HFZ Capital Group taps Bjarke Ingels to design 33-floor office tower in NoMad
Photo of Bjarke Ingels via Wikimedia
Adding to the sudden skyscraper boom in NoMad, HFZ Capital Group is moving forward with plans for a project at 3 West 29th Street. HFZ’s original idea for the redevelopment of the site, which once held the now-demolished 1898 Bancroft Building, included iconic architect Moshe Safdie designing a 64-floor, 830-foot tall condo. However, instead, a pre-filed building application from earlier this month calls for a 33-foot office tower designed by Bjarke Ingels of BIG Architects, as CityRealty learned.
A prior rendering of 3 West 29th Street, via HFZ Capital Group
A prior rendering of 3 West 29th Street, via HFZ Capital Group
Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital first acquired the NoMad site in 2013, along with about 350,000 square feet of air rights. The Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church sold the developer the properties behind their Marble Collegiate Chruch for $26.2 million. Following the demolishing of the historic Bancroft Building on the site, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission required HFZ’s project restore and maintain the structures and to ensure that the base of the new tower complements the block’s landmarks.
Other supertall structures rising in NoMad include condos at 262 Fifth Avenue, planned to reach 1,000 feet high, 277 Fifth Avenue and 30 East 31st Street. No renderings have yet been released for the updated plan at 3 West 29th Street.
On-site construction preparation begins, photo via CityRealty
Abandoning their Safdi-designed condo idea, HFZ will develop a much shorter building office tower. Applications show the project’s height decrease from 800 feet tall to 554 feet tall. While the original proposal would block several views of the Empire State Building, the updated smaller-scaled tower might be better for sight-seeing. The pre-filing also details a communal roof terrace and 300,000 square feet of a zoning floor area.
RELATED:
