The 62-story tower will include 1.8 million square feet of office space that shape the skyline of New York City. Credit: Foster + Partners
Vornado, Kenneth Griffin, and Rudin Advance Plans for 62-Story, State-of-the-Art Office Tower With 1.8 Million Square-Feet of Office Space, New Public Concourse
With Citadel and Citadel Securities as Anchor Tenants, Tower Will House More Than 6,000 Jobs
Mayor Adams Reveals Renderings of New Tower Expected to Be Completed by 2032
Builds on Adams Administration’s Landmark Progress Protecting Public Safety, Rebuilding New York City’s Economy, and Creating More Livable City
At the Association for a Better New York’s (ABNY) Power Breakfast this morning, New York City Mayor Eric Adams today unveiled new details and renderings of a once-in-a-generation office tower at 350 Park Avenue that will be home to more than 6,000 jobs in Midtown Manhattan and further strengthens the city’s economic recovery. After filing an application with the New York City Department of City Planning, Vornado Realty Trust, Kenneth Griffin, and Rudin are advancing a new tower that will deliver 1.8 million square feet of commercial office space, a new public concourse, and more than $35.8 million for the city’s East Midtown Public Realm Improvement Fund. Additionally, the project will purchase excess development rights from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Saint Bartholomew’s Church, contributing a combined $150 million for upkeep of these historic landmarks. The global investment firm Citadel and leading market maker Citadel Securities,a will serve as anchor tenants,occupying at least 850,000 square-feet for their new Manhattan offices. The project is expected to begin the city’s public review process early next year.
“Today, we are doubling down on our efforts to build a ‘New’ New York with a project that will help supercharge our economy and expand New York City’s iconic skyline,” said Mayor Adams. “Home to more than 6,000 jobs, this project will build on our continued efforts to energize Midtown Manhattan as the world’s most important business address and an economic engine for working-class New Yorkers. New York City has come back stronger than ever thanks to our focus on protecting public safety, rebuilding our economy, and making our city more livable.”
As anchor tenants, Citadel and Citadel Securities’ workforce — currently 2,100 and growing — will occupy a significant portion of the tower, further cementing New York City’s position as the financial capital of the world.
Designed by leading architecture firm Foster + Partners, the tower will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, landscaped terraces, and a stepped configuration to create an iconic, distinctive skyscraper. Additionally, 350 Park will prioritize sustainable design through the use of a high-performance building envelope and resilient materials. The tower will also enhance the public realm on Park Avenue through a world-class public concourse. Occupying 12,500 square feet of the project’s ground floor along Park Avenue, the public concourse will feature green space, social seating, greater visibility of nearby landmarks, prominent art displays, and opportunities for local businesses.
Vornado, Kenneth Griffin, and Rudin’s multi-billion investment in this new 62-story office tower comes amid the broader resurgence of Midtown Manhattan following Mayor Adams’ commitment to reimagine Fifth Avenue as a more appealing district for residents, workers, and visitors. This commitment — which includes significant investments in the public realm, the launch of the Midtown South Neighborhood Plan to create new housing and economic opportunities in the area, and generational projects such as the $10 billion effort to replace and expand the Midtown Bus Terminal— has already helped revitalize one of New York City’s most important economic corridors. In 2023, Fifth Avenue added nearly 1,000 new, high-paying jobs and experienced a 20 percent increase in visitors. Additionally, the administration has launched several highly-successful Open Streets initiatives that have driven millions of dollars in additional spending to Midtown businesses during the holiday season and taken new steps to permanently reimagine Fifth Avenue as a pedestrian-friendly district.
Over his first two years in office, Mayor Adams committed $375 million to creating new public spaces, as well as launched “Chinatown Connections” to reimagine Chinatown’s Kimlau Square; “Broadway Vision” to deliver two new plazas, shared streets, and a two-way bike lane on Broadway; and “Dining Out NYC” to create better, cleaner, and more accessible sidewalks and roadway cafes.
Today’s announcement follows multiple successful efforts by the Adams administration to revive New York City’s economy following the COVID-19 pandemic and transform the city’s commercial corridors into 24/7 districts where people can both live and work. Released in December 2022, the “‘New’ New York: Making New York Work for Everyone” plan detailed 40 concrete proposals for creating durable and equitable economic growth, including recommendations for transforming Fifth Avenue into a world-class, pedestrian-forward boulevard. In the short time since Mayor Adams announced his commitment to re-imagine one of the most iconic streets in the world, Fifth Avenue has undergone a period of unprecedented investment. Only two commercial real estate sales, worth a total of $170 million, were completed in the corridor in the year prior to Mayor Adams’ commitment to transform Fifth Avenue, but the year afterwards saw a total of 10 sales worth $3.9 billion.
As a result of these initiatives and additional efforts by the Adams administration, New York City has recovered all of the private-sector jobs lost during the pandemic. To continue growing the city’s economy, Mayor Adams has launched a new, multi-pronged effort to connect New Yorkers with jobs and training opportunities as part of his “Jobs NYC” initiative; committed to growing the city’s “green-collar” jobs of the future through his Green Economy Action Plan; and broken ground on the city’s largest 100 percent affordable housing development in 40 years at Willets Point, more than a year ahead of schedule.
Today’s announcement builds on the Adams administration’s progress protecting public safety, rebuilding the city’s economy, and creating a more livable city for all New Yorkers. Over the last two years, the administration has remained focused on driving crime down through proactive strategies, including initiatives that have cracked down on auto thefts, combatted retail thefts, and invested over $500 million in preventing gun violence. As a result of these strategies and the work of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), overall crime has trended downwards in the first quarter of 2024, with month after month decreases. Moreover, following the deployment of 1,000 additional NYPD officers into the city’s public transit system, as well as another 800 NYPD officers focused on preventing fare evasion, overall crime in the transit system plummeted by 23.5 percent in March compared to the same period last year.
Mayor Adams has made improving quality of life a cornerstone of his administration by making the investments that have transformed New York into a cleaner, greener, and more livable city, including by laying out plans to tackle the city’s affordable housing crisis. After delivering record amounts of affordable housing in 2023, the Adams administration, just last week, won approval on the second phase of the Willets Point development, which will feature the city’s biggest all-affordable housing project in 40 years, as well a new hotel, over 150,000 square-feet of new public open space, and the city’s first soccer stadium. Additionally, just yesterday, a state budget agreement was announced that would give New York City new tools to create even more of the housing the city needs.
As a result of a deal announced by Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature yesterday — including a new construction tax incentive to create affordable housing, utilizing vacant offices to convert into housing, a pilot of legal, safe basement and cellar apartments, and lifting the density cap for residential buildings — the Adams administration will now be able to help deliver more affordable housing across all five boroughs.
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