Like the hedge-fund managers who work inside it, 425 Park Avenue faces the dilemma of standing out in a crowd while never screaming for attention or bragging (too) loudly. The reportedly $1 billion building on New York’s fanciest boulevard proves its worth the way high-priced finance bros do: by outperforming the competition (and talking a good game). The old guard here—Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building and Gordon Bunshaft’s Lever House—still command respect and challenge any new kid in the ’hood to show he belongs. The first full-block office building on Park in more than 50 years, 425 had to push its way into an exclusive club without seeming to break a sweat. Luckily, Norman Foster has done this before and isn’t easily intimidated. And, luckily for Foster, he had a deep-pocketed client who had hung onto the project through economic downturns, three different mayoral administrations, and the vicissitudes of New York’s rule-making process—and was determined to make a statement.
The client, L&L Holding Company, acquired the property in 2006 when it was occupied by a 32-story office building designed in 1957 by Kahn & Jacobs and had tenant leases that wouldn’t run out until 2015. It had low ceiling heights and outdated mechanical systems, making it unattractive to top-end tenants. The company brought in Lehman Brothers as an equity partner, but Lehman went belly-up at the start of the 2008–09 financial meltdown. David Levinson, chairman and CEO of L&L, found new financing and stuck with the project. In 2012, L&L organized a design competition for a new building, inviting nine world-renowned firms to participate. The client then narrowed the selection to four architects—Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, and Foster—and spent the next several months meeting with the architects, visiting their offices, touring their work, and getting to know their operations. “I thought it would get easier to make a decision after we cut the field to four,” recalls Levinson. “It got harder. They’re all great architects, and I got friendly with each of them.”
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