Pearl House
Excellence in Adaptive Reuse
Location: New York, NY
Developer/Owner: Vanbarton Group
Architect: Gensler
Photo Credit: Garrett Rowland
As cities wrestle with ways to repurpose empty office buildings for residential use, the 525,000-square-foot, 588-unit Pearl House is a useful case study. It is one of the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York, created, remarkably, without zoning or financing incentives. The remake of 160 Water Street, a 1970s office tower situated in the Financial District, faced many challenges that forced creative design, financing, engineering, and marketing solutions. A phased leasing strategy involving a series of occupancy permits helped the developer generate cash flow and access additional funding tied to reaching leasing metrics while the balance of the building remained under construction. The creation of three new interior voids running the height of the existing building removed unplannable floor area. But a redeployed floor area at the top of the tower in a new overbuild section made up for the lost space. That addition also allowed for more–valuable penthouse units and both indoor and outdoor amenity spaces. Sustainability, too, features prominently in Pearl House. A former mechanical floor was freed up for residential units by changing heating and cooling from a centralized to a distributed system. The building’s thermal performance drastically improved by adding double-paned insulated glass. A new, water-sourced heat pump transfers thermal control to units. The clever design, engineering, and amenities, including a bowling alley and billiard room, have transformed an underused commercial property into a vibrant vertical neighborhood that has helped activate the Seaport and Financial District as a 24×7 area.
Pier 57
Excellence in Adaptive Reuse
Location: New York, NY
Developers: Young Woo & Associates, RXR
Owner: Hudson River Park Trust
Architects: Handel Architects (Core & Shell, Façade, Rooftop Park), Diller Scofidio + Renfro and HLW (Google Levels 1-4 and Public Spaces), Christopher Warnick Architecture (City Winery, El Bar), S9 Architecture (Market 57, Classrooms, and Public Living Room)
Originally built in 1907 as a shipping and storage terminal, reconstructed in the 1950s after a fire, and later serving as a bus garage, Pier 57 has been reimagined as a unique, mixed-use destination in Hudson River Park through intense collaboration and innovation. Pier 57, with its novel caisson design, is essentially a 500,000-square-foot skyscraper turned on its side that now features a two-and-a-half-acre rooftop park, the 16-kiosk Market 57 international food hall, an enormous public seating area with Wi-Fi, 12,000 square feet of free public classrooms, and several restaurants. Anchoring—as well as helping finance and design the unique public–private partnership—were key tenants Google, which now has 345,000 square feet of mostly client meeting and presentation space, and culinary arts organization the James Beard Foundation, which now houses a training kitchen at Pier 57. But the road from underused asset to a community and commercial hub was far from easy. Extensive meetings between stakeholders including community boards, the Hudson River Park Trust, and nearly 20 city, state, and federal agencies yielded a range of ideas requiring creative engineering and exacting detail to meet city requirements and local needs. Two new floors were added to expand the space. Angled glazing was added to keep out the elements. To enhance resilience, the site now has multiple flood protection systems, including an AquaFence flood barrier and flood curbing; critical utilities were moved up to the fourth floor to prevent damage. The former roof parking lot was transformed into a spectacular garden with a glass pavilion. Since its April 2023 opening, the award-winning site has welcomed 2.2 million visitors to its living room, marketplace, and rooftop. Creative public–private partnerships and the tailoring of uses to local neighborhood needs have made Pier 57 a magnet for the public and businesses large and small in the Meatpacking District.
The Refinery at Domino
Excellence in Adaptive Reuse
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Developer: Two Trees Management
Design Architect: PAU
Executive Architect: dencityworks
Photo Credit: Max Touhey
The rebirth of a former sugar refinery on Williamsburg’s waterfront as a Class A office building required painstaking adaptation. Described as “building a ship in a bottle,” the celebrated landmark facade’s windows of many shapes and sizes had let in little light. So an entirely new, all-electric glass and steel structure was nestled within the building’s interior, set back 12 feet from the historical facade so that sunlight would stream in. The new, 460,000–square-foot, 15-story building incorporates virtually column-free floor plates and operable, floor-to-ceiling windows. A distinguishing feature is cascading vines, for a green ecosystem between the building and the facade. To blend with the old, a chimney of more than 214 feet was retained. As for layout, the building has a triple-height atrium lobby. Office tenants occupy lower floors. Customizable office space is available on higher floors. Amenities include a fitness club with an indoor pool and gym. The building also has a private water reuse system on the Domino campus for the on-site treatment and reuse of wastewater from The Refinery. The system diverts polluted water from city outfalls and improves the East River’s water quality. The crown jewel is a 27,000-square-foot glass dome penthouse with stunning 360-degree views. The Refinery at Domino is the heart of an expansive project stretching onto both the adjacent one-acre Domino Square Plaza—where farmers markets, movie nights, and ice–skating are planned—and the celebrated 5-acre waterfront Domino Park. Ingenuity, respect for the past, and commitment to the broader community have made the Refinery at Domino a highly visible and valued centerpiece in one of New York’s most popular neighborhoods.
