the signature stemlike column. The property would also feature lower-level retail space, a restaurant on two of the upper floors, a VIP lounge, and a pool deck for hotel guests. The property is located along Eighth Avenue between West 45th and 46th Streets on the border of Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen.
Recent aerial photographs show the site cleared of construction equipment since our last update in March. Additional work was completed on the foundations before progress stalled, with an array of diagonal beams buttressing the retaining walls until activity resumes.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Earlier this year, YIMBY was the first to release a series of renderings that showcase the supertall skyscraper’s prominent position among the Midtown skyline from across the Hudson River, and its signature 500-foot-tall stem-like protrusion that leads to an angular, spiraling crown. This unorthodox design, which ODA conceived to evoke the Statue of Liberty’s torch, incorporates numerous open-air cutouts in the upper levels, including one near the top of the northern elevation with a multi-story green wall. The pleated glass curtain wall would be further accentuated by spotlights, giving The Torch a striking, ethereal impression on the skyline.
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
The following two images further detail The Torch’s presence among the skyline, previewing its vistas of Billionaires’ Row, Lower Manhattan, and the surrounding landmarks in Midtown.
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
The observatory will feature cutout staircases and cantilevering, glass-clad boxes that will allow visitors to look out and down at Midtown and the Hudson River.
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
The Intamin-designed drop ride in the tower’s stem will feature 300-foot-tall transparent tubes that riders will traverse over a 90-second experience.
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
Rendering of The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue by ODA and SLCE Architects. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue was originally slated for completion in the second quarter of 2027. A revised timeline has yet to be announced.
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There IS a god
Amen
We can only hope this Disneyesque POS is stalled permanenty.
New Yorkers had to adjust to this skyscraper, which may have a different feel from the Statue of Liberty. On the box that was sticking out: Thanks to Michael Young.
The original massing sketches were hideous, and the concept seemingly preposterous, but with more detailed renderings showing the lovely rippled glass I grew to appreciate the thing, if not the carnival ride premise. The inversion of the traditional NYC setbacks, finished correctly, could be particularly striking, rather than the scar on the skyline I initially feared.
This thing is hideous. Hope it gets redesigned.
The Torch is getting torched? Hopefully.
Anything ‘different’ gets criticized heavily. This building looks worse up close, from a distance the ‘Torch” looks pretty artistic and pleasant. If the building were a standard, square skyscraper the building would be approved and all NYC residents will love it. In NYC, there will never be anything close to a modern (think Dubai) beautiful skyscraper when everything is so heavily criticized.
Dubai looks like a tacky joke. It’s the last thing I’d want the NY skyline filled with.
This project is a joke, it’s not going to look like the renders it will look hideous and ruin the skyline. The promotions are horrible it is just ugly.
Looks like we’re all in agreement here. This is without a doubt one of the most ridiculous and ugly projects ever designed for NYC, and probably most other places.
Hopefully, the entire site is sold off to another developer who puts something up that is at the worst, just normal.
Wish they would add the broadway theater back into the proposal… missed opportunity.
Back in the 1970s, I took a tour of the newly built Minskoff Theater as it was known then. The architect led the tour and mentioned that in retrospect, the theater was more trouble than it was worth and should not have been built. The building requirements for theaters in NYC are astonishingly complex and account for older grandfathered theaters to be retained at all costs.
C’mon, forget for a moment whether you hate or love this project..there isn’t the slightest effort here in this article to explain why contruction on this building has stalled..This is completely incompetent journalism, unacceptable!..( l have read from other sources that there have been legal challenges, etc..)
Let’s just keep it as a public swimmimg pool.
(lol) FUGLY AS HELL!
Shame. Would have been cool.
Shame. Would have been cool.
A seriously ungainly, hideous disgrace for our skyline that should never happen. Extell and ODA clearly have no taste or shame. Run them out of town.
The Torch looks like an icicle and leaves me cold.
In Winter it will have plenty of places for ice to form and then fall when it warms above freezing onto 8th Ave. much like of what happens on the GWB.
Maybe good things can happen!
Perhaps the people pouring their money into this fiasco had second thoughts?
This project is truly hideous. It just doesn’t pass the visuality test.
What a ridiculous (and let’s hope, unrealized) monument to the bad taste and hubris of its architects and developers. This monstrosity deserves to fail.