NEW YORK | 237 Park Ave | FT | FLOORS

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by patriotizzy

I didn't like Stark's tower. Looked way too tacky, and unNew Yorkish.

Yeah, it looks very Miami to me.

...

Anyhow, I'm really glad to see development on the East side of Midtown. It will bring balance once the West Side springs up.

[meh_cd]

I'll echo the above poster. Hudson Yards is going to be insane, but we need some new gems over here. Nothing will top Chrysler or the ESB, but hopefully they give us a good building.

[scalziand]

The existing building has an interesting profile on Monday Properties website

237 Park Avenue

Address: 237 Park Avenue
City: New York
State: New York
Square Feet: 1.2 million
# of Floors: 21

PROPERTY OVERVIEW

Originally owned by Penn Central Railroad, this 1.2 million square foot office building is located one block north of Grand Central Station. 237 Park Avenue features floor plates of 64,000 square feet on floors two through five, 59,000 square feet on floors six through twenty, and 26,000 square feet on the twenty-first floor.

The building was constructed in 1905 with an initial height of only 6-stories. An additional 10-stories were added during the 1930s. In 1981, the building was brought up to the current height of 21-stories. Replacement of the facade in the same year marked the final phase of a complete building infrastructure and tenant space reconstruction. The new facade features pre-cast granite panels with aluminum sash frames and tinted glass window panels. Today, the building infrastructure includes an emergency generator, new elevators and new mechanical systems. An award winning, 245 foot Richard Lippold sculpture hangs in the natural light filled atrium.

In April 2012, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. obtained full ownership and control of the property and appointed Monday Properties the exclusive managing agent.

http://www.mondayre.com/page.cfm?pageID=9&PropertyID=8

[NYguy]

Well, it is like in some circles...

http://www.thecityreview.com/paatrium.html

By Carter B. Horsley

Good things sometimes come in big boxes. Behind the bland facade of this very unattractive, boxy office building is the city's most dazzling lobby. The skylit lobby was once the central air shaft of a masonry office building that was contextually related to Warren & Wetmore's Terminal City enclave around Grand Central Terminal. The polished pale pink granite exterior almost makes this building seem to disappear under certain light conditions, as can be seen in the photograph at the right, but the interior is an overwhelming, explosive experience in all conditions.

A 23-story atrium banded by office windows and reflective glass spandrels creates dizzying effects that are steadied and improved by generous plantings on several setbacks on the west wall. The east wall has three banks of glass elevators, thankfully rectilinear rather than bulbous, and their indentations and movements make for an interesting view from the lobby-level restaurant that only occupies about half the atrium lobby space.

All of the above, of course, would only result in a pleasant and elegant variation of the various atrium schemes of John Portman. What makes this lobby great, however, is the incredible hanging sculpture, "Winged Gamma," by Richard Lippold that resembles wings worthy of a great pharaoh's falcon or fans worthy of a great Japanese geisha.




Lippold should be allowed to redo the building's dreary facades by inlaying similar designs in stainless steel and bronze on them. Unfortunately, the steep grade and the fact that the building had to be raised over the railroad tracks of the nearby railroad station required that the lobby level be up one flight from Lexington Avenue. The escalator lobby off the avenue sadly gives no hint of the glorious space inside.

The lobby here makes up for the inexcusable and surprising blandness of the exterior and a new restaurant, Colors, hopefully will introduce more people to this astonishing interior space. In late 1999, The New York Times reported that a new owner of the building was contemplating filling in part of the atrium to create new rentable space. Hopefully this idea will be abandoned for this is one of the city's few awesome spaces.

http://www.dinosaursandrobots.com/20...d-lippold.html

[scalziand]

Permit filed this week with the DOB for work on the 13th floor. Nothing to do with the future plans for the site, but it does seem to indicate that nothing major is going to happen soon.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=04

[NYguy]

^ Probably a few years before leases are up.

[BStyles]

Originally Posted by patriotizzy

I didn't like Stark's tower. Looked way too tacky, and unNew Yorkish.

That was the rolling pun, in the movies.

[NYguy]

This site would also qualify for the max bonus of 30 FAR...

[NYguy]

This didn't make the list of potential developments in the Manhattan East rezoning. But if developers do decide to move forward here, it would be in the red zone of the bulk of development.

[Eidolon]

Lehman to sell its majority stake in 425 Park Avenue

Earlier this month, Lehman sold a 21-story, 1.2 million-square-foot building at 237 Park Avenue to RXR Realty for $800 million.