NEW YORK | 610 Lexington Ave | 712 FT / 216 M l 66 FLOORS
 

Shangri La Hotel
610 Lexington Ave
709 ft / 216 m
61 Floors
Norman Foster

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...nders/6101.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...nders/6102.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...nders/6103.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...nders/6104.jpg

This tower will rise at 610 Lexington Ave at the corner of East 53rd Street. It sits directly behind and tower over the iconic Seagram building. It is incredibly narrow with a 46 foot width so it won't have that big of a visual impact in the skyline. Especially since it will be catty corner to the incredibly thick 915ft Citigroup Center.

The tower is designed by Norman Foster and RFR Realty. The added height to the tower was made possible by buying remaining air rights from the Seagram Building.

The site is bordered by Subway lines on its northern (E and V) and eastern (4,5,6) borders. It is across the street from a major subway stop.

This building takes the place of a now demolished YWCA.
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9...xingtonwz7.jpg
source: Lecom

8/24/08
Currently the foundations are being dug. On the western edge of the site abutting Seagrams, the foundations are near 30 feet deep currently.

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/DSC05193.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/DSC05199.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/DSC05201.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/DSC05202.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/DSC05204.jpg

Haha, I totally forgot about this bad boy. Will add to the compilation.

And kudos for adopting the brief description format at the top of the thread.

Damn, what's the heigh/width ratio on this one? It's definitely Highcliff/Summit-like.

I love it.

Btw scruffy, mark your NY threads with a smiley face, like the Chicago ones are marked with the blue shades one.

no idea how to do that. do it for me.

ehh I'm not 1337 enough to do that yet, but when you create a thread there's like a bunch of smileys above the thread, and they got bullets next to them. Click on the bullet next to the regular yellow smiley.

This building will be 709 feet, not 687 feet. For some reason Emporis lists it wrong.

From the Shangri-La website:

The unique design for the slender 709-foot-tall tower calls for exterior columns incorporated into the building’s faceted curtain wall, using low iron glass to achieve a crystal clear appearance of the tower.

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2...ngriLaNYC.html

Changed the height. Thanks Crawford. LeCom can you change the thread title to reflect 709ft/ 216 meters

This is the source Emporis used:

http://www.de-simone.com/projects/re...lexington.html

They're the consulting engineers. Both sources seem legit are dated at around the same time, so I have no way of knowing which one is correct.

The Department of City Planning and Department of Buildings both certified the project for 709 feet.

Maybe the issue is structural height/roof height??

If you look at the renderings, the roof appears to be different based on if you are measuring from the perimeter or at the center:

http://www.thecityreview.com/lex610.html

There are many such issues, such as with the Herzog & DeMeuron tower in Tribeca. The construction guys say 825 feet; the permits say 796 feet.

From CityRealty:

Last night, Community Board 5 narrowly passed a resolution supporting the transfer of air rights from the iconic Seagram Building, at 375 Park Avenue, to a new development at 610 Lexington Avenue (the transparent building in the photo of the developer's model).

RFR Realty LLC is the owner of both the Seagram Building and the property to be developed, currently home to to a YWCA that will be demolished to make way for the new 257,000-square-foot, 62-story building, which will be 709 feet high.

Fair enough for the source. DOB isn't always correct due to what they consider the top of the building sometimes, but so far we got 2 legit sources vs 1, so the taller height wins (yay)

Scruffy, I'm gonna replace your front page image of the original 610 Lexington with my own photo of the building, as you got the wrong one displayed. It's a shame that this unassuming yet well-executed gem is gone. It definitely fits in my category of "if they're gonna take it down, they better make it damn worth it" demolitions.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9...xingtonwz7.jpg

Wow, this one is sweet! I want a Foster high rise in Chicago!

Low Iron glass eh? That stuff is expensive, fancy smancy...

This lobby treatment is sick.

Incredibly narrow, but sleek tower. Only in NY can such a tower be built in a small and compact lot.

Could someone change the diagrams page to reflect the new height?

Here's another article with 709 foot mark:
http://www.hines.com/property/detail.aspx?id=1855

Walk by this sunday looks like a pretty deep hole their digging; underground parking? Must be a delicate operation given the proximity of the Lexington Avenue line.

The height on this one has flippped-flopped several times over the past weeks. I believe 709ft was the original and is the most quoted height. I think I must have change my drawing about three times. Glad I had the foresight not to delete my original.

I'm trying to whip up a Wikipedia article for this tower, and I want to make sure the references say what the article implies they say.;)

Update: Foundation work still continues

Photos By: antinimby - Wired New York

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/9711/img0146ag7.jpg

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/834/img0144lp8.jpg

http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/newyork/shangrila

This one has always been around 709 ft (at one point 715 was quoted). Foster has said he could have designed the tower to reach 800 ft, but didn't think his design worked well at that point.

Meanwhile:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10222008...745.htm?page=2

LEHMAN CARNAGE HARMING NYC REAL-ESTATE PROJECTS

October 22, 2008

Several commercial real-estate projects in the city now find themselves under clouds of uncertainty as borrowers holding thousands of loans provided by Lehman discover the spigot has been turned off now that the once-venerable Wall Street firm's future rests in the hands of a bankruptcy judge.

RFR Holdings' fabulous Shangri-La Hotel project at 610 Lexington Ave., which still has foundation work underway by Turner Construction, faces uncertainty.

RFR has $145 million in combined acquisition and construction loans from Lehman on the site where Hines Interests is the owner's rep overseeing the daily work on the 712-foot high, 65-story glass tower designed by Lord Norman Foster.

No one affiliated with the project would discuss whether there is equity or other funds on hand to cover ongoing costs, or if further draw-downs will also be frozen in the Lehman mess.

RFR declined comment on the situation.

While spokespeople were unavailable, a person familiar with the Lehman situation concurred that things are moving slowly in the bankruptcy court and that no money on any Lehman loan is allowed to be drawn out.