Gotham Point
Excellence in Affordable Housing Development
Location: Queens, NY
Developer/Owner: Gotham Organization
Developer: Riseboro Community Partnership
Public Agency Partners: New York City Housing Development Corporation, New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development
Architects: Handel Architects, BHDM
Photo Credit: Gotham Organization
Gotham Point on the Hunters Point waterfront in Long Island City is noteworthy for several reasons. Its location on a former brownfield site in a historically industrial area shows what’s possible with remediation and a vision. The 1.1–million–square-foot project, comprising two buildings totaling 1,132 residences—75% of them affordable—speaks to creative funding strategies that can help meet ambitious affordability, inclusivity, and sustainability goals. Proceeds from the one in four units that is market rate help finance housing for a range of income bands and valued and supportive multigenerational services and programming. One hundred fourteen units are earmarked for individuals from the shelter system, and 98 for older people. Amenities include an art studio, rooftop farm and terrace, coworking space, children’s playroom, fitness center, and the Queens Landing Boathouse and Environmental Center. Among other planned programming and services are an artist-in-residence program with discounted studio space, a day care facility and nursery, a pediatric dentist, an orthodontist, and a grocery store. Standout features include contemporary designs in units, incorporating plank flooring, stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, and heat pumps to meet sustainability goals. Now the formerly derelict site offers a vibrant mix of housing, art, and recreational, health, educational, and supportive services to residents with a range of backgrounds and incomes.
Sendero Verde
Excellence in Affordable Housing Development
Location: New York, NY
Developers/Owners: Jonathan Rose Companies, L+M Development Partners, Acacia Network
Public Agency Partner: New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development
Design Architect, Architect of Record & Interior Designer: Handel Architects
Photo Credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto
Affordable–housing buildings rarely incorporate all of the sustainability, design, and wellness features that market-rate housing can provide. Not so with Sendero Verde in East Harlem. With 709 all-electric units, it is the world’s largest passive-house residential building. The 750,851–square–foot, 100%–affordable–housing complex was built on a site previously occupied by four community gardens. It features beautiful details, including subtle color variation in bricks to blend with the surroundings, abundant tenant amenities, a community garden, a central–courtyard, on–site school, a computer room, supportive services, and a Family Enrichment Center. A resident social services director, occupational therapists, art and dance classes, and housing specialists help meet the needs of formerly unhoused populations. Among Sendero Verde’s sustainability and wellness features are a highly insulated envelope, triple-glazed high-performance windows, low–energy mechanical equipment, solar panels, stormwater reuse, and continuous ventilation. Most noteworthy was the use of off-the-shelf products for the stick-built, site–erected details in a passive–house building within budget. Sendero Verde balances affordable housing, sustainability, and community integration, establishing a precedent for large-scale sustainable housing.
The Peninsula
Excellence in Affordable Housing Development
Location: Bronx, NY
Developers: The Hudson Companies, Gilbane Development Company, Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY)
Public Agency Partners: New York City Economic Development Corporation, New York City Housing Development Corporation, New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development
Architects: WXY Architects, Body Lawson Associates Architects and Planners
Photo Credit: Darris Harris
Out of the Bronx’s Spofford Juvenile Detention Center’s ashes comes a vibrant, highly affordable housing, commercial, and cultural development at two sites spanning the prior center’s 5.5 acres. The Peninsula project’s 183 units and accompanying services are fostering the development of new jobs, small businesses, artwork, and green technology. Following the brownfield site’s cleanup and rezoning, Peninsula Building 1A’s 57,000 square feet host Bronx-based small businesses, including bakers, coffee roasters, noodle producers, and foodie entrepreneurs in a shared kitchen. Some 100 new jobs in and around Hunts Point are expected from other project businesses within five years. In the 177,000-square-foot Building 1B parcel, where all rentals are located, 90% of units are priced at 30–80% of area median income, and the remaining 10% balance of units are reserved for formerly unhoused populations. Also in 1B are multiple subsidized rehearsal, studio, and gathering spaces for community artists. Native plants, benches, and walkways dot the development. Shared amenities range from outdoor terraces to bike storage, to fitness centers and playrooms. The Peninsula’s solar panel, green roof, low-flow appliances, heat island reduction, floodplain avoidance, and rooftop rainwater harvesting together with the city’s first aerobic food–waste-to-fertilizer digester have put the project on track for LEED Gold certification. The Peninsula’s new chapter attests to the potential of repurposing space to foster empowerment and growth.
Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York
Excellence in Hotel Development
Location: New York, NY
Developer: Caspi Development
Architect: SBJ Group Architects and Interior Designers
Photo Credit: Alexander Severin
Tribeca in Lower Manhattan is known for its lofty remade industrial spaces and warehouses. Hotels Barrière’s Fouquet’s New York, a 97-room five-star boutique hotel, blends seamlessly into these surroundings. The new build on the site of a former one-story garage complements the brick, stone, and cast-iron elements in adjacent nineteenth-century buildings by incorporating these materials and adding modern ones such as metal screening, an aluminum panel system, large windows, a steel and corrugated glass canopy, and a zinc-paneled roof. Interiors are contemporary with period features. Amenities are of the moment: a 100-person screening room and theater, a fitness center with indoor whirlpool, a spa, and a rooftop pool. Designers also expended great effort on sustainability and resilience features, including storm water management, efficient lighting, high-efficiency HVAC equipment, programmable controls and thermostats, a raised first floor, and dry-waterproofed amenity spaces in the cellar and subcellar. But Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s New York biggest local draw is perhaps its feature as a “living room” in the neighborhood, with a bar lounge and sidewalk restaurant. The hotel’s nod to the neighborhood’s storied past and modern amenities make it a popular destination for both tourists and locals.
the Fifth Avenue Hotel
Excellence in Hotel Development
Location: Manhattan, NY
Owner: Flaneur Hospitality
Founder/Proprietor: Alex Ohebshalom
Architect: Perkins Eastman
Photo Credit: Andrew Rugge – © Perkins Eastman
The remaking of a NoMad beaux arts building into a stylish hotel in a dense, landmark-protected area faced its share of challenges. Existing floor plates in the Gilded Age mansion-turned twentieth–century bank made carving out cookie–cutter rooms impossible. To preserve its gloried past while adding modern flourishes, the entire skeleton of the prior structure was ripped out and the facade was braced. Today rooms in the new, 140,000-square-foot, 153-guest–room Fifth Avenue Hotel boast terracotta cornices, steel framework, and wood-framed windows. Twenty-foot-high doors grace the street entrance. For more space, a striking, new, 24-story modern concrete, metal, and glass tower was added. Most noteworthy was the hotel’s inspiration, which came from a 1911 New York Times article detailing a proposal for a “tall loft building” on the site. Designed to meet LEED Silver standards, sustainability features include energy-efficient windows, an upgraded HVAC system, and the insulation and enhancement of exterior walls. The hotel’s crown jewel is its Portrait Bar, with book-lined shelves, a grand stone-carved fireplace, and a variety of portraits lining the wood-paneled walls. Collectively, The Fifth Avenue Hotel’s design, art, gastronomy, and hospitality have earned it accolades from Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Town & Country, and Architectural Digest, among others. The Fifth Avenue Hotel transforms a landmark into a new vision of intuitive and imaginative hospitality in the heart of New York.
Far Rockaway Library
Excellence in Institutional Development
Location: Queens, NY
Developer: New York City Department of Design and Construction
Owner: Queens Public Library, City of New York
Architect: Snøhetta
Photo Credit: Jeff Goldberg/Esto
In a building befitting its history and service to the community, the new Far Rockaway Library hits all the right notes in design, sustainability, and functionality. The prior library, built in 1968, served as disaster relief site during Hurricane Sandy, providing food, a meeting point, and supplies. Its replacement at twice the size is equally welcoming. A luminescent facade with sculpted words referencing daily life in New York aims to draw local communities into the building’s glass entrance and sun-filled rooms. A central atrium shaped like an inverted pyramid lets light stream in and offers sky views. Its vibrantly colored facade reflects the diverse local community and beautiful sunsets. But equal pains were taken to make the library a community hub, with private meeting rooms, a teen room, and a small business center. A public garden provides dedicated space for communal meetings, study, play, and repose. Developers also shored up the LEED Silver library’s resilience and added sustainability features such as a stormwater retention system, the ability to bring in an emergency generator for keeping the building operational, a blue roof, and a concrete raised–floor, forced–air system for radiant heating and cooling. The remade Far Rockaway Library continues to be a beacon of light, hope, and resilience for the local community, with sustainability features fit for all weather.
Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History
Excellence in Institutional Development
Location: New York, NY
Owner: American Museum of Natural History
Design Architect: Studio Gang
Executive Architect: Davis Brody Bond
Photo Credit: Iwan Baan
It undulates, flows, is bathed in light, and connects to 10 buildings at the celebrated American Museum of Natural History. Designers behind the 150-year-old museum’s new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation expended great effort with multiple city and state agencies and local stakeholders to ensure that the new center met its lofty goals of improving visitor circulation and multidisciplinary exhibits. Today the center, a place of wonder and joy, invites discovery in its 230,000 square feet of new and renovated spaces in and around the museum. The atrium’s high structural–load capacity and flat-plate concrete floors allow exhibits, programming, and STEM-focused classrooms—all of them serving hundreds of thousands of students—to change over time. Noteworthy are the center’s facade and interior design, akin to a porous geological formation shaped by water and wind. That approach opened the atrium to natural light, to over 30 new connections to previous dead ends within the museum’s wings, and to integration with Theodore Roosevelt Park, where the museum sits, by expanding the lawn and adding trees. Exemplary sustainability features include the use of shotcrete, normally used for infrastructure projects, which eliminated the need for finishes while reducing waste. Other features are a light-colored roof membrane and a tree canopy to reduce the urban heat island effect, high-performance glazing, and low window-to-wall ratios. Among celebrated exhibits seamlessly connected in a fluid way are an insectarium and butterfly vivarium; approximately four million scientific specimens; and Invisible Worlds, which explores the interdependency of life. The museum’s new front door has won numerous accolades and continues to draw global crowds in a design that is fit for future generations.
505 State Street
Excellence in Market-Rate Housing Development
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Developer: Alloy Development
Public Agency Partner: New York City Educational Construction Fund
Architect: Alloy Design
Photo Credit: Pavel Bendov
A 44-floor mixed-use residential and retail tower in downtown Brooklyn, 505 State Street is the first all-electric tower in New York to be powered entirely by local renewable energy. The building is part of the first phase of the larger Alloy Block development, Brooklyn’s first LEED community (LEED Gold for Communities), which also includes the city’s first two passive-house schools. Notably, the 416,475-square-foot project was completed without subsidies on a dense triangular site while preserving two historical structures. Much of the block’s design and amenities grew from extensive input from the local community on how to remake a block near New York’s second-largest transportation hub that contained a pawn shop, several buildings, and a high school—the latter then in a rundown, nineteenth-century building. As a result of some 120 meetings and feedback from a newly formed Community Advisory Group, with stakeholders ranging from the Brooklyn Partnership to community boards, the area was rezoned, and planned parking and loading docks were eliminated. Creative engineering was required. The building sits on a podium of four stacked triangular volumes that twist and set back. Today the tower holds 441 apartments—45 of which are affordable—featuring exposed concrete ceilings, large and energy-efficient triple–paned windows, smart thermostats, and water source heat pumps. Crowd–pleasing amenities include a gym, a screening room, and even the Grow Room, a plant-filled meditation space. The exemplary design and sustainability features of 505 State Street grew from intense listening to the local community and a commitment to quality.
Claremont Hall
Excellence in Market-Rate Housing Development
Location: New York, NY
Developers: Lendlease, LMXD
Equity Partner: Daiwa House Texas, Inc.
