ELEVATOR WORLD New York Newsletter

Volume 33 | February 2021

ELEVATOR WORLD New York is EW's free monthly newsletter focusing on vertical-transportation news in the Greater New York Region. Contact the EW Editorial Department to submit news or the EW Advertising Department to advertise and reach more than 2,700 subscribers in the New York area.

February 2021

DETAILS ABOUT MIDTOWN EAST “COMMODORE” SUPERTALL

Developed by RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone, Project Commodore at 175 Park Avenue in Midtown East includes a 1,646-ft-tall, 83-story tower that would become the tallest in the Western Hemisphere by roof height, New York YIMBY reports. Renderings by architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) reveal a façade featuring "an elegant lattice of tubular metal columns that symmetrically converge at the base" and angled setbacks rising to a lattice crown. Planned on the site of the 26-story Grand Hyatt New York, the structure would contain 500 Hyatt hotel rooms on the upper floors, 2.1 million ft² of office space and 10,000 ft² of ground- and cellar-level retail. The project also includes major renovations to the underground Grand Central subway station and aboveground public improvements such as a 22,000-ft²outdoor area, cafés, art installations and a pair of Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant elevators connecting street and subway. Demolition of the Grand Hyatt is expected to commence in 2022, with completion of Project Commodore anticipated in 2030.

Right: (l-r) One Vanderbilt, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Project Commodore, aka 175 Park Avenue, designed by SOM; diagram (C) SOM

Project Commodore supertall detail; rendering by SOM

AEG ACQUIRES TWO LOCAL COMPANIES

American Elevator Group (AEG) has acquired Dunwell Elevator and Eltech Elevator, based in Brooklyn and the Bronx, NYC, respectively, AEG announced on January 14. Established in 1982, Dunwell is an independent provider of elevator maintenance, repair, modernization and inspection across NYC’s five boroughs. Eltech, founded in 1985, provides elevator maintenance, modernization and repair across the NYC metropolitan area. “Dunwell and Eltech are joining a formidable force in New York’s elevator sector,” said Chris Todd, president of AEG’s Pride & Service Elevator. “I am looking forward to working closely with both businesses as we explore synergies together to better serve our customer portfolio, made possible by AEG’s creative growth strategy.”

CONSTRUCTION TOPS OUT ON THE SPIRAL

The 1,031-ft-tall, 66-story The Spiral, under construction at 66 Hudson Boulevard has topped out, New York YIMBY reported on January 29. As a group of officials, led by Rob Speyer, president and CEO of developer Tishman Speyer, watched, a green tree was lifted atop a steel beam rising up the building. With a design by Bjarke Ingels Group, the steel-framed structure at Tenth and Eleventh avenues and 34th and 35th streets will provide some 2.8 million ft² of office space. The six-story base will house a lobby that will have dual entrances on both Hudson Boulevard East and Tenth Avenue and include 28-ft-tall ceilings. The base will include some 25,000 ft² of first-class retail space. About 51% of the building has been pre-leased, with Pfizer being the anchor tenant. Completion is expected in 2022. The project total is listed at about US$3.7 billion.

Left: Officials stand by as a green tree was recently raised to the top of The Spiral after crews topped out the building; photo by Diane Bondareff for New York YIMBY.

GOVERNOR, LANDLORDS AIM TO GET WORKERS BACK INTO OFFICES

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and building landlords are promoting a plan to get workers back into commercial offices, The Real Deal reported in January. Cuomo, during his second installment of the 2021 State of the State address, said rapid COVID-19 testing would be used in state-designated orange zones to open office buildings, along with restaurants and theaters. In orange zones, when COVID-19 has a 10-day rate of 4% infections and hospitals have 85% of their beds in use, limited outdoor dining and reduced-capacity operation at non-essential businesses are allowed. The plan involves opening hundreds of "pop-up" rapid testing sites where people can be quickly tested to engage in social activity or visit businesses. “Office buildings are the engines of our economy,” said Cuomo. “Bringing workers back safely will boost ridership on our mass transit, bring customers back to restaurants and stores and return life to our streets.”

Prominent commercial landlords, including RXR Realty, Related Cos. and Rudin Management, have been pushing for workers to return to offices, which have been largely vacant since April 2020. Some companies have extended their deadlines for bringing workers back to the office, but some are allowing employees to work from home indefinitely.

JPMORGAN’S SUPERTALL HQ BEGINS ASCENT AT 270 PARK AVENUE

With demolition of its former, 52-story headquarters expected to reach street level this spring, JPMorgan Chase’s new, 1,425-ft.-tall headquarters has begun its ascent at 270 Park Avenue in Midtown East, New York YIMBY reported. In January, the first steel beams were being assembled on the Madison Avenue-facing side of the parcel to make way for the supertall, which will span the entire block between East 47^th and 48^th streets from Park to Madison avenues and offer 2.5 million ft² of office space. The massive steel beams appear to be the first in a series of angular supports at the tower’s base. The midcentury-style former JPMorgan headquarters, previously the Union Carbide Building, will become the “tallest building to ever be peacefully demolished”; photo by Michael Young for New York YIMBY.

