[title]
It won't top One World Trade Center in height, but a new proposed sustainable, mixed-use building rising 83 stories above New York street level next to Grand Central is very well poised to become the second tallest tower in the city. The 1,646-foot project is designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and expected to completely revamp the current site of the Grand Hyatt hotel.
Although the proposal isn't a new one, the renderings that were just released in connection to it are—and they look insanely cool.
The project is still in very preliminary phases but folks behind the effort are already seeking special permits to develop it as they wish. The final product would ideally include 100,000 square feet of retail space, 2.1 million square feet of commercial office space and a 453,000-square-foot Hyatt hotel boasting a total of 500 rooms. Add to that over 20,000 square feet of outdoor public space and you've got yourself a very large New York project.
According to an official press release, the outdoor portion of the effort will include three separate terraces. The western one, dubbed Grand Central, would connect to the Park Avenue Viaduct and "allow visitors to face Grand Central Terminal's eastern facade for the first time in a century." The Chrysler Terrace, on the other hand, will be equipped with a stunning new view of the Chrysler Building. The northern Graybar Terrace would connect the other two, so that folks could walk around the building freely without ever exiting it to explore it in all its nuances.
Expect transit-related changes to also take hold, including a redesigned nearby subway entrance.
This is just the latest news regarding novel skyscrapers adorning the New York City skyline. As part of a $235 million improvement plan, a giant skyscraper is being built on top of Macy's in Herald Square, for example. The latter project also includes environmentally-friendly updates to the surrounding area—marking yet another effort to update the vertical architecture of the city while bettering its horizontal counterpart.
Let's collectively wait and see how things unfold—although exciting changes are clearly on the horizon.
Check out a series of renderings right here:
