NY POST

GRAND PLANS AT GRAND CENTRAL

March 31, 2004 -- WEARING work boots and jeans, Dr. Axel Stawski celebrated the first pouring of concrete at 505 Fifth Ave. last Friday by tossing in a handful of change, including Roman coins and a Sacagawea dollar.

Paul Katz of Kohn Pederson Fox designed the concrete and glass 26-story tower in an inspiration from the sparse, International-style favored by the German-born developer who heads the Kipp/Stawski Group.

The approximately 300,000 square-foot office building now rising on the northeast corner of 42nd Street includes an open book-like protrusion on the Fifth Avenue side so that future corporate honchos can watch the ongoing parade of pedestrians up and down the avenue.

A team led by Paul Glickman of Cushman & Wakefield has been hired as the agents for the office floors that should be ready for possession in late 2005. The 20,000 square feet of retail space will be handled by Robert K. Futterman & Associates.

"There are many unique architectural details that are highly attractive to financial firms and boutique office tenants," said Glickman. These tenants tend to now rent in the Plaza District.

"Until now, they have not had this kind of product available to them in the Grand Central District."

There are many unseen structural safety features along with various setbacks, terraces and a clear glass canopy leading to an atrium lobby on the East 42nd Street side of the corner building.

A cut-out on the 43rd Street corner can also become a private entrance for either an office or retail tenant.

Stawski told us he is in discussions with minimalist artist James Turrell to light the lobby, perhaps the canopy, and the lightbox on the structure's skyline.

For the last 15 years the corner has been an eyesore as it slipped through several owners with grand plans but no financing. The Greek-owned 1 E. 42nd St. was long a target for more square footage. That building was finally sold and Stawski garnered 10,000 square feet of its air rights to create the 26th sun-drenched floor on his new project.

Scan by NYguy

http://www.pbase.com/image/27474478/large.jpg

I think it looks rather nice!! :)

I dont see the book shape but still rather nice.

Yea, this one is pretty good for a 26 story tower. Great base, shape and I like the glass. Anyone else notice how sharp the angle is too?

NY Times

Offices Rising Across From Library's Lions

By EDWIN McDOWELL
Published: April 21, 2004

Construction of a 27-story glass and concrete building has begun at the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue - on a lot vacant for more than a decade that once held the mansion in which Edith Wharton made her society debut in 1879.

The building, whose address will be 505 Fifth Avenue, is being developed on three building lots by Kipp-Stawski, the development and property investment company. It will have about 275,000 square feet of space, mainly offices.

By acquiring unused development rights from adjacent properties for about $2.5 million, Dr. Axel Stawski, a partner in Kipp-Stawski, said the company was able to add a floor, the 27th, to the building.

Kipp-Stawski is not the first developer to have its eyes on those lots, which are two blocks from Grand Central Terminal and diagonally across Fifth Avenue from the main branch of the New York Public Library. "We looked at that site for quite a few years," Dr. Stawski said, "but for various reasons it was inappropriate because we were involved with other construction projects."

Eventually they bought the land from an entity controlled by Lehman Brothers for about $43 million, he said. The entire project is expected to have a cost of about $140 million.

In an unusual strategy in today's market, the building is a speculative venture; unlike most developers, who will not build until they have signed up tenants, Kipp-Stawski has started construction without having signed leases from tenants.

"We build first and then we look for tenants," said Dr. Stawski, who was born in Germany, came to the United States in 1971 and earned a Ph.D. in international law from New York University in 1978. "We hope the quality of our buildings will attract the tenants."

Dr. Stawski drew a distinction between this approach and that of developers of properties like the one the Durst Organization plans to build a block west, at 42nd Street and the Avenue of the Americas. It will be a 2.1-million-square-foot building with the Bank of America as the anchor tenant.

"Buildings that are preleased require a fairly large tenant, and those tenants characteristically plan several years ahead," Dr. Stawski said. "We don't accept such tenants, nor will we, because large tenants tend to move out in a down market, and that's not a risk we're willing to take."

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates has designed 505 Fifth Avenue, and the contractor is Pavarini McGovern. "What's really special about this site in New York," said Paul Katz, the Kohn Pedersen Fox principal in charge of the project, "is that most smaller buildings tend to be enclosed by the neighboring blocks. But this building opens out and has a wonderful vista over one of the most important intersections, 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, and one of the greatest buildings, the New York Public Library."

The lot has been vacant since the 1990 demolition of the six-story former mansion of Levi P. Morton, who had been both governor of New York and vice president of the United States from 1889 to 1893.

In the 1980's, the Touko America Company, a subsidiary of the Touko Haus development company of Tokyo, planned to build an office tower on the site. But when the real estate market collapsed in the early 1990's and Japan underwent a recession, Touko lost the properties and its $41 million investment.

Paul N. Glickman, the executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield, the agent for the building, said that the lot had subsequently traded hands many times.

The building is expected to be ready for tenants to start their interior work in late 2005 or early 2006. There will be about 20,000 square feet of retail space in the building's ground floor, first floor and basement, said Robert K. Futterman, chief executive of the concern that bears his name, who represents the retail portion of the building.

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/04/21/business/21REAL.library.jpg
Kohn Pedersen Fox is the architect for 505 Fifth Avenue, which is at the corner of 42nd Street.

It is beyond my understanding that their are people who like glass clad buildings. I think they look cheap, banal, and hostile. I can see both sides of the argument on issues like the old debate between classical and gothic architecture, but I just don't get why their is even an argument over the merits, or rather lack of merits, of glass-cladding. It seems to me that the case against cladding buildings in glass is as clear-cut as the case against resurfacing 5th Avenue with earth (="dirt" in American English I believe).

Could someone try to explain how on Earth they can see merit in this sort of thing?

wow, nice plan. could of been better if they put masonry on the atrium of the building and some part of the tower as well. the contrast between masonry and glass would be cool...

bout time they develop that site, but it would of been even cooler if it could be even taller. that site really worth a lot, but i guess the setback laws killed any opportunity for something taller.

Updates dated 4/23 found at skyscrapers.com:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/2404505fifthave1.jpg

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/2404505fifthave2.jpg

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/2404505fifthave3.jpg

Official website:

http://www.505fifth.com/home/

More renderings:

http://archrecord.construction.com/innovation/2_Features/images/0411tall7.jpg

http://archrecord.construction.com/innovation/2_Features/images/0411tall6-sm.jpg

http://archrecord.construction.com/innovation/2_Features/images/0411tall9.jpg

nice! that lot must be uberexpensive from the location

how far's the building into construction now?

I've seen this one 10th of February, it's almost topped out, facade about halfway.

From world forums...

latest look taken today 04/25/05

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/84debfd8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/69d211ea.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/464c5c76.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/22d8d7b7.jpg


Picture I took weeks ago, on 4/11:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3220/24042005_0411Image0064.JPG

Love the highly transparent glass facade. This tower will look great in the night.

Love the highly transparent glass facade. This tower will look great in the night.

so, yes, that looks cool!

Here's a recent shot of it.

Originally posted by FrAnKs on SSP.
http://img134.echo.cx/img134/3385/img14085ez.jpg

looks like it got the height of your average 5th ave skyscraper situated between olympic tower and the envoy.

If anyone can't point it out, then look for St Patrick's Cathedral and go down to the bottom of the page in the same direction it is on.

It's pretty much nearing completion.

Originally posted by pianoman11686 on Wired NY
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp47%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A59827%3B44ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D3259%3E846%3E28%3A%3EWSNRCG%3D3232%3B4%3A736337nu0mrj
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A59827%3B47ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A59827248ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A5982724%3Aot1lsi

yay! the cladding's almost done!

they should've built it way taller though...

looks neat!

A shot of it at night from Cornerstone.

http://www.cornershots.com/images/streakyfives.jpg

Talb, why do you not credit photos to who took them or at least show where you got it from? It's kind of pathetic on your part, and at least a little disrespectful to those who actually did the work to create as beautiful an image as Kris from Wired New York did. This is Basic Internet Forum Etiquette. And as I've heard, you've been told not to do this before, so what is your problem? Do you not learn from MISTAKES? You get no respect from me.

and by the way, the site is http://cornerSHOTS.com, not cornerstone. Thanks to all you who champion the 'giving credit to where its due' cause

Talb, why do you not credit photos to who took them or at least show where you got it from? It's kind of pathetic on your part, and at least a little disrespectful to those who actually did the work to create as beautiful an image as Kris from Wired New York did. This is Basic Internet Forum Etiquette. And as I've heard, you've been told not to do this before, so what is your problem? Do you not learn from MISTAKES? You get no respect from me.
Would you like to give SSC updates on this building, b/c if not, then stop complaining?

I don't need to since I'm at WiredNY at least twice a day where I can be kept much better abreast on these things, nor can I take photos since I live in Boston. I am rarely on this site (hate the silly city vs city/ rate this rate that bullshit that predominates discussions here) and one of the few times I am I see this, right after viewing it on WNY. I think I overreacted a bit (and I think you'd agree), but something bothers me about having a "shadow" possibly following our every move, waiting to take any info and post it in a redundant thread on another forum. Yes, you here at SSC have a right to know about this building and create a thread on it, but if nobody who is actively hunting for news/pictures is here, why not just go to the source and save the bandwidth?

talB seriously, shut the fk up! sTOP SNATCHING UP PICS.

I waited 3 months to get a reply from the owner of satans laundromat to ppst his pictures up here. !!! i could have easily hot linked but i like tio get permission and link them to the site so they can see the feedback on theYre OWN work.

http://www.nypost.com/realestate/comm/59117.htm
GLASSY BUILDING CLASSES UP NABE

By STEVE CUOZZO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 20, 2005 -- ALL it takes is one good new project to turn a swath of cityscape around.
Ever since Axel Stawski's glass-wrapped office building went up at 505 Fifth Ave., the blocks adjoining the once-miserable northeast corner of Fifth and 42nd Street have taken off.

The corner, long home to a tacky flea market and an empty lot, blighted the area for decades. The Stawski project overlooking Bryant Park is not the only reason for new activity nearby, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

The most visible evidence of change for the better is the arrival of the new Taipei Economic and Cultural Office next door at 1 E. 42nd St., where the long-empty and formerly filthy 11-story building has been spiffily cleaned up.

And the investment sale market nearby is going wild, with a quartet of solid addresses on the avenue's east side between 42nd and 45th streets about to change hands.

It's pretty much nearing completion.

Originally posted by pianoman11686 on Wired NY
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp47%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A59827%3B44ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D3259%3E846%3E28%3A%3EWSNRCG%3D3232%3B4%3A736337nu0mrj
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A59827%3B47ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A59827248ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3447%3A66723232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E234%3A%3D937%3D37%3B%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A5982724%3Aot1lsi
wowww, I like this building Its beautiful with all that windows It have something make it different from the others. I like very much.

Fine looking tower.

I do like its the reflections of the other buildings it gives.