Announcing 6sqft’s 2017 Building of the Year!

The votes have been tallied, and so it’s time to name the 2017 Building of the Year! The winning title belongs to no other than One Manhattan Square, the Lower East Side meets Chinatown skyscraper that will be home to NYC’s largest outdoor private garden when it opens next year. The 800-foot-tall tower beat out 11 other significant NYC buildings in a competitive two-week competition held by 6sqft. Out of 3,782 votes cast, the Extell-developed, Adamson Associates-designed structure took first place with 959 votes or 25.35% of the total.

Congrats to Extell and Adamson Associates Architects!

Construction on One Manhattan Square kicked off in 2016, when we were still in disbelief that a skyscraper could rise at the edge of Chinatown. Despite plenty of local controversy regarding the height, construction has been moving right along all year.

One Manhattan Square under construction in November 2017, via CityRealty

By January of 2017, the tower had reached its halfway point and was getting its glassy facade. And later this year, the tower earned its reputation as an amenity-packed luxury condo to be taken seriously.

This May we learned the tower will become home to NYC’s largest outdoor private garden, detailed in an impressive video released by Extell. The developer also released the building’s Skyscape Collection, 25 condos on the upper floors of the tower with “limitless bird’s eyes vistas” of the skyline, Brooklyn, New York harbor, and the East and Hudson Rivers.

The tower will hold be more than 100,000 square feet of over-the-top indoor and outdoor amenities. They include a 70-seat movie theater, tree house with fire pits, tea pavilion, cigar room, putting green, sunken tranquility garden, bowling alley, stargazing observatory, herb garden, outdoor kitchen and dining area, 75-foot indoor pool, hot tub and sauna, dog spa, cellar bar, full basketball court, squash court, and more. There will also be two retail spaces on the two lowest levels, one of which is expected to be a grocery store.

One of the Skyscape Collection apartments, a five-bedroom penthouse duplex, has already sold for $13 million. Pricing for the condos range from a $1.18 million one-bedroom to a $4.4 million three-bedroom. Extell’s Gary Barnett has said he wanted to keep pricing here relatively moderate: “There are a tremendous amount of people who would like to own something in New York City but are priced out because everybody’s building super-luxury.” Still, these are game-changing prices for this enclave of Chinatown. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2018.

111 Murray under construction in September, via CityRealty

An honorable mention goes to 111 Murray, which came in second place with 755 votes. The Tribeca tower developed by Fisher Brothers and Steve Witkoff, and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and Hill West Architects, was on full display in 2017. The tower’s distinctive crystalline exterior nabbed 19.96% of the vote.

Overall rankings:

1. One Manhattan Square: 959 votes
2. 111 Murray: 755 votes
3. Waterline Square: 680 votes
4. 325 Kent: 345 votes
5. The Eleventh: 313 votes
6. 15 Hudson Yards: 181 votes
7. 9 DeKalb Avenue: 133 votes
8. 220 Central Park South: 130 votes
9. 53W53: 86 votes
10. 111 West 57th Street: 83 votes
11. 685 First Avenue: 79 votes
12. Central Park Tower: 38 votes

Congratulations to all the teams represented. And thanks to all who voted!

Visit the official One Manhattan Square page here >>

RELATED:

• A run-down of all the buildings in 2016’s Building of the Year competition
• 6sqft’s 2016 Building of the Year winner
• 6sqft’s 2015 Building of the Year winner

Renderings via Adamson Associates. Construction shots via CityRealty. Lead frame image via Pixabay.