[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NOPA

Wow this could be as tall as 432 Park Ave? That's impressive.

Not likely. If it were residential, maybe.

Originally Posted by Oura

This tower has great massing. All what it needs is a reclad with limestone. Would be a shame to demolish it.

Likely needs a lot more than that. They're not just trying to build a more useful building, they are trying to build a tower suitable for the Manhattan market of today, or in other words, what would be built there today. Think in terms of the size of the floorplates, ceiling heights, and other amenities that the modern Manhattan office tower comes with.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/re...-levinson.html

The 30-Minute Interview
David W. Levinson

April 24, 2012

Q. Are you working on many projects right now?

A. Some of our existing buildings are going through redevelopments. We are doing a very large retail development down at 195 Broadway, and probably our most important and most exciting new development is 425 Park Avenue.

Q. Let’s talk about your plans there.

A. We’ll be demolishing about 75 percent of the building. There’ll be a podium — of course the brick skin will come off — and we’ll build a new tower on top of the podium. The current condition of the building — it’s so dated — is that it’s not economically feasible to try to rehabilitate it. It’s not a sustainable building in terms of energy efficiency: there’s single-pane glass, old mechanical systems.

This is a very special and unique opportunity — it’s a full-block building. There has not been a full-block building built on Park Avenue in 50 years, and there’s no other in the foreseeable future.

Q. How do you envision the new building?

A. We’ll leave it to the architects, but I would guess probably the first six floors of steel will remain — that would be the podium — and then there will be a tower on top of that. We’ll start getting Central Park views probably about 300 feet up. There will probably be a variety of floor sizes. We’re looking to do it column free, floor-to-ceiling glass and sustainable — LEED platinum or gold. It’s going to be in the range of three-quarters of a billion dollars. So you have to create value.

We just invited 11 of the greatest architects in the world to compete for the design, and then we’ll get it down to a short list. We would like to hear back from them some time in early May to see if they’re interested. Hopefully we’ll have our architect selected by the early fall.

Q. What’s the development timetable?

A. It’s all “as of right,” which means we don’t need any special permission or permits. We just have to comply with all of the regulations. We’ll begin early spring 2015. All the current leases expire on the same day in April 2015. And we expect we’ll complete it by the end of 2017. None of us have ever seen a building demolished on Park Avenue.