The Unexpected Reason Behind Five Manhattan West's New Look
One building regulation gets all the credit for the dramatic new exterior Brookfield is giving 450 W 33rd St, rebranded as Five Manhattan West. The owner announced a $200M renovation, including glass cladding, that owes its design to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Yesterday, we snapped architecture firm Rex’s Josh Prince-Ramus, C&W’s Bruce Mosler, Brookfield US CEO Mitch Rudin, global CEO Dennis Friedrich, and leasing head Jerry Larkin; C&W’s Josh Kuriloff; Brookfield’s Duncan McCuaig; and C&W’s Mikael Nahmias at the 1969-vintage property. Rex's Josh says the new cladding is a striking change from the beige concrete and flat slope of the current facade and will help the property fit in with the Far West Side's ground-up development. But the primary factor is the ADA’s seven-foot clearance from floor to ceiling, which the 1.8M SF 450 W 33rd lacks at the windows. Rex first considered a ziggurat (vertical walls, each story with a smaller floorplate than the one below) but worried about falling ice. (We'd worry about upsetting Sumerian gods, but same difference.)
Instead, Brookfield and Rex settled on glass that slopes outward from the floor (beating the seven-foot height clearance by plenty) and then tilts back inward until toward the ceiling. The extra shade from the upper panels also adds energy efficiency without sacrificing natural light. Brookfield will invest $200M in the renovation (which will finish in 2016), bringing the company’s total investment in the property to $400/SF. Rents will be in the $60s or $70s/SF range, offering a price alternative to Brookfield’s on-the-way One Manhattan West. (Bruce says that's going for the $80s to $90s/SF for first movers.) The timing is perfect, he tells us, as this project will capture the momentum from Midtown South's push west and toward the Hudson Yards district; he's trading paper with a few prospects.
Jerry says 350k SF is available and another 300k will be up for grabs in 2017 when Coach leaves. It’ll be the most modern of NYC’s eight buildings that have 100k SF floorplates and offers 14- to 27-foot floor-to-ceiling heights. Media like the property, he says, for the opportunity to put in studios and newsrooms (Dennis says the other major tenant, the Associated Press, seems likely to stay.) Fashion tenants like the possibility of showrooms and the planned public space next door for events. And tech and creative tenants have even looked into a rock-climbing wall, a skateboard halfpipe, and a running track.
