Award of Merit-Retail/Mixed-Use
This new 48-story, glass-and-steel luxury building rises from a busy block in midtown Manhattan. The $140-million project, which required the demolition of four older buildings, includes retail space across its first and second floors, a mezzanine-level indoor pool, large terraces on the fourth and penthouse levels, and an underground garage with room for 79 cars.
The project, at Sixth Avenue and West 32nd Street near Penn Station, was tricky in that excavation crews had to work around nearby transit tunnels, which meant coordinating work with Amtrak, the Long Island Railroad and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Tunnels had to be braced until the first-floor concrete work was completed, says general contractor Lend Lease.
Safety measures included quarterly emergency evacuation drills and installation of a vertical protection system.
The economic downturn also placed the project in jeopardy initially, but Lend Lease says that the owner, designer, contractor and labor teams collaborated on several value engineering solutions that kept the project viable. In fact, the project managed to wrap up two months early, which Lend Lease partly attributes to the owner's daily walk around the site, which fostered smooth and quick decision making.
The Continental, New York
Key Players
Owner/Developer: Atlantic RDC
General Contractor/Construction Manager: Lend Lease
Lead Designer: Costas, Kondylis & Partners; Goldstein, Hill & West Architects
Civil Engineer: Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
Structural Engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers
MEP Engineer: Cosentini Associates
Submitted by: Lend Lease
