Developers build whatever makes financial sense. This isn’t Dubai, where vanity height is the only objective.
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How can it not make financial sense to make a building taller to add more rentable floor space? Why would a company selectively choose to lower a building’s height by 70 feet? Wouldn’t it be a greater marketing tool to advertise a taller building?
It was probably just lowered a little bit to comply with the 1.4 million sqft cut from the State. It really isn’t that big of a deal. No it isn’t new to build a building this tall. But it also isn’t common. Let’s not act like they were going up like weeds 90 years ago. “Why don’t people build taller now” The answer, they do. They just aren’t in this specific spot due to FAR, zoning, finances, etc.
This tower doesn’t even have any signed tenants yet. It has fantastic transit access sure, but it’s still an undesirable area. Besides, we don’t know if the height reduction (if there is one) came from the rentable floor space. Perhaps they adjusted the height of the mechanical space or something. As for marketing, I don’t think any tenant cares about a 70 ft height difference. Tenants only care about height if it affects views, for the most part.
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I have no doubt this building will sell out. Penn Station area is the only place in the city where there’s better transit access than Grand Central. And at this point office buildings need good transit access, good amenities and modern buildings if they want to keep tenants.
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This is growing on me. I wonder if the east and west metal… collars? I don’t know how to describe them. But I wonder if they they will be illuminated at night.
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This could be a very good building. As usual I want to wait and see what happens to both the design and its implementation. But the rendering has lots of interesting features. There’s certainly nothing else like it in the city and the overall look hangs together–features of the now traditional see through glass areas and the old cast iron/metal features of industrial buildings from quite a while ago. I like it.
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I agree.
This thing better light up! Kinda annoyed no building has tried this (maybe against rules?) but I think a large majority of a building should be lit up. Not like those pathetic lights on ESB (or the even worse ones on 1WTC. Though ESBś lights fit the building and I wouldn´t want to change them) but like 1 Vandyś crown, except the entire building is like that.
I doubt it costs that much if theyŕe using LED lights, and is nothing compared to the cost of regular maintenance.
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I agree with this - our towers deserve incredible nighttime lighting. Look at 3WTC, it’s night time lighting is incredibly mediocre and sucks (the crown isn’t even lit) despite having the potential for incredible nighttime lighting. I’m hoping Penn 15 has a decent nighttime lighting setup because it’d be a waste to make a beautiful building that looks only good by day.
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Yimby has picked up on the new renderings.
BY: MICHAEL YOUNG 8:00 AM ON MARCH 3, 2022
Fresh renderings by DBOX shed new light on PENN 15, a 56-story, 1,200-foot-tall commercial skyscraper at 15 Penn Plaza in Midtown, Manhattan. Designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Vornado Realty Trust, the 2.7 million-square-foot supertall will rise from the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which has been closed since early 2020 and is beginning the demolition process. The tower will be the tallest component in the 7.4-million-square-foot Penn District master plan, on a plot bound by Seventh Avenue to the west, West 32nd Street to the south, and West 33rd Street to the north.
Below are street level renderings looking east from Seventh Avenue.
Rendering by DBOX.
Rendering by DBOX.
A large LED screen would cantilever over the main entrance to the tower with additional lighting on the underside of the protruding rectangular volume.
Rendering by DBOX.
Floor-to-ceiling glass panels allow for full transparency across the ground floor and the bright interior spaces. The ground floor contains a mix of retail space positioned along Seventh Avenue and West 32nd Street, and the core of PENN 15 would rest along the northern edge of the superstructure. A porte cochere is situated on the eastern corner, and a loading dock faces West 32nd Street.
Rendering by DBOX.
The lobby. Rendering by DBOX.
The porte cochere. Rendering by DBOX.
Escalators bring tenants past the wooden steps and landscaping to a lobby lounge, an auditorium, and a cafe.
The second floor lobby space. Rendering by DBOX.
The lobby cafe and lounge. Rendering by DBOX.
Rendering by DBOX.
