8 Spruce Street

Last updated

8 Spruce Street
(New York by Gehry)
8 Spruce Street (01030p).jpg
8 Spruce Street
General information
StatusCompleted
Type Mixed-use
Architectural style Deconstructivism
Address8 Spruce Street
Manhattan, New York City 10038
Coordinates 40°42′39″N74°00′20″W / 40.71083°N 74.00556°W / 40.71083; -74.00556
Construction started2006
Completed2010
OpeningFebruary 2011
Owner8 Spruce (NY) Owner LLC
ManagementFirst Service Residential
Height
Roof870 ft (265 m)
Top floor827 ft (252 m)
Technical details
Floor count76
Floor area1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s) Frank Gehry
Developer Forest City Ratner
Engineer Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP)
Structural engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk
Main contractorKreisler Borg Florman
Website
live8spruce.com

8 Spruce Street, previously known as the Beekman Tower and New York by Gehry, [1] is a 899-unit residential skyscraper on Spruce Street located in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The levels under the rental units include a public pre-K to grade 8 school owned by the NYC Department of Education, a hospital, retail stores, and a parking garage. [2] Designed by architect Frank Gehry + Gehry Partners LLP and developed by Forest City Ratner, the building rises 870 feet (265.2 m) with 76 stories. WSP Cantor Seinuk was the lead structural engineer, Jaros, Baum & Bolles provided MEP engineering, and Kreisler Borg Florman was construction manager. [3] [4] 8 Spruce Street is currently the 28th tallest building in New York City, and it was the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere at the time of opening in February 2011. [3]

Contents

Site

The one-acre (44, 286 sq ft) site located on the south side of Spruce and Beekman Streets takes up a little more than half the block. Prior to 8 Spruce Street's construction, the lot was used as parking for the NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital immediately to the east. across the William Street Plaza. [5] The part of the Financial District in Lower Manhattan where 8 Spruce St is located is surrounded by shorter buildings, which meant constructing a tall building would offer views of the entire city. It is just east of City Hall Park and south of Pace University and the Brooklyn Bridge. Immediately to the west are 150 Nassau Street and the Morse Building (140 Nassau Street). [5]

Architecture

Form and facade

The plan

Zoomed in details of the east side Rippling facade of the east side in detail.jpg
Zoomed in details of the east side

The site's zoning allowed for no height restrictions so instead of filling the entire site area wise, developers opted for a taller structure with open space on two sides at ground level. The building's structural frame is reinforced concrete, common for high-rise residential towers in Manhattan. [2] The final design boasts 76 stories and 1,040,904 square feet of space. The building consists of a six-story podium with a brick facade, housing a public school, medical offices, and residential amenities. Above this podium, a T-shaped residential tower clad in brushed stainless steel rises. [6] Residential units occupy the ninth to the 76th floors, including penthouses at the top. A T-shaped floor plan was selected for the upper levels, resulting in six corner apartments per floor. As the building ascends, it steps back, forming terraces on the seventh, 24th, 40th, and 52nd floors, totaling 13 units with terraces. [7] [3] Underground, there's one level of parking, operated by a valet service. [7]

South side where the facade is flat The South side of 8 Spruce.jpg
South side where the facade is flat

The Facade

The standout feature of the design is the wavy stainless steel facade that curves along three sides of the building (the south side is flat). [8] Comprising approximately 10,500 custom-made stainless steel panels from Japan, the facade resembles a puzzle when assembled. Only around 2,000 panels are identical. [9] Aluminum brackets secure the panels to the concrete slab and while the windows themselves are rectangular, their widths vary to match the shifting profile of the facade, creating numerous bay windows. [10] Gehry had to modify the curtain wall to accommodate the window-washing rigs, and the panels were buffed during manufacturing to minimize glare. [2]

Exterior and interior, usage

As seen from City Hall Park 8 Spruce St seen from City Hall Park.jpg
As seen from City Hall Park

Lobby

The entrance for the residential lobby on the west side of the building includes a porte cochere, a covered entrance for vehicles. Inside the lobby, there's a curved reception desk and furniture that mirror the building's curved design. To the right of the main entrance are the mailroom and concierge service area. [2]

Rental units

Above the elementary school is a 899-unit, [3] 677,186 net square feet, [2] luxury residential tower clad in stainless steel. All units are rental-only; none are available for purchase. [3] The three highest floors have 3,215 of extra space for terraces since the building floor plate is reduced as it is built up. [2] The apartments range from 500 square feet (46 m2) to 1,600 square feet (150 m2), and consist of studios, one-, two-, three-bedroom, and penthouse units. [11] Due to the dynamic design of the facade, the building consists of 350 unique apartment layouts. The appliances in the interior were designed by Gehry to match the steel facade of the exterior. The interior features include brushed stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, vertical-grain Douglas fir cabinets, solar shades on windows, and nine-foot ceilings in all units. [2]

Amenities

Residents have access to 22,165 square feet of amenities across three floors. On the sixth floor, there's a grilling terrace, a game room, and golf simulators. The seventh floor features an indoor swimming pool, a fitness center, social areas, and a spa suite. The eighth floor offers additional fitness facilities, a library, screening room, and spaces for children and tweens. [2] [6]

School

Kids wave goodbye during dismissal at PS 397 Spruce St School PS397.jpg
Kids wave goodbye during dismissal at PS 397