Architects: Robert A.M. Stern Architects, CetraRuddy Architects
Photo Credit: Francis Dzikowski/OTTO
The arrival of 41-story Claremont Hall in Morningside Heights, near Columbia University, illustrates how stakeholders can work together to meet the long-term needs of storied institutions while luring in new tenants via beautiful offerings and attractive amenities. The envisioned 354,0000-square-foot mixed-use condominium tower on the campus of Union Theological Seminary faced its share of community acceptance, building, and engineering challenges. The 165-unit building targeting LEED Gold was first proposed to the 180-year-old Seminary to help generate revenue for its operations, maintenance, and growth through a sale of the seminary’s remaining air rights. Community pushback and engagement resulted in changes. As a result, the development team went to painstaking effort to marry old and new in a structure with Gothic features—such as stonework of that style on the building’s façade—that complement the landmark James Tower, the spires of nearby Riverside Church, and the neighborhood itself. Claremont Hall’s lower floors comprise 54,000 square feet of classrooms and academic offices, and 29 apartments for faculty. Residents enjoy high ceilings, oversize windows, oak flooring, open kitchens, and sweeping views. Amenities include a walnut-paneled library, a grand dining room, a creative maker’s room, a resident lounge with terrace, a fitness center, and a stunning indoor pool. The latter, restored from the former refectory, was an engineering and design feat requiring additional support and code improvements. Period details that remain include soaring Gothic ceilings, chandeliers, beams, glass windows, and stonework. Claremont Hall shows how new assets can be developed through creative planning and zoning mechanisms, so that valued institutions can continue to serve generations to come.
Ruby
Excellence in Market-Rate Housing Development
Location: New York, NY
Developers: Joint venture between MAG Partners, Safanad, Atalaya Capital Management and Qualitas
Architect: COOKFOX Architects
Photo Credit: Alex Ferrec – © COOKFOX Architects
The debut project of MAG Partners, Ruby is a 433,791-square-foot multifamily development rising on a former surface parking lot across from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Challenges beset the Ruby project from the start. Financing for the Chelsea-based development, named after expressive visual and performance artist and fashion designer Ruby Bailey—was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, which also interrupted construction. Despite these obstacles, however, developer MAG Partners prevailed in building its 480 studio to three-bedroom residences in a project that is celebrated for design and sustainability. Facades feature hand-laid brick, richly patterned surfaces, and narrow setbacks. Warmly lit wood panels and diffused interior lighting grace the lobby and amenity spaces. Kitchens feature integrated appliances, herringbone backsplashes, ceramic subway tile walls, oak wood flooring, Nest thermostats, and solar shades. Amenities include a rooftop pool and lounge, a grilling terrace, library lounges, and a fitness center. Today, Ruby’s two 22- and 23-story towers—30% of which house affordable units—overlook a central courtyard. Ruby, whose exterior design references textiles in its Garment District neighborhood, enlivens a previously overlooked area in the center of the city.
St. John's Terminal
Excellence in Office Development
Location: New York, NY
Developer: Oxford Properties Group
Design Architect: COOKFOX Architcts
Architect of Record: Adamson Associates, P.C.
Interiors Architect: Gensler
Photo Credit: Image courtesy of Google
The transformation of St. John’s Terminal from a 1930s freight structure supporting up to 227 railcars and into the office of the future speaks to what is possible in the office sector. The new St. John’s Terminal development stands out for the creative engineering and design that made the remake possible, as did new wellness and sustainability features. The project saved the equivalent of 78,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide by converting rather than destroying the structure. A nine-story overbuild was added to accommodate up to 3,000 employees in 1.3 million square feet, and new precast cores constructed with an innovative posttension bridge technology were used for faster and less–climate-intensive work. The LEED v4 Platinum building boasts on–site terrace solar arrays, water retention systems, and a double-wall curtain wall with integrated shading for 1 million kilowatt–hours of annual energy savings. As for design, the terminal’s brick facade, limestone detailing, and masonry base were carefully restored. Newly exposed railbeds host some 95% of plants native to New York State. In total, the building has 33,700 square feet of open space at street level, on terraces, and on rooftops. Wellness features include daylit interiors and biodynamic lighting for panoramic views. All of that led to the office complex’s becoming the largest single-office sale since 2018, when anchor tenant Google purchased the property for more than $2 billion. The building has also received coverage in prominent publications such as The New York Times as well as several awards. St. John Terminal’s triumph shows how blue–sky thinking, intricate design, sustainability, greenspace, and wellness planning can transform a defunct structure into a highly coveted office space while revitalizing a neighborhood.
