This 500-metre supertall will dominate Manhattan’s skyline by 2030

RXR REALTY and TF Cornerstone have announced their intention to demolish the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan and replace it with a 500-metre new supertall skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).

The 85-storey mixed-use tower would become the tallest in Midtown, rising above the nearby Chrysler Building and recently finished One Vanderbilt.

RXR Realty described the current Grand Hyatt Hotel - the first major development from Donald Trump in Manhattan - as an opaque, overbearing building that reduces sidewalk space and offers little connectivity to the surrounding landmarks.

The building also creates a number of structural and overcrowding issues within the existing transit network that cannot be fully addressed without a complete demolition.

Above: An elevation of 175 Park Avenue that illustrates its scale compared to One Vanderbilt. Image courtesy of SOM.

175 Park Avenue - otherwise known as Project Commodore - will be a state-of-the-art, sustainable tower, providing extensive improvements to the surrounding transportation infrastructure while also creating new public spaces.

Within the tower will be 195,000 square metres of commercial office space, a Hyatt-operated hotel with 500 rooms, and nearly 1,000 square metres of retail on the ground floors.

The design nods to classic New York skyscrapers with a tapering silhouette and a rounded crown formed by the structural lattice that makes up the tower’s facade.

There will also be an expanded subway entrance at East 42nd Street and a new transit hall containing retail, information screens and booths.

Above: 175 Park Avenue will include better integration with the street level and surrounding transit network. Image courtesy of SOM.

175 Park Avenue is just one of a slate of supertall skyscrapers proposed for Midtown East since the area underwent a dramatic re-zoning in 2017.

The new laws increased the allowable floor area ratios of blocks between East 96th Street and East 42nd Street, as a result investment in the area has surged with developers snapping up real estate and proposing massive commercial projects.

The 67-floor 427-metre high One Vanderbilt is the first high profile skyscraper to complete under these new laws.

Other major proposals include the 365-metre-high Penn 15 from Foster + Partners.

While the New York City construction industry is still recovering from COVID-19, the demand for commercial office space has continued unabated.

If approved 175 Park Avenue is expected to complete by 2030. 

Header image courtesy of SOM.