Spruce Street School, P.S. 397, is a public school located on the first 4 floors of the skyscraper serving 440 students from pre-K to eighth grade. [12] The exterior is made of reddish-tan brick and on the fourth floor there is a 5,000 sq ft terrace used as an outdoor play area for the kids. [13] [7] The city suggested adding four floors for the school due to a shortage of schools in the area. To make this happen, the city offered financing through Liberty Bonds. Forest City Rather hired Swanke Hayden Connell Architects to design the 100,000-square-foot school. After completion in September 2011, the city took over ownership and operation of the school. [2]

Hospital

The fifth floor of this building includes a 21,692 square feet space meant for New York Downtown Hospital next door across the William Street Plaza to use as office space. [2] The building originally also allocated 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of parking below ground for the hospital. It was never used, so as of 2016, it is a commercially-operated valet parking garage. [7]

8 spruce and the school on the left; NY Presbyterian on the right Sky view of the building and hospital.jpg
8 spruce and the school on the left; NY Presbyterian on the right

Public Spaces

There are public plazas on both the east and west sides of the building, one 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) and the other somewhat smaller. [13] [1]

The east plaza also known as William Street Plaza acts as a divider between the building and New York Downtown Hospital, and also serves as access to the parking garage. This side also features entrances to the school and medical office space. [2]

Street-level retail, totaling approximately 1,300 to 2,500 square feet (120 to 230 m2), is included as part of the project. [13]

History

8 Spruce Street opened in February 2011. [8]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, about one of every five units were vacant. [14] [15] The building's owners, Brookfield Property Partners and Nuveen, placed the building for sale in November 2021 with an asking price of $850 million. [16] Bloomberg reported in late 2021 that Blackstone Inc. would likely purchase the property for $930 million, and multiple sources have confirmed the sale. [17] [18] [19] Blackstone established 8 Spruce (NY) Owner LLC in December 2021 to serve as owner. [20]

Critical reception

The rippling facade in more detail East side facade of 8 spruce st.jpg
The rippling facade in more detail

Early reviews of 8 Spruce Street were favorable. In The New York Times , architecturecritic Nicolai Ouroussoff praised the building's design as a welcome addition to the skyline of New York, calling it: "the finest skyscraper to rise in New York since Eero Saarinen's CBS Building went up 46 years ago". [8] New Yorker magazine's Paul Goldberger described it as "one of the most beautiful towers downtown". Comparing Gehry's tower to the nearby Woolworth Building, completed in 1913, Goldberger said, "It is the first thing built downtown since then that actually deserves to stand beside it." [21]

CityRealty architecture critic Carter Horsely hailed the project, saying "the building would have been an unquestioned architectural masterpiece if the south façade had continued the crinkling and if the base had continued the stainless-steel cladding. Even so, it is as majestic as its cross-town rival, the great neo-Gothic Woolworth Building designed by Cass Gilbert at 233 Broadway on the other side of City Hall Park." [22] Gehry designed both the exterior, interiors and amenities spaces, along with all 20 model apartments.

The building received the Emporis Skyscraper Award for 2011. [23]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Grant, Peter (October 5, 2010). "Gehry on New Gehry Building". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street" (PDF). Urban Land Institute. March 11, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Eight Spruce Street - The Skyscraper Center". www.skyscrapercenter.com. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  4. ↑ "8 Spruce Street -". World-Architects. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "NYCityMap". NYC.gov. New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications . Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Ouroussoff, Nicolai (May 31, 2008). "Looking Skyward in Lower Manhattan". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Davies, Pete (May 23, 2008). "Gehry's Beekman Tower Gets Presented, Goes Street". Curbed.com.
  8. 1 2 3 Ouroussoff, Nicolai (February 10, 2011) [9 February 2011]. "Downtown Skyscraper for the Digital Age". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  9. ↑ "New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street | Gehry Partners". Archello. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  10. ↑ "8 Spruce St" (PDF). Steel Institute of New York. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Unveiled: Beekman Tower". The Architect's Newspaper. May 30, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Spruce St School". US News. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 "Gehry's Beekman Tower Ready to Launch". LowerManhattan.info. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved September 11, 2008.
  14. ↑ Parker, Will; Putzier, Konrad (January 5, 2021). "Frank Gehry's Luxury New York City Skyscraper Has Everything—Except Enough Tenants". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  15. ↑ Larsen, Keith (November 1, 2020). "Occupancy at The New York by Gehry falls by more than 20%". The Real Deal New York. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  16. ↑ Bockmann, Rich (November 3, 2021). "Lower Manhattan's Gehry Tower For Sale at $850M". The Real Deal New York. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  17. ↑ Clark, Patrick (December 19, 2021). "Blackstone Nears $930 Million Deal for Manhattan Apartments". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Blackstone pays $930M to Nuveen, Brookfield for 8 Spruce in FiDi". PincusCo. June 20, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  19. ↑ Kramer, Liana (September 24, 2022). "Blackstone's 8 Spruce accuses tenant of housing restaurant". NJ News Update. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Sale of the Retail/Residential Condo at FiDi's 8 Spruce Street Closes". ABS Partners. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  21. ↑ Goldberger, Paul. "Sky Line: Gracious Living: Frank Gehry's swirling apartment". The New Yorker (March 7, 2011)
  22. ↑ "New York By Gehry: Building Review". CityRealty.
  23. ↑ Pitcher, Greg (December 7, 2012). "Gehry's New York tower scoops major skyscraper prize". Architects' Journal. EMAP Ltd. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
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