SOM reveals designs for new Disney HQ in Hudson Square
Renderings © SOM / bloomimages
Last July, Disney purchased the rights to develop the property at 4 Hudson Square from Trinity Church for $650 million under a 99-year agreement and earlier this year tapped Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to design a new HQ for the media giant. SOM and developer Silverstein Properties have just revealed the first renderings of the project, which will occupy an entire city block and span across 1.2 billion square feet—including retail on the ground floor—and house up to 5,000 employees.
The 22-story building will rise “in a series of graceful setbacks” culminating in two, 320-foot towers with several terraces. Retail on the ground floor (SOM is looking to create a “singular experience” here akin to Chelsea Market, Curbed reports) will welcome in neighborhood locals while office spaces will begin on the third floor and include ABC and WABC News, as well as production space and studios for “The View” and “Live With Kelly and Ryan.” The rendering reveal came just one day after the launch of Disney+, the company’s new streaming service. According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney+ had a whopping 10 million users just 24 hours after the launch.
The building’s facade design nods to the material palette of the surrounding neighborhood, seeking to be both “monolithic” and contemporary. Deep-set picture windows, green terracotta panels, and anodized aluminum accents will feature along the facade. The architecture of the former Printing District required large floors, and the floorplates here will reach up to 85,000 square feet—a span ideally suited to contemporary media production.
Photo by Jim.henderson via Wikimedia Commons
The building site covers an entire city block, bounded by Vandam Street to the north, Varick Street to the east, Spring Street to the south, and Hudson Street to the west. The site contains four buildings, including the property operated by music venue City Winery, which closed its doors on July 31 and is slated to reopen at Pier 57 in Hudson River Park.
As 6sqft previously reported, the 2013 rezoning of Hudson Square drew a growing number of luxury condo buildings and tech and media companies to the former Printing District. At that time, Trinity Church owned almost 40 percent of Hudson Square, since Queen Anne had granted the church 215 acres of land in 1705.
Google is planning on developing a $1 billion, 1.7 million square foot office complex at 550 Washington Street, 315 and 345 Hudson Street that will double its workforce in the city.
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