‘Transformative’ Skyscraper To Soar Next to World’s Biggest Railway Station

By Soo KimLife and Trends ReporterShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Plans for a new skyscraper that aims to transform New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, the world’s largest railway station, with a new transit hall have advanced.Updated permits have been filed for 175 Park Avenue, the 1,545-foot tower to be built next to Grand Central Station.A spokesperson for RXR, the developer behind the tower, told Newsweek: “This filing is the next step in advancing a transformative project next to Grand Central. Construction is expected to start in the coming months.”According to RXR, the new development will include 2.4 million square-feet of office space, a 200-room hotel, half an acre of public open space, as well as over $550 million in direct transit improvements to Grand Central Terminal, one of North America’s busiest transit hubs, which sees around 29.5 million riders a year, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The upcoming new skyscraper is designed by SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), the architectural firm that designed the current world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands at 2,717 feet high....The 175 Park Avenue skyscraper would be the Big Apple’s third-tallest building upon completion, which is currently projected for 2032, after the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and the Central Park Tower on Billionaire’s Row.SOM’s upcoming Manhattan tower marks a significant expansion of Grand Central Terminal, with the base of the tower featuring a new transit hall adding 5,400 square feet of additional space to a congested part of the historic station, which is used by around 125,000 commuters and 660 Metro-North trains every day....The building’s striking lattice steel design structure, evoking the feel of the Chrysler building, one of the upcoming tower's prominent neighbors, features interlaced metal columns that form into two bundles at the street level, set away from the edge of the property line, which “widens the sidewalk to improve circulation outside Grand Central,” the architectural firm said....The Revitalization of East Midtown and Grand Central StationThe area around Grand Central Terminal was redeveloped as Terminal City, a mixed-use district back in the early 1900s, and was among the country’s first large-scale transit-oriented developments. The site directly east of Grand Central Terminal, which currently houses a 34-story hotel, “brims with untapped potential," according to SOM.The firm aims to help revitalize the East Midtown area into a leading global business district with its new skyscraper by bringing “greater density above transit, while significantly improving the pedestrian and commuter experience at Grand Central.”...“The subway turnstiles, currently located in a small space underground, will be relocated to the larger transit hall at street level with a new staircase, escalator, and elevator,” SOM says.Various other major overhauls at the underground level, such as the removal of dozens of old girders that disrupt foot traffic and passageways connecting the subway with the Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road services, are expected to upgrade the commuter experience. ...The base of the new skyscraper will offer 10,000 square feet of retail space, a direct connection to the lobby, and additional entrances into Grand Central…

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