350 Park Avenue © DBOX for Foster + Partners
Billionaire Ken Griffin’s proposed 1,600-foot office tower at 350 Park Avenue will be built after the City Council unanimously approved the building last week. The Council voted 48-0 to approve the 62-story supertall building developed by Vornado Realty Trust, Citadel, and Rudin Management and designed by Norman Foster’s Foster + Partners. The tower will deliver 1.8 million square feet of office space anchored by Griffin’s Citadel and Citadel Securities, plus a new public concourse. The huge building will rise 200 feet taller than JPMorgan Chase’s headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, also designed by Foster + Partners.
Demolition of three existing buildings on the site is slated for next year. The structures include a 30-story Vornado-owned office tower at 350 Park Avenue, a 23-story Rudin-owned office building at 40 East 52nd Street, and a five-story office building at 39 East 51st Street.
The project also features a 12,500-square-foot public plaza designed by Field Operations, with green space, seating, public art, improved pedestrian flow, enhanced views of nearby landmarks, and opportunities for local businesses.
Citadel and its affiliate Citadel Securities will occupy at least 850,000 square feet of the tower. The building will have enough space for 6,000 employees, as 6sqft previously reported.
According to Vornado’s Environmental Assessment Statement, the project will include more than 1.6 million square feet of office, financial trading, and tenant amenities space, along with nearly 23,000 square feet of retail, likely a fast food spot and a large restaurant.
To secure a floor area ratio (FAR) increase from 15 to 25, the developers purchased $150 million in air rights from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Bartholomew’s Church, and contributed more than $35 million to the city’s East Midtown Public Improvement Fund.
The tower will rise with or without securing additional tenants, Vornado told the New York Post. “The magic formula to get a tower off the ground is to have an anchor tenant and equity partners, which we have in the form of ourselves, Rudin and Ken Griffin,” the firm said.
Monday’s approval marks the culmination of six years of planning. First unveiled in May 2019, the project was made possible by the 2017 Midtown East rezoning, which opened the door to 6.5 million square feet of new office space across 78 blocks surrounding Grand Central Terminal.
In April, Mayor Eric Adams and the developers unveiled new renderings of the tower, highlighting its glass facade, landscaped terraces, and distinct “stepped configuration.” The project entered the 7-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in March.
The project is slated for completion in 2032.
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