Historic McGraw-Hill Building in Hell’s Kitchen to add 224 rentals
Rendering courtesy of MdeAS Architects
The 35-story landmarked McGraw-Hill Building in Hell’s Kitchen will soon be home to 224 luxury rentals. As first reported by the New York Post, the project includes the redesign of the building’s office space, the construction of a second lobby and entrance, and the restoration of the McGraw-Hill name above the residential entrance. Floors 12 through 34 of the Art Deco skyscraper will be converted to residential use, which will cost an estimated $100 million. Work will begin this summer.
Resolution Real Estate, which manages the building, first revealed its plans to convert part of the skyscraper into residential units to the NY Post in October 2022. As part of the initial proposal, the lower 300,000 square feet of the roughly 700,000 square foot building would remain office space, while the 11th to 32nd floor would be converted to luxury apartments with two floors of amenity space above it.
SLCE Architects will design the apartments, which will include studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedrooms. MdeAS Architects will lead the redesign of the building’s office space on floors two through 11. The office space will feature 12 to 15-foot ceiling heights and new seven-to-12-foot windows, showering the office floors with natural light and proving scenic views of the surrounding area.
The new apartments will utilize the building’s architecture to create spacious, loft-like units that highlight features like floor-to-ceiling windows, soaring ceiling heights, and a state-of-the-art amenity suite with views of the city skyline, the Hudson River, and the Statue of Liberty.
“The McGraw-Hill building is perfectly suited for this type of conversion, with its incredible ceiling heights, access to natural light and open interior floor plans — not to mention a truly iconic presence on the city skyline,” Gerard Nocera, managing partner at Resolution Real Estate Partners, said.
“The building is also in a prime location, located just steps away from the vibrant Hudson Yards neighborhood which is home to the Equinox Hotel and The Shed, while easy access to public transportation connects our office tenants and residents to all of Manhattan. With more people seeking apartments designed with live-work trends in mind, the new residences at 330 W 42nd Street will deliver just that, and we look forward to welcoming residents in 2024.”
The move to convert parts of the building into residential space was a result of the pandemic’s effect on work life, which resulted in a large portion of the building’s office space sitting vacant as employees chose to work from home.
In 2021, the building underwent a $120 million renovation. The proposed redesign of the building’s iconic lobby by MdeAS Architects faced sharp criticism from preservationists and architectural groups. Renderings of the new lobby had removed the iconic alternation blue-green steel bands and other signature elements.
The Art Deco Society of New York launched an online petition urging the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the lobby as a landmark to protect it from renovation. A lawsuit was filed by the group to preserve the lobby but was later dismissed in the State Supreme Court, according to the New York Times. The original lobby was demolished, but its ceiling panels, light fixtures, mirrors, and other signature elements were preserved.
The preservationists who took issue with the 2021 redesign seem satisfied with the newly proposed design, except for the re-installation of McGraw-Hill above the residential entrance.
The 35-story McGraw-Hill Building was designed by Raymond Hood, Frederick Godley, and Jacques André Fouilhoux and completed in 1931. The building was designated as an individual landmark by New York City in 1979 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s.
Over the course of its history, the building was owned by McGraw-Hill, Group Health Insurance, and was the original home of Marvel Comics. The building was purchased by its current owners, Deco Tower Associates, in 1979.
The apartments are expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.
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