Trinity Commons
Excellence in Office Development
Location: New York, NY
Developer/Owner: Trinity NYC
Design Architect: Pelli Clarke Pelli
Executive Architect: Stephen B. Jacobs Group
Photo Credit: Colin Winterbottom
For community engagement, diverse uses, and design, the boutique Trinity Commons development in the Financial District scores points. From its inception, the development was envisioned to serve three distinct groups, and it has more than met the goal. The first six floors contain public and community spaces; the upper levels house commercial office space, which provides revenue for Trinity Church; and the midrise floors are dedicated to Trinity’s philanthropic and endowment work. But getting there wasn’t easy. Minimum disruption and abundant use by both the storied 325-year-old institution and its neighbors were primary considerations for the new, 317,600-square-foot, 27-floor infill tower. Its planned location above two active subway lines between a landmark colonial-era cemetery, a church, and the American Stock Exchange required careful leveling of two buildings and painstaking planning with partners. Preparation included meetings with more than 10,000 stakeholders, surveys, assessments, and three public charettes to solicit ideas. As a result, the soaring tower targeting LEED Gold wins accolades for its contemporary design and sustainability. Its facade features copper to bronze colors to blend with the church’s brownstone exterior, and its vertical piers nod to the church’s iconic spire. The interior incorporates millwork and stained glass salvaged from the demolished buildings. Trinity Commons repurposes stormwater, uses a cogeneration plant, a resiliency-focused generator, LED lights, occupancy sensors, and advanced controls, and it incorporates flood barriers. As for stewardship, Trinity Common’s lower floors hold classrooms, art studios, teaching kitchens, a parish hall for 300, and its Compassion Market, which offers clothing and supplies for those in need. Modern offices and amenities on the upper floors feature sweeping views from outdoor terraces. The development’s draw to a broad mix of users is a testament to the extensive community engagement and planning that made meeting multiple needs in a complex project possible.
East Midtown Greenway
Excellence in Urban Open Space
Location: New York, NY
Developer: New York City Economic Development Corporation
Owner: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Architect: Stantec Consulting Services Inc.
Photo Credit: Timothy Schenck
For its innovative contribution to a contiguous green loop around Manhattan, the two-acre East Midtown Greenway stands apart. It closes a key gap in the not-yet-complete 32.5-mile Manhattan Waterfront Greenway loop as part of the envisioned 22-block East River Esplanade. Born from rigorous collaboration between structural engineers, civil engineers, architects, and landscape architects, East Midtown Greenway is an in-water public park between 53rd and 61st Streets built on newly constructed piers that stretch into the East River because the FDR Drive blocks access to the waterfront there. The path offers shade, benches, and a biking and walking path over those streets. Additionally, a new, 115-foot pedestrian bridge over the FDR Drive at 54th Street now eases passage to the new waterfront park. Most noteworthy is the novel way troughs were designed into the path’s edges to anchor newly planted trees and soil cells for trees’ lateral root growth. Sloped pavements capture stormwater to irrigate new plants, all of which are native to New York State. Also of note are lighter–colored pavements to reduce the urban heat island effect, designs so the greenway can withstand flooding and sea–level rise, and the $3–million in funding returned to the city due to efficient engagement, approvals, and planning between a complex group of stakeholders such as community boards and several city agencies. In a city starved for greenspace and flood mitigation, East Midtown Greenway offers future generations a place to unwind and enjoy spectacular city views.
Manhattan West
Excellence in Urban Open Space
Location: New York, NY
Developer – Manhattan West: Brookfield Properties
Developer – High Line – Moynihan Connector: Empire State Development, Brookfield Properties, Friends of the High Line
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Field Operations
Photo Credit: Dave Burk © SOM
The area west of Penn Station has been a greenspace desert. The arrival of 2.6 acres of open space between 9th and 10th Avenues and West 31st and 33rd Streets—an area that is part of the broader, 7-million-square–foot Manhattan West mixed-use development—has changed that. Manhattan West brings plazas, native–plant gardens, benches, and a range of programming to the Western Hemisphere’s busiest mass transit hub. Given the density and complexity of the area, this open space’s arrival was an engineering feat: Plazas and walkways were built on a 2.6–acre precast concrete segmental structure above active railroad tracks on what was previously an open railyard, a parking lot, and two existing buildings. Guiding the project aboveground was a master plan with fluid pathways to increase walkability around the area. Today, among many programs offered are art installations, movie premieres, dance contests, food festivals, and ice–skating. In addition, pedestrians now have car-free east–west access from the Manhattan West plaza to the High Line via the pedestrian bridges of the new, 600-foot Moynihan Connector, which 12,500 commuters use daily. The creative injection of green and open space into an area where minimal buildable land previously existed in a dense, transit-rich corridor has transformed the Penn District from a pass-through stretch into a vibrant destination with ties to existing walkways, retail stores, and parks.