Random House Tower
The Random House Tower, also known as the Park Imperial Apartments, is a 52-story[1] mixed-use tower in Manhattan, New York City. It is owned by real estate companies SL Green Realty and Ivanhoé Cambridge, with the office portion leased as the headquarters to book publisher Random House from the beginning and its parent company Penguin Random House (formed in 2013) since 2016, giving the building its name; a luxury apartment complex follows above the offices. The PRH entrance is on Broadway and goes up to 27 floors, while the apartment complex entrance is on West 56th Street. Rising to 684 ft (208 m), it is the 77th tallest building in New York City.
| Random House Tower and Park Imperial | |
|---|---|
 The tower from the southwest | |
| |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Apartments, office |
| Location | 1745 Broadway/230 West 56th Street, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40.765341°N 73.982502°W |
| Construction started | 2000 |
| Completed | 2003 |
| Cost | $300 Million |
| Owner | SL Green/Ivanhoé Cambridge/Witkoff/Lehman Brothers (office portion) |
| Height | |
| Roof | 684 ft (208 m) |
| Top floor | 52 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | 860,036 sq ft (79,900.0 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Ismael Leyva |
| Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti |
Description
The complex is on a trapezoidal block between 55th Street and 56th Street and follows the angle of Broadway. It has jagged setbacks to improve the views of Central Park.
The Random House Tower is divided into two parts: the office floors on the 2nd through 26th stories, and the residential floors between the 27th and 51st stories.[2] The first floor contains 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2) of retail space.[3] Separate architects designed each of the sections. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the office portion, which has a steel frame. Ismael Leyva Architects and Adam D. Tihany designed the residential portion, which has a concrete frame. The two sections do not entirely line up, and trusses were built on the 26th and 27th floor to transfer the load.[4]
The residential section of the tower has 130 apartments. The apartments have ten-foot ceilings, and there are five penthouses of up to 2,970 sq ft (276 m2).[3] The residential floors are numbered 48-70 for marketing purposes. Among the first tenants were rapper P. Diddy and New York Yankees pitcher Randy Johnson.[4]
The building has two fluid tuned mass dampers, which are designed to damp building sway. Located on the 50th floor mechanical room, they have 16-inch-thick (41 cm) concrete walls, and measure 20 feet (6.1 m) wide by 70 feet (21 m) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) tall. One tank runs west-east and the other runs north-south.[2]
History
When the lease of its longtime headquarters at 201 East 50th Street was ending, Random House decided to expand its headquarters and move to a newly built tower. They originally planned in 1998 to build a tower at 45th and Broadway across from its parent company Bertelsmann's headquarters at 1540 Broadway with a neon-lighted skyway across 45th Street connecting them, but after long negotiations the owner of the property withdrew from the plans. Looking for an alternative, the company spoke with various developers, who were already planning apartment buildings, and in 1999 decided for the project of Stephen M. Ross at Broadway and 55th Street, which was already under construction. Subsequently, they assigned architects to develop a new design.[5]
While the building has functioned as Random House's headquarters ever since, the 2013 newly formed Penguin Random House parent company initially worked from SoHo at 345 and 375 Hudson Street. In 2016, two years before the lease of the Random House Tower would end, the company extended the contract till 2033 and also moved to the tower of its subsidiary. There, Penguin Random House occupies 603,650 sq ft (56,081 m2) and employs 2,400 people.[3]
Critical reception
Critics have noted that its three main towers give it the impression of being three books (although the architects referred to them as "three sliding crystals").[6]
References
- http://www.aviewoncities.com/buildings/nyc/randomhousetowerandparkimperial.htm
- Tamboli, Akbar; Tomasetti, Thornton (2005). "Manhattan's Mixed Construction Skyscrapers with Tuned Liquid and Mass" (PDF). Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. pp. 2–3 (PDF pp. 4–5). Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- Putzier, Konrad (September 7, 2016). "Penguin Random House signs 604K sf extension at SL Green's 1745 Broadway". The Real Deal. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
- "Random House Tower, New York City". Emporis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- Bagli, Charles V. (February 4, 1999). "55th Street Is Said to Be Site For a Random House Tower". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- Great Gridlock