NEW YORK | 520 5th Ave | 1,002 FT | 76 FLOORS

New York Under Construction
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Revealed: 520 Fifth Avenue

BY: NIKOLAI FEDAK ON FEBRUARY 10TH 2014 AT 12:00 PM

520 Fifth Avenue – demolition underway

Thor Equities’ demolition and redevelopment at 520 Fifth Avenue now has a rendering, via the developer’s page on the project. Additional information posted on TOWN broker Paul Macapagal’s website reveals the retail podium will be topped by hotels and residences, rising 39 stories in total, though whether that is the final figure remains to be seen. Delving into the DOB reveals Kaufman as the architect of record.

520 Fifth Avenue — image via Thor

While no documents for the high-rise portion are on-file with the Department of Buildings, Macapagal’s site also describes the tower as a hotel/condominium mix, with 96 residences in total. The low-rise component will have approximately 60,000 square feet of space, spread over 6 floors.

The new 520 Fifth Avenue replaces two pre-war structures; though the glass box in renderings is optimized for modern retail, it seems to make no attempt at integrating into the neighborhood’s urban fabric. At the very least, the old structures possessed character and individuality.

520 Fifth may be located south of the thoroughfare’s most luxurious stretch, there is no reason that the most expensive shopping district on the planet should have banal, “anytown” architecture; perhaps the eventual hotel and condominium addition above the podium will have some trace of humanity in its design, though it seems doubtful.

Ultimately, fault lies with the city, and archaic zoning. Demolition of the old buildings is nearly complete, and with the podium’s permits approved, construction is imminent.

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August 2014
LondoniumLex

Demolition is finally complete.

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Permits Filed: 520 Fifth Avenue to Stand 920 Feet Tall

BY: NIKOLAI FEDAK ON DECEMBER 17TH 2014 AT 2:45 PM


520 Fifth Avenue during demolition last year

A new tower at 520 Fifth Avenue has been a long time coming, and Thor Equities has already released preliminary renderings of what the building’s retail podium will look like. But now, the first filings for the (likely) condominium portion of the development are up, and YIMBY can reveal that it will greatly exceed the previously estimated height, standing 71 stories and 920 feet to its roof.

Handel is listed as the architect of record, and the building will total 353,589 square feet, split between residential and commercial components. Per the Schedule A, the first 24 floors of the building will be dedicated to 156,024 square feet of commercial space, with a three-story retail podium giving way to amenities and a hotel, which will total 208 rooms.

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Old rendering for 520 5th avenue, image by Thor Equities

The residential portion will measure 197,565 square feet and have 145 units, and starts on the 26th level with a full-floor apartment. The 27th floor will be shared by a gym and amenity spaces, and then besides occasional mechanicals, floors 28 through 70 will be divided between three units each.

Quick math reveals an average unit size of just over 1,300 square feet, and while that is large, it’s actually on the smaller side for super-luxe condo buildings currently rising in Manhattan. The project is located on the corner of 43rd Street and 5th Avenue, which is certainly a central location, though it would not command the premiums of a 57th Street address.

Still, 520 Fifth Avenue will be taller than almost all nearby buildings. And given that the DOB measures to the highest occupied floor, there is also a possibility that a crown element could bump the project above the 1,000′ mark.

The design architect has not yet been released, and no completion date has been announced, but one thing is certain: Midtown Manhattan’s residential boom continues at a breakneck pace.

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Ceruzzi, SMI USA Drop Hotel Plans, Opt for Pied-à-Terres at 520 Fifth Avenue

https://nyocommercialobserver.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/fronthotel_02_perspective2.png?h=510

Ceruzzi Properties and Shanghai Municipal Investment USA have decided to include pied-à-terre apartments, rather than hotel rooms, on the bottom floors of their mixed-use property located at the corner of West 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue, Commercial Observer has learned.

This summer, the partners bought the building at 520 Fifth Avenue from Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities for $325 million, as CO previously reported. Plans initially called for retail at the base, a hotel with 150 to 180 rooms above and then residential condominiums at the top, but they decided two days ago to abandon the hotel plans.

“It was a little bit of a tight site, Ceruzzi head Lou Ceruzzi told CO.

Between a loading dock, a separate lobby and elevators going to different floors, the developers would have had to relinquish part of the valuable retail space if they included a hotel component. The profitability of the project should be the same with the pied-à-terres, Mr. Ceruzzi said.

“The retail is just so valuable that we wanted to be able to maximize our ability to profit from that,” he said. “And also to be able to have a large continuous block of space on the first floor on Fifth Avenue, that probably would be needed in order to get a larger tenant in there on two floors. A tenant would want as much space on the first floor that they could have.”

Retail will occupy 30,000 square feet on floors one through three. Building amenities will be on floors five, six and seven. There will be 20 to 25 floors with five or six pied-à-terre units per floor. Above will be the more standard units.

The 71-story building will have luxury residences, Mr. Ceruzzi said. The downstairs pied-à-terre units will run from 600 to 1,100 square feet each and cost $2,500 to $2,800 per square foot. The upstairs larger units, ranging from 1,200 square feet to 6,000-square-foot multi-level pads, will start at $3,200 per square foot with a building average of $5,200 per square foot. The pied-à-terres will be one- and (small) two-bedroom units. The rest will be primarily two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Handel Architects is tweaking the building design that was included in the property sale. The biggest change will be adding an outdoor terrace for residents.

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Nice!

There were guys on site on Sat.

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^Nice! great to see activity there now.

520 Fifth Ave
@laureneschram

https://instagram.com/p/8N9G_5M2an/?tagged=520fifthavenue

From my previous post:
https://nyocommercialobserver.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/fronthotel_02_perspective2.png?h=510

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Great update, VG!

SSC + SSP = NAMBLA

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Posted at the site

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From the Commercial Observer

There appears to be a setback about 75’-100’ below the top of the tower.

Also, the top of the tower appears to be sloped like the area that tops out the retail base about 5 stories up. It may just be distortions from the angle though.

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This shot is like cleavage. You get a decent idea of what’s there, but you need to see what’s not shown in order to appreciate the whole thing.

I want to see this tower’s (and Selma’s) areola!

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No more cleavage shots! I want the whole shebang!!

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You have good taste my friend. Just the kind of wife I need and as we all know, walk around in NYC, and you see some stunners. Like crack cocaine for the mind. Keeps you thinking about them months after you see them. Now thats purity. I’m trying to branch out into real estate as a career, leaving my roots as a Geologist and thus, NYC living might become a reality. Currently in NJ.

May the boom live on! :sunny:

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You’re the man, Chris. Good luck with it!

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Wow!! My blood pressure just dangerously spiked. I agree,I want the whole shebang too!! lol

@ Chris

Good luck with your new endeavor. Cheers!

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I hope the tower is as caliente as those birds!

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Wow! Awesome thread!

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Ceruzzi said this would start in the spring. Let’s hope that it does.

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I can only pray we get a complete render before that…

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Credit: http://www.scdaarchitects.com/architecture/5th-ave-and-43rd-st

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Holy Towers! Is that official, Chris?

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