While most of thesupertallbuildingboomspotlight has been placed China and the UAE over the retiring few months , there ’s an even more staggering development happening much , much closer to home . At least four 1,000 - foot - plus skyscrapers are set to come up along ( or adjacent to ) West 57th Street over the next few old age , each of the tall enough to change the city ’s apparent horizon everlastingly .
There ’s a residential boom materialise in Midtown Manhattan mighty now , mainly thanks to wealthy investor who trust that condos in Midtown Manhattan are about as static an investment as one can make in good order now . The Wall Street Journaldeclaresit “ a new epoch for skyscrapers , ” while The Observer ’s Matt Chabanwonders“just how many penny-pinching luxuriousness tower can we jam onto 57th Street ? ”
But what ’s most remarkable about this roar ? Its geography . At least six major edifice projects are being purpose along one street — West 57th — over the next few years . Three of those ( along with one on West 56th Street ) will vie for the form of address of the metropolis ’s tallest edifice , based on habitable altitude ( rather than spire height , for which One World Trade carry the cake ) , and one will be the magniloquent residential pillar in the Western Hemisphere . Along this short strip of metropolis , a building race is being kindled by investors eager to nab a slash of the most valuable real estate in America — and it ’s drive some fairly insane art object of computer architecture , too .
The most modest of these projects is One57 , a 1,004 - foot - marvellous condominium building that ’s currently go up pass completion ( ensure below ) . This was the project that , arguably , led to the clustering of new project along the same street . Why ? Because it made news show for the swiftness at which its luxury condo sell — at a fourth dimension when prop value were quaver , no less — and congeal a book for the highest damage paid for a residence in New York city : $ 90 million .
Then there ’s 432 Park , a 1,398 - foot - magniloquent condominium construction plan by notorious “ death - ray architect”Rafael Vinoly . Located a block south of West 57th on the former site of the 80 - year - honest-to-goodness Drake Hotel , which was pulverise to make room for the tower , it ’s currently climb rapidly with a throw closing date of mid-2014 . Each of the construction ’s windowpane measures 100 straight feet of glass , and amenities will admit such necessities as a “ golf breeding quickness . ” It ’ll soon eclipse One57 as the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere :
In recent August , Nordstrom shelled out more than $ 100 million to anchor the forthcoming 1,550 - animal foot - tall condominium tower at 225 West 57th Street , which will be designed by the architects of the now - legendaryBurj Khalifa , Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture ( who were part of SOM at the time ) . The programme is still pending approving from the city , so we only have a vague theme of what it will look like . But if it ’s given the immature light , it will eclipse Chicago ’s Willis Tower as the tallest residential building in the US .
The most recent entrant in New York ’s supertall sweepstakes comes from SHoP Architects and JDS Development Group , which announced a plan to build a 1,350 - foot skyscraper at 107 West 57th earlier this calendar month . Though it ’ll only be the 2nd improbable building in the metropolis ( and the fourth in the body politic ) , it distinguishes itself in another way . It ’s only 40 feet wide :
While for a townhouse that might not be all that noteworthy , it ’s unheard of for a supertall skyscraper . The reason most supertalls have wider base is to support the sidelong personnel of wind and seismal movement on its upper floors . Though SHoP was ineffective to comment on the structural design of the tug when we contacted them , it ’s bound to be moderately alone . And because each floor is only 40 feet across , each unit of measurement will take up an full layer of the building . In other tidings , it ’ll be an entire skyscraper of luxury penthouses . Even for other residential towers built in the metropolis over the past tenner , that ’s an unusual risk . But given the requirement for condos price well into the tens of millions , it ’s not surprising .
Will there be a bust to follow this boom ? It seems likely . TheSkyscraper Index , a controversial hypothesis that put forward a correlation between skyscraper expression and economic busts , tell us that intense competition to construct ever - taller building is normally triggered by an unsustainable house of cards . According to the Index , as interestingness rates unload company thrive — and they build larger offices because it ’s abruptly less expensive to do so .
But what ’s unparalleled about the boom on and around West 57th street is that these buildings are for the most part residential — these are n’t berth distance , which is what the Index traditionally focus on . It ’s being ram by billionaires who need to invest in residential property . So only time will tell whether this astronomical bubble will burst like so many before it , or whether Manhattan will continue along its journey to becoming the rarified orbit of the crack - rich .
furnish of the skyline bysbarnviaNew York Yimby .
Lead image pep up by Skyscraperpage usersbarnviaNew York Yimby .
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