Extreme Makeover

A Classic Office Building Recast in a Modern Role

A 41-story Midtown Manhattan office tower is getting a new look from head to toe, with an extensive interior gut rehabilitation and a complicated replacement of its marble exterior with a modern glass face.

by Diane Greer

The former Verizon Building in Midtown Manhattan is showcasing an intensive method for office tower revitalization.

The 41-story tower originally built in 1974 as the New York Telephone Building, and later known as the NYNEX building as the telephone industry company’s identity evolved, is getting a full-scale rehabilitation. In addition to a gut renovation of the interior and replacement of building systems, the project entails removal of the entire marble façade and recladding the exterior with an energy-efficient glass curtain wall.

In essence, the $408.9 million redevelopment project will reshape the old shell into a new building, which will be redubbed with its street address, 1095 Avenue of the Americas, upon its completion in the second quarter of 2008.

“It is an extreme makeover,” says Patricia Hauserman, director of interiors at Tishman Interiors of New York, the construction manager on the effort. “We are taking this old building and transforming it into a sexy, young, new building,”

The approach is also a better use of capital, says Frank Frankini, senior vice president of development at Equity Office Properties Trust of Chicago, the project’s developer.  Early last month, Equity Office shareholders approved a $23 billion buyout bid from New York-based Blackstone Group.

 Equity acquired 1.03 million sq ft, or almost 80%, of the building from Verizon in September 2005. In the sale, Equity acquired 30,000 sq ft of retail space at ground level, but Verizon retained ownership of about 200,000 sq ft in the middle, primarily on floors six through 12, where it houses telephone switching equipment servicing Midtown.

advertisement

Prime Location But Lacking Stature          

 The building’s location, directly across from Bryant Park at 42nd Street, is considered one of the most desirable in Manhattan. But Frankini says “the physical structure left a lot to be desired.”

Redevelopment scenarios originally included a minimal renovation aimed at maintaining the building as a B+ property. But Equity chose the more expensive option to execute the full-scale renovation and create a Class A office property.

“We wanted this asset to represent something that would be special 20 years from now,” Frankini says.

It already has some takers. In September, Dechert LLP, a law firm, signed a long-term lease to move its New York operations to 234,238 sq ft on floors 25 to 31. And in December, MetLife signed a 21-year lease for 410,000 sq ft on 12 floors.

Before demolition and replacement of the curtain wall could begin, the team needed to develop strategies to protect building occupants and the public. The team considered using cranes and derricks but ultimately decided to fully encase the building in scaffolding covered in netting.

“This approach best protects the public yet allows construction to proceed despite the weather,” Hauserman says.

The team also had to develop strategies to ensure that building systems continue to run uninterrupted throughout the renovation because Verizon is occupying its space during the project. The solution has involved installing self-sustained mechanical, electrical, and power systems for those areas, with only water for sprinklers and standpipes still being supplied from the main water risers, Hauserman says.

“It’s always a challenge to demolish 80% of the interior of a building and avoid disturbing the occupied 20%,” she adds. “It’s an even greater challenge to remove all of the curtain wall and yet keep all building systems running and protected.”

The construction effort began in the first quarter of 2006 after Verizon vacated its employees from 20 upper floors. After isolating the lower floors with the switching equipment, the project team began the interior demolition effort starting from the top floor and moving downward. The gutting took place through the third quarter of last year.

During the process, the team installed a full “roof” over the Verizon space and floors, and waterproofed the mechanical and elevator machine rooms to protect equipment from the elements.

 Gearing Up to Peel Off and Re-Skin          

With many of the unoccupied upper floors exposed to the elements, the team also constructed temporary insulated walls around the building core to prevent water risers and sprinkler standpipes from freezing. The work took place during the interior demolition phase.

“Any exposed active piping was surveyed and protected with heat tracing to avoid freezing,” Hauserman adds.

The interior demolition also helped the team to prepare for removal of the curtain wall, an effort that also involves other steps such as the erection of the extensive scaffolding network and additional weatherproofing for the Verizon switching space.

The team started installation in January of weather walls around the inside perimeter of the Verizon floors. The waterproof walls are engineered to handle wind loads and building movement, Frankini says. Before the installation, the team worked with Verizon to relocate HVAC, electrical, and other critical systems in the way.

Together, the scaffolding and weather wall will form a cocoon around the perimeter of the Verizon spaces, permitting replacement of the curtain wall from the exterior without disturbing the switching equipment, Hauserman says.

A different technique will be used to remove the exterior on the upper floors. The scaffolding on that upper portion will be cantilevered off of outriggers secured to the floor slabs on the 14th and 31st floors. The outriggers consist of needle beams secured to the slabs on each of those floors with fishplates.

The scaffolding is then erected on the outside of the building using the outriggers as a base. Clamps at the spandrel beams attach the scaffolding to the building, with a netting cover as protection.

The platform will allow the project team to remove the black-tinted glass in the existing curtain wall by pulling it inside the building. Then, crews can cut away the curtain wall’s white marble mounted on concrete panels, along with the framing and anchors.

The team completed erection of the scaffolding from the 14th floor to the roof in January and was set to complete the entire scaffolding effort this month.

After the team finishes removing the old curtain wall, it will remove the scaffolding to allow installation of the new curtain wall. The team expects to start installation of the new curtain wall by the second quarter of this year.

The new wall will be installed using a small crane called a crab. From the floor above, the crab will pick up and lower a curtain wall section to the floor below, where crews will pull and set it into place.

While initial designs called for reusing existing embedded anchors to attach the new curtain wall to the building, load testing indicated the anchors could not support it, says Walter Martinez, senior associate at Israel Berger and Associates of New York, the curtain wall consultant. The team opted to install new brackets off the spandrel beams below the floor slab.

Hauserman said the complicated sequencing of the work led to a decision to conduct the tasks in a “corkscrew” fashion to enhance site safety. The strategy will have upper-floor efforts take place on a different side of the building from lower-floor work to reduce the risk of workers on lower stories being hit by a falling object.

The new curtain wall leverages the building’s spectacular views with floor-to-ceiling, energy-efficient, blue-green tinted glass. The design employs a grid pattern to break down the building’s mass and accentuate its silhouette, says Dan Shannon, partner at Moed de Armas & Shannon of New York, which is handling most of the exterior design.

To mask the trusses, cable risers, and Verizon equipment on the lower floors, the design employs a combination of vision glass and shadowbox glass, creating a pattern of opaque and transparent surfaces that integrate the lower and upper portions of the building, Shannon says.

“This is probably the hardest project I have ever done,” he says. “To have a challenge like this is really gratifying.”

Another major feature of the upgrade will be substantially trimming energy use, partly through the new façade but also through new building systems, such as a variable air volume HVAC unit and more efficient lighting.

“We will save up to a $1 per sq ft on operating costs,” Frankini says.

The building’s amenities will also improve, including the addition of new destination-dispatch elevators and a fully renovated lobby with new pietra cardoza stone floors and venatino marble walls. The lobby will also have a two-story light well that will result from removing a portion of the second-floor slab at the west entrance, says Leslie Jabs, project manager at San Francisco-based Gensler, which is handling most of the interior design.

“It’s going to seem just like a new building,” Jabs says.

Key Players

Building Owner: Equity Office Properties Trust, Chicago

Owner’s Representative: Gardiner and Theobald, New York

Construction Manager: Tishman Construction, New York

Architects: Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects, New York; Gensler, San Francisco

Curtain Wall Consultant: Israel Berger and Associates, New York

Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates, New York

M-E-P Engineer: Cosentini Associates, New York