IAEC FORUM NYC CALL FOR PAPERS

The International Association of Elevator Consultants (IAEC) is soliciting submissions of topics for presentation at the IAEC Forum NYC seminar sessions. The event is taking place on April 19-23 at the Crowne Plaza Times Square. Organizers said education-centered presentations with minimal sales pitch may be given on topics of interest to vertical-transportation consultants, including new products/technology and safety codes. Both consultants and vendors are encouraged to submit presentation ideas to IAEC Executive Director Sheila Swett, including presentation title and summary, and presenter name and company name.

TIMES SQUARE DEMOLITION PROGRESSING FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION

Demolition of a 46-story hotel in Times Square, which will make way for a new high rise, is nearly complete, New York YIMBY reported in January. The old building's foundation, at 1568 Broadway, will be home to TSX Broadway, a 46-story, 550,000-ft² hotel that will preserve and raise the 108-year-old Palace Theater 30 ft to make room for ground-level retail space. The site is at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 47th Street. With the defunct DoubleTree Suites by Hilton, which is being dismantled, now less than 20 stories high, new photographs reveal the remains of its steel superstructure. TSX Broadway, designed by PBDW Architects, Mancini Duffy and Perkins Eastman, will have 75,000 ft² of retail space on the first 10 stories, a 4,000-ft²performance venue that will have Times Square’s only permanent outdoor stage, 30,000 ft² of dining space and a main tower holding a 669-room hotel. The podium will be covered by a 51,000-ft² LED sign wrapping around its northern corner.

The lifting of the Palace Theater is expected to occur this spring. The project, developed by L&L Holding Co., Maefield Development and Fortress Investment Group, will be ready to take in tenants for its commercial space this year, with full completion and opening of TSX Broadway expected in 2022.

Black netting and scaffolding cover an old building being demolished at 1568 Broadway to make way for TSX Broadway; photo by Michael Young for New York YIMBY.

ADA-COMPLIANT ELEVATORS COMPLETED AT BRONX STATION

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced the completion of two new Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant elevators being installed at the Gun Hill Road 5 Station in the Bronx, Bronx Times reported on January 13. With the project completed in December 2020, the report said, the Gun Hill Road Station became the final of 11 stations to become fully ADA accessible last year. At least eight additional stations are set to undergo ADA-related work this year. The Gun Hill Road elevator work was undertaken by LCD Elevator, Inc. The project also included ADA-compliant construction of platforms and a new station booth, plus other station improvements. A ceremony for the completion of the project was presented by Janno Lieber, president of MTA Construction and Development, along with Victor Calise of the Mayor's Office for People With Disabilities and other state and city officials.

TALLEST BUILDING IN QUEENS CLOSES IN ON COMPLETION

The tallest building in Queens at 68 stories and 778 ft, Skyline Tower is essentially complete, with New York YIMBY describing finishing touches going onto it in December 2020. Located at 23-15 44th Drive in Long Island City, the tower was designed by Hill West Architects and developed by United Construction & Development Group, FSA Capital and Risland US Holdings LLC. A spokesperson for Hill West tells ELEVATOR WORLD its 802 condominiums will be served by a Fujitec America elevator system. Skyline Tower boasts a crown clad in "very thin, narrowly spaced louvers that wrap around the mechanical extensions with elegantly curved corners." The US$1-billion project is slated for completion in the first half of the year; photo by Michael Young for New York YIMBY.

NEII, DoB: SAFETY TRAINING DEADLINE IS MARCH 1

Kevin Brinkman, vice president of codes & safety at the National Elevator Industry, Inc. (NEII), and the Department of Buildings (DoB) recently shared that the deadline for construction superintendents, site safety coordinators and site safety managers in NYC to have a total of 40 h of safety training is March 1. The DoB created digital assets, such as 15- and five-day deadline reminders, for interested parties to share on social media and encouraged them to include the hashtag #NYCBuildSafe. According to the DoB, all construction workers on more than 4,600 jobsites across the city are currently required to have 30 h of safety training; by March 1, they must have completed an additional 10 h to receive their Site Safety Training (SST) cards and continue working. The DoB says approved training providers have already issued more than 110,000 SST cards to construction workers and safety professionals. A product of Local Law 196 of 2017, the DoB says “SST is a first-of-its-kind training requirement. . .aimed at reducing preventable construction-related injuries. . . .”

REBUILT, MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR MIDTOWN BUS TERMINAL PLANNED

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey aims to rebuild its 70-year-old bus terminal at 625 Eighth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, a project that will cost billions and unfold through 2030, ABC 7 was among outlets to report in January. Supported by both New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, the plan involves getting rid of the terminal's "aging tile floors, creaky escalators and creepy corridors" and replacing them with state-of-the-art facilities spread over 1 million ft^2, with features such as new storage and staging areas for an all-electric bus fleet. Also on the drawing board are four commercial towers of unspecified height and more than three acres of public green space. Expanded in 1981, the terminal has become the world's busiest.

