495 Eleventh
Mixed-Use Development
New York, NY
745,000 SF • RADSON DEVELOPMENT • LEED SILVER (TARGET)
495 Eleventh, a 48-story mixed-use development, is a study in composition and juxtaposition resulting from its transitional location in Manhattan’s Hell‘s Kitchen neighborhood, straddling the established residential neighborhood to the north and the glamorous new Hudson Yards district to the south. The striking, 650’ high project functions as the visual cartilage that links these two distinct aesthetics.
The 745,000 sf project contains a variety of program uses, including ground floor retail: a 24,500 sf supermarket; 305,000 sf of commercial space; a 20,000 sf conference center; and a total of 348 affordable rental residential units (including 48 supportive units) located strategically across the building. This program is supported by three below-grade levels, including a special vehicle parking facility for the NYPD. The diversity in uses has informed the building’s massing, conceived as three distinct sections roughly corresponding to the program.
The project’s use of multiple alternative energy sources — including wind turbines and a solar array for its tri-generation central energy plant, with their exposed steel support platforms — is expressed externally as the building’s crown. On an urban scale, the building fills a significant void in the current Manhattan skyline; its profile is distinctive yet harmonious with the overall skyline composition.
The project’s material palette responds to the character of the surrounding neighborhoods. In the tower facing north, a balance of glass and UHP concrete panels echo the masonry aesthetic of Hell’s Kitchen, while the south of the building is largely glazed in keeping with the sleek curtain wall language of Hudson Yards. The base is also mostly glass, which is well-suited to flexible commercial office space. Exposed steel members and accents throughout the project recall the metal accents (exposed steel lintels, fitch plates, etc.) of the site’s historic industrial use, while also supporting alternative energy installations that allow the project to target LEED Silver and Enterprise Green Communities certification.
(Renderings by Synoesis)
The south façade is glazed in keeping with the sleek curtain wall language of Hudson Yards; glass also wraps the base, as it is well-suited to flexible commercial office space.
In the north-facing tower, a balance of glass and solid UHP concrete panels echo the historic masonry aesthetic of Hell’s Kitchen.
