In a survey of potential Westside construction projects conducted by WestView News last year, 561 Greenwich Street was called out as a site ready for development due to its surface parking lot and one-story “taxpayer.”
A rendering for 561 Greenwich Street by COOKFOX Architects was released recently when Hines and Trinity Church Wall Street filed permits for the ٢٦٠,٠٠٠-square-foot, nineteen-story building between King and Charlton Streets. The rendering depicts a design that complements the look of its industrial neighbor, 345 Hudson Street, one of twelve sites owned by Hudson Square Properties, a joint venture between property owner/majority partner Trinity Church Wall Street and Norges Bank Real Estate Management. The light-colored façade features numerous setbacks with outdoor terraces, with an overall height and aligned elevations that match its “sister” neighbor, and will feature retail at the ground floor and office space above. Architect Rick Cook of COOKFOX noted, “The powerful masonry buildings of Hudson Square gave us a palette of materials and tools that helped us craft a building that feels authentic to the neighborhood and expresses a high-performance modern workplace with a connection to community and nature.”
100 Vandam Street, on the corner just a block south of 561 Greenwich Street, housed a red brick warehouse that was of the first generation of large industrial buildings developed on the undesirable marshy land along the Hudson River in the 1800s. Soon enough the area was defined by powerful masonry urban factories, warehouses and printing press buildings that rose along Hudson, Greenwich and Varick Streets when shipping piers covered the waterfront. Without landmark or historic district protection, this fine craftsman structure could have easily been lost entirely.
Fortunately COOKFOX’s design for 100 Vandam intends to preserve this narrow slice of history, incorporating a (thus far) rare vertical extension: a twenty-five-story contemporary residential tower rising within the existing preserved brick façade. The 192,000 SF structure has been under construction since last year.
River, is the tall tower in the center. The Department of Sanitation’s Salt Shed huddles
directly in front of the new tower. Rendering
Courtesy of COOKFOX.
Zoning changes for the manufacturing-zoned lots have allowed several other new towers to be constructed nearby, as residential towers mix in with older loft office buildings. Stay with us as we report on future progress.
—Brian J. Pape, AIA