View of the terminal from Eighth Avenue and West 42nd Street, showing the world's largest LED "mediamesh" façade; photo by Hudconja for Wikipedia

RENDERINGS SHOW DESIGN OF PLANNED BROOKLYN TOWER

Designer ODA has released new renderings for a flagship mixed-use building planned in North Brooklyn, New York YIMBY reported in January. The project, a 28-story tower developed by The Collective, is set to rise at 555 Broadway, on the border of South Williamsburg and Broadway Triangle. The building, to stand 319 ft, will offer 254 rental apartments and short-stay rooms, 293 hotel rooms and shared office space, along with retail, community facilities and amenities spaces. With an estimated construction cost pegged at about US$450 million, the project would be one of the largest co-living developments in the city. Renderings illustrate what is being called a “kinetic façade.” The three-story podium features a double-height glass enclosure along Broadway, with its remaining corners intersected by ribbed and bronzed cladding. Above the podium, the façade features white masonry and cantilevered bars edging out of the structure.

Planned amenity spaces include a rooftop pool, underground parking for 180 vehicles, a Turkish bath, indoor and outdoor lounge areas and a fitness center. The building will also offer large coworking suites, a restaurant, community spaces and a “market hall.” Construction permits were filed in June 2019. The developer team has not revealed an official project schedule, but sources say completion is anticipated by the end of 2022. This rendering was recently released by ODA.

JERSEY CITY OFFICIALS APPROVE 26-STORY MIXED-USE TOWER

The Jersey City, New Jersey, Planning Board has approved a proposed 26-story mixed-use tower in Journal Square, New York YIMBY reported in January. The building, set for a site at 425 Summit Avenue, is being developed by Spitzer Enterprises, a real estate development firm founded and partially owned by former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer. The design is by architects Marchetto Higgins Stieve. The project will include 386 residential apartments, including one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Premium spaces will have private balconies and large outdoor terraces. Residential amenities will include 200 bicycle spaces, multiple rooftop and podium-top outdoor spaces and a fitness center. Original applications also call for 3,550 ft² of retail space and 34,000 ft² set aside for offices. A construction timeline has not been announced; rendering by Marchetto Higgins Stieve.

ALOFT HOTEL MAKING PROGRESS IN FINANCIAL DISTRICT

Construction is making progress on a 28-story Aloft Hotel rising at 50 Trinity Place in the Financial District, New York YIMBY reported. Construction crews have been working on the eighth floor, with the project now surpassing an adjacent building. The concrete superstructure has begun to hint at previous renderings by Peter Poon Architects, such as slanted corner columns that will frame the hotel's main entrance. Amenities for the 173-room, 77,310-ft² tower will include a ground-floor restaurant and a second-floor fitness center reserved for guests. The renderings showed the building clad in light and dark metal panels and a double-height assembly on all floors above a multistory podium, but the source said it is not clear if they will be used in the final design. The Aloft, under development by FIT Investment Corp., was previously scheduled for completion in December 2020, but work is now expected to wrap up in late 2021 or early 2022. As previously reported, 777 Greenwich Street, a residential tower designed by FX Collaborative, is rising on the same plot of land as the Aloft. The concrete superstructure for the Aloft Hotel at 50 Trinity Place is pictured here in December 2020. At left, construction elevators are visible on the building sharing the plot of land; photo by Michael Young for New York YIMBY.

FUNDING ACQUIRED FOR SOUTH BRONX DEVELOPMENT

A US$349-million financing package will fund phase one of Bronx Point, a mixed-use, affordable housing development in the South Bronx, New York YIMBY reported. The multilevel phase one project, which culminates in a 22-story tower, which will include a waterfront esplanade along the Harlem River, will offer 542 permanently affordable apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units. Other components of phase one include 2.8 acres of public space, a permanent home for the Universal Hip Hop Museum and an early childhood facility. The esplanade will include walkways, seating areas, a barbecue area, fitness zones and public restrooms. The phase one building will encompass four interlocking volumes that gradually step up to the 22-story tower. It will include a large retail podium and a large rooftop courtyard. Future development will bring Bronx Point's housing to a total 1,045 rental units. The developers are L+M Development Partners, Type A Projects, BronxWorks and the City of New York, and the design is by S9 Architecture & Engineering. Groundbreaking for phase one is imminent, with completion targeted for late 2023; rendering by S9 Architecture & Engineering.

UPCOMING EVENTS

2021

NAEC Spring Educational Conference

Tucson, AZ

April 18-21

For more information, visit website.

IAEC Forum 2021 NYC

Crowne Plaza Times Square, NYC

April 19-23

For more information, visit website.

Pop/Joe 46th Annual Memorial Invitational Golf Outing

Port Washington, New York

June 14

For more information, visit website.

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