Macy’s reveals proposed 900+ foot skyscraper to rise above Herald Square flagship

Macy’s, which recently announced plans to close 125 department stores over the next several years, is still hoping to cash in on the thriving office market by building an office tower above its Herald Square flagship store in Midtown. The retail icon revealed that it has proposed the construction of 1.5 million square feet of office space, a sky lobby, and public improvements to the surrounding area, the Wall Street Journal reports. The proposed tower would rise between 700 and 950 feet with, according to renderings revealed by YIMBY, a glass façade, setbacks, and a crown. The department store below could confer it with supertall status (984 feet or taller).

Current view of Macy’s, Photo by Balou46 via Wikimedia cc.

As 6sqft reported last April, the retailer had raised the possibility of building an 800-foot-tall office tower above the Herald Square store with 1.2 million square feet of office space.

Macy’s had previously been headquartered at 11 Penn Plaza and in a Cincinnati office that it will vacate, according to the recent announcement of store closings and layoffs. The company has also been seeking tenants to occupy the 640,000-square-foot Penn Plaza space it has agreed to lease through 2035. According to Crain’s, Macy’s will leave 11 Penn Plaza by May.

In January, the New York Post reported that Macy’s had added 300,000 more square feet to the 567,000 square feet of space it planned to lease at Tishman Speyer’s 1.2 million-square-foot Long Island City project known as The JACX. The company plans to use that property for its merchandising organization, currently based in 11 Penn Plaza, as well as for its Bloomingdales division’s offices.

The proposed Herald Square space is near Penn Station as well as being central to nearly all subway lines and the PATH train and one of the city’s biggest hubs of office, retail and tourist traffic. Public filings show the retailer has been in discussions since last year with officials in order to get approval for the project.

[Via WSJ]

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