Look up! Do you like what you see? New Yorkers have a love-hate relationship with our tallest skyscrapers. We mostly give our hearts to grand dames such as the Empire State, Chrysler and Woolworth …
The 1,401 feet-tall office tower immediately west of Grand Central Terminal is the supertall superstar.It can’t equal the beauty of the shorter Chrysler Building. But the design by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox — four “interlocking and tapering volumes” rising to a 1,301- foot tall high roof and punctuated by a 100-foot-tall, conical spire — gives One Vanderbilt a unique profile whether viewed from the Central Park Reservoir or the FDR Drive.
Facebook’s Nicola Mendelsohn is one of the few folks actually identified who own homes at Central Park Tower.Central Park Tower’s redeeming feature is the seven-story Nordstrom department store that’s fronted by a handsome, undulating glass facade over 57th Street.Let’s hope that Nordstrom doesn’t suffer the same fate as shuttered Lord & Taylor, Barneys and short-lived Neiman Marcus — which would cost the tower what charm it has.
But architect David Childs brought forth the best tapered, octagonal form he could despite the attacks and constraints. His original design for a more sculptural, 407-foot tall antenna spire, which brings the overall height to a symbolic 1,776 feet, was dumbed down to a less dramatic look. But nighttime beacons in ever-changing colors bring joy to the Lower Manhattan sky.Who’s inside?
The tower is nearly 100 percent leased. The most glamorous tenant is media giant Conde Nast, credited with reversing downtown’s fading fortunes when it signed a lease in 2011. The 100th-floor One World Observatory has no outdoor space. The One Dine restaurant is overpriced, mediocre and a blight on the memory of Windows on the World.The Port Authority mercifully threw out the tacky original “Freedom Tower” name in 2009 although some still call it that.
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