PENN 15 is divided into six sections: the first and lowest tier features Podium Mega Floors on levels 3 through 11 yielding 660,000 square feet; Mid Rise I spans floors 12 through 24 with 650,000 square feet; Mid Rise II occupies floors 25 through 37 with 660,000 square feet; High Rise I with 500,000 square feet; and finally High Rise II with 230,000 square feet. An additional 84,000 square feet of outdoor space is included. At the very top are two mechanical levels that make up the majority of the crown.
PENN 15 office tier diagram.
The largest floor plates are on the fourth level and measure 82,000 square feet, running 385 feet from east and west and 125 feet from north and south. This is made possible by the positioning of the core to the north side of the building. The smallest office floors start on the 52nd floor at 21,000 square feet with the shortest depth at 90 feet.
A Mega Floor plan.
A Mid Rise floor plan
A Mid Rise floor. Rendering by DBOX.
A podium Mega Floor. Rendering by DBOX.
A Mid Rise office space. Rendering by DBOX.
The below diagram depicts the building occupancy for PENN 15 with a tech and financial services leasing model.
PENN 15 building occupancy diagram.
The outdoor terraces would offer stunning new perspectives of the Empire State Building and the Midtown and Lower Manhattan skylines.
Looking east from a High Rise terrace. Rendering by DBOX.
Rendering by DBOX.
Terraces are split into four main categories depending on their size and position on each level.
The different terrace types located across the building.
PENN 15 will boast 17- to 19-foot floor-to-floor heights, 37 landscaped terraces, and six tenant amenity floors with ceilings up to 27 feet tall. These special floors will be located on the seventh, 12th, 25th, 38th, 51st, and 56th stories.
A tenant amenity floor plan.
Rendering by DBOX.
Rendering by DBOX.
Rendering by DBOX.
Rendering by DBOX.
The following image offers a preview of the northern elevation, a view that had been absent from previous renderings. There is a three-by-four grid of floor-to-ceiling windows around each of the elevator hallways, a visible steel truss, and a mechanical bulkhead wrapped in a lighter paneling system. The rest of this side should likely have the same layout.
Rendering by DBOX.
PENN 15’s sustainability goals include utilizing integrated photovoltaic cells on the pinnacle of the supertall, all-electric systems, rainwater collection, advanced heat recovery and storage from the transit networks below, reduced water usage, a green roof, and further targets listed below.
PENN 15’s sustainability goals.
The following photos show the progress of demolition on the Hotel Pennsylvania. Sidewalk scaffolding has been steadily going up around the ground floor. The front doors remain sealed off, American flags still wave above the sidewalk canopy in between the set of decorative columns, which is flanked by two operating LED boards. The brick and stone façade will gradually be enveloped in scaffolding and black netting over the coming months as demolition work ramps up.
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
Hotel Pennsylvania. Photo by Michael Young
The site is located in a hotbed of subway and train access, with the B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, W, and PATH trains to the east at Herald Square and the 1, 2, 3, A, C, and E subway lines and the NJ Transit and Amtrak trains to the west at Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall. Other buildings in the Penn District in the process of being transformed include One and Two Penn Plaza.
A completion date for PENN 15 remains unclear, though YIMBY expects work to be finished by the end of the decade.
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At first I hated this building. It has grown on me and as the renders have become more refined, it has become quite attractive.
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These renderings of 15 Penn…about as appealing as canned spinach.
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Don’t be dramatic.
lol. Just saying, this one could use some onion.
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Meh, it’s obviously not a masterpiece but people on here were trying to make it seem like the end of days.
It’s fine. Not a masterpiece, just fine.
Well IMO its a shame to see these stogy old brick beauties disappear for anything less than a masterpiece. That buildings age and reflect a physical sense of time back to me is why I love living here. I’m not in favor of a static environment by any means, but the character of these buildings cannot be replaced. Furthermore, their splendor can be renewed or at least incorporated, much the way the old w/Steinway or the Hearst buildings were.
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^Hmm, I understand.
Who did Steinway again? Are they doing any towers in the Penn area?
SHoP / JDS. Apologies but I didn’t see who the firm was on this one.