Multi Housing News

 Sydness Architects Designs 24-Story Mixed-Use Project in NYC
Published: October 23, 2007
 

By Kelly Sheehan, Online News Editor

New York—Sydness Architects has designed The Alexander, a 24-story mixed-use community located at 250 East 49th St. in Manhattan. The curved glass tower, which will have a luxury apartment component, will rise from a five-story podium scaled to respect the residential block’s masonry-clad buildings.

New York-based developer Continental Finance Corp. is currently building the project. The community, situated on the corner of East 49th Street and Second Avenue, is expected to be completed in 2009.

The podium’s first two levels, featuring a glass façade, will include retail shops with entrances on Second Avenue. The residential lobby entrance will be located on 49th Street. The project’s 88 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, ranging from 600 to 3,000 square feet, will feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows and 11-ft.-high ceilings, allowing for expansive views of the East River.

"The most exciting feature [of the project] is the curved glass facade made possible by the building's corner site on a prominent midtown avenue," Jeff Sydness, principal and founder of Sydness Architects, tells MHN. "THe 11-ft. ceilings result in even more dramatic views from within the apartments."

The building’s three upper levels, which will have deep red terra cotta panels, will contain apartments with terraces that cut into the podium and reveal the curved glass curtain wall behind. Above these units, between panels of tan-colored terra cotta, additional apartments will comprise the rest of the building, with large duplex penthouses on the upper floors.

“We took our design cues from the site,” says Sydness. “The corner location called for an expansive building that could look out over the city, and the neighboring masonry buildings suggested the use of terra cotta on the podium, which continues the street wall. Creating cutouts in the terra cotta panels for balconies provides welcome contrast to the extended, uninflected window walls.”

According to Sydness, the use of terra cotta should visually connect the tower with the podium and its neighboring buildings, which feature masonry. The cladding system will also provide The Alexander with higher performance energy conservation and moisture protection than most standard masonry facades.

Units will include white oak floors, Miele washers and dryers, granite countertops, Sub-Zero refrigerators, Viking gas cooking oven, under-cabinet lighting, Poggenpohl cabinetry with aluminum edging, march oak dark wood veneer base cabinets with high gloss beige lacquer wall cabinets. horizontal teak wood laminate decor with aluminum edging detail, gold limestone floors and walls, spa showers with glass mosaic tiles, Kohler hourglass-shaped tubs, Kohler vessel skins, custom vanities and mill work, and Runtal heated towel bars.

Common amenities will include an Equinox fitness center, concierge services, landscaped roof terrace, cold food storage room and private storage.