Last month, One Vanderbilt topped out to become the latest supertall to join New York City’s crowded skyline. At 1,401 feet, the glassy tower is the tallest office building in Midtown, and the fourth highest skyscraper in the city.
The $3 billion, 1.7-million square foot project developed by SL Green predated the 2017 rezoning of East Midtown, but it was heralded as the model for the kinds of buildings the rezoning could usher in. That’s largely because of the $220 million in public street and transit improvement that the developer is constructing at the base near Grand Central. The plan is to create another below-ground entry into one of the city’s busiest transit hubs, relieving some of the bottlenecks that form during rush hour.
Furthermore, the street on which the building sits, Vanderbilt Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, is set to be a pedestrian-only plaza.
With all this in mind, New York Magazine's Justin Davidson has called One Vanderbilt a “a civic-minded Goliath.”
In August, former Council member Dan Garodnick, who worked on the East Midtown rezoning plan and now heads the Riverside Park Conservancy, tweeted a video preview of how the entrance to Grand Central is coming along.
Here's a look at what the finished product should look like.
Still, for many, the real drama of a skyscraper always resides at the top. With that in mind, Gothamist recently visited One Vanderbilt's rooftop. Like Rockefeller Center, One World Trade Center, 30 Hudson Yards, and the Empire State Building, the tower will have a vertigo-inducing observation deck. Click through the slideshow to get a preview of the 360-degree sunset views of New York City.
The building is set to be completed late next year.
