NEW YORK CITY — Tishman Speyer, a New York-based owner and developer of trophy office assets around the world, plans to break ground in June on The Spiral, a $3.7 billion office tower that will rise 65 stories at 66 Hudson Blvd. in Manhattan.
Global pharmaceutical company Pfizer recently signed an 800,000-square-foot, 20-year lease at The Spiral, which is slated for completion in 2022. Pfizer will occupy floors seven through 21, as well as some lobby space. The Spiral will serve as Pfizer’s new home, replacing its existing global headquarters at 235 E. 42nd St. in Manhattan.
Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. (NYSE: BXMT) recently provided a $1.8 billion construction loan for the project. Tishman Speyer will finance the remaining $1.9 billion of development costs with its own equity, as well as financing from more than a dozen other institutional, pension fund and individual investors.
Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, each floor of The Spiral’s façade will feature landscaped terraces and hanging gardens that will be accessible to tenants. At one outdoor terrace per floor, the tower’s façade will be wrapped around by green space in a swirling pattern that serves as the tower’s signature element.
Each floor of The Spiral’s façade will feature landscaped terraces and hanging gardens that will be accessible to tenants. (Rendering courtesy of Tishman Speyer)
The trophy office tower will also feature column-free floor plates, lobby heights of up to 28 feet, 25,000 square feet of ground-level retail space and grand entrances on Hudson Boulevard East and 10th Avenue.
Occupying a full city block, The Spiral will be situated at the intersection of the four-acre Hudson Boulevard Park and the High Line, a 1.45-mile elevated linear park and rail trail. The tower will also be accessible to transit hubs including Penn Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, Midtown Ferry Terminal, Lincoln Tunnel and West Side Highway.
The 2.8 million-square-foot project is part of Hudson Yards, a development on Manhattan’s West Side spanning more than 18 million square feet of commercial and residential space, 100 shops and restaurants, 14 acres of public parks and plazas, a public school and a 200-room Equinox hotel.
Tishman Speyer has tapped Turner Construction to serve as the construction manager for The Spiral, which is expected to generate approximately 7,600 construction jobs and more than 7,100 permanent office, retail and building-service jobs upon completion.
Once construction begins, Tishman Speyer will have more than 4.5 million square feet of modern office space under active construction throughout New York City. The company is currently building The Jacx, a 1.2 million-square-foot office development in Long Island City that is already more than 70 percent pre-leased to Bloomingdales and WeWork; and The Wheeler, a 10-story, 620,000-square-foot office campus that rises above the Macy’s historic downtown Brooklyn department store.
A Cushman & Wakefield team led by executive vice chairman Josh Kuriloff represented Pfizer in the lease negotiation. Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Spies is marketing Pfizer’s current headquarters for sale.
For the debt financing, Fried Frank served as legal advisor for Blackstone Mortgage Trust, and Sullivan & Cromwell served as legal advisor for Tishman Speyer.
— John Nelson