Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) has revealed design for a 83-storey tower to replace Donald Trump's Grand Central Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

The super-tall skyscraper, called 175 Park Avenue, will be built on the site of the Grand Central Hyatt hotel, built in 1919 and originally named The Commodore Hotel. Trump purchased the hotel in 1980 and renovated the the hotel with black glass façade, the Grand Central Hyatt was his first construction project in Manhattan.

175 Park Avenue will reach at 1,646 feet tall (500 metres) and include office and retail spaces alongside a new 500-room hotel run by Hyatt, making the structure second-tallest building in New York city.

Developed by RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone, they purchased the site in 2019, the demolition of the existing structure is scheduled for the next year and expected to complete in 2030. 

SOM will be working with Beyer Blinder Belle and landscape architecture and urban design firm James Corner Field Operations on the project. 

As SOM explains, 175 Park Avenue, located adjacent to and above Grand Central Terminal, will breathe new life into "one of the most complex and underutilized sites in New York City". The project will also include some upgrades for accessibility and circulation for Grand Central Terminal and the Grand Central­-42nd Street subway station.

The tower will incorporate three elevated terraces and offer 24,000 square feet (2,229-square-metre) of new public space. The design of the tower takes inspiration from Grand Central Terminal and features a glazing façade with structural steel columns. 

For its materiality, the tower, as the team explains, a stone-clad core complements the overall appearance of the tower, while "creating an interplay of solids and voids that reflect Grand Central Terminal’s iconic design to create visual harmony and cohesion between the two structures."

For the outer skin, the team uses a structural lattice splitting into a pattern that aligns with and responds to key features of Grand Central Terminal, such as the cornice line and the statue of Mercury.

This latticework will complement the peak of the tower with a “rounded crown of luminous, interlaced steel.” Featuring four setbacks through its massing alongside the street, it will help the tower to receive maximum sunlight.

As the team highlights, the creation of publicly accessible space will be an integral role in the project. Three public terraces, named Grand Central Terrace, Graybar Terrace, and Chrysler Terrace, will be designed by James Corner Field Operations and those terraces will wrap the eastern, western, and northern sides of the new tower and they will be accessible via two grand staircases located on 42nd Street as well as multiple ADA-accessible elevators.

SOM stated that "the three terraces will create new vistas for pedestrians to view the neighborhood’s historic architecture, away from the bustle of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue."

Filled with public art installations, pop-up seating and drink stations, "the terraces will accommodated a wide range of programming and activities to ensure it provides real benefits to the local community," as the team highlighted. 

Transport diagram

Elevation

Elevation-detail

SOM recently completed the Moynihan Train Hall expansion in New York. The firm also completed the National Museum of the United States Army in Virginia. 

All images courtesy of SOM.

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