350 Park Avenue, rendering from Vornado / Rudin Management
BY: Michael Young 8:00 AM ON APRIL 17, 2020
Perhaps the most exciting skyscraper project proposed for New York last year is 350 Park Avenue, a nearly 1,500-foot-tall skyscraper from Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin Management. After YIMBY broke the news on Vornado’s expected 2027 completion date for the tower back in February, we stopped by the site to check on the status of its current occupant. Located between East 51st and East 52nd Streets, a total of two edifices would need to be demolished to make way for the development.
350 Park Avenue. Photo by Tectonic
Vornado has stated that demolition cannot begin until the current leases expire at the end of 2023. Rudin Management owns the adjacent 23-story building to the immediate west at 40 East 52nd Street. This would also have to be demolished to make room for the expansive superstructure. As of now, an architect for the future supertall hasn’t been formally announced, but YIMBY will keep an eye out for any information.
Though the main rendering may not reflect the finished design, it nonetheless reveals the project’s height and design language, characterized by a dramatic wedge-shaped design culminating in twin architectural spires. Composed of four glass-clad sections that successively step back from the sidewalk, the building is a gentle, elegant homage to the classic New York setback pattern. Regardless of the final iteration, any building massing would likely feature wide eastern and western elevations and much slimmer northern and southern profiles.
Park Avenue and Midtown East as a whole are poised for a dramatic transformation over the next decade. Topped-out projects like One Vanderbilt and 425 Park Avenue have already made an impression on the Manhattan skyline and will both complete construction in the near future. In addition, JP Morgan Chase’s upcoming headquarters at 270 Park Avenue is underway and will bring another commercial office supertall to the fold.
350 Park Avenue is reported to be completed around 2027.