New Renderings Revealed for 1,200-Foot PENN15 Supertall in Midtown, Manhattan

Fresh renderings by DBOX shed new light on PENN 15, a 56-story, 1,200-foot-tall commercial skyscraper at 15 Penn Plaza in Midtown, Manhattan. Designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Vornado Realty Trust, the 2.7 million-square-foot supertall will rise from the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which has been closed since early 2020 and is beginning the demolition process. The tower will be the tallest component in the 7.4-million-square-foot Penn District master plan, on a plot bound by Seventh Avenue to the west, West 32nd Street to the south, and West 33rd Street to the north.

Below are street level renderings looking east from Seventh Avenue.

A large LED screen would cantilever over the main entrance to the tower with additional lighting on the underside of the protruding rectangular volume.

Floor-to-ceiling glass panels allow for full transparency across the ground floor and the bright interior spaces. The ground floor contains a mix of retail space positioned along Seventh Avenue and West 32nd Street, and the core of PENN 15 would rest along the northern edge of the superstructure. A porte cochere is situated on the eastern corner, and a loading dock faces West 32nd Street.

Escalators bring tenants past the wooden steps and landscaping to a lobby lounge, an auditorium, and a cafe.

PENN 15 is divided into six sections: the first and lowest tier features Podium Mega Floors on levels 3 through 11 yielding 660,000 square feet; Mid Rise I spans floors 12 through 24 with 650,000 square feet; Mid Rise II occupies floors 25 through 37 with 660,000 square feet; High Rise I with 500,000 square feet; and finally High Rise II with 230,000 square feet. An additional 84,000 square feet of outdoor space is included. At the very top are two mechanical levels that make up the majority of the crown.

The largest floor plates are on the fourth level and measure 82,000 square feet, running 385 feet from east and west and 125 feet from north and south. This is made possible by the positioning of the core to the north side of the building. The smallest office floors start on the 52nd floor at 21,000 square feet with the shortest depth at 90 feet.

The below diagram depicts the building occupancy for PENN 15 with a tech and financial services leasing model.

The outdoor terraces would offer stunning new perspectives of the Empire State Building and the Midtown and Lower Manhattan skylines.

Terraces are split into four main categories depending on their size and position on each level.

PENN 15 will boast 17- to 19-foot floor-to-floor heights, 37 landscaped terraces, and six tenant amenity floors with ceilings up to 27 feet tall. These special floors will be located on the seventh, 12th, 25th, 38th, 51st, and 56th stories.

The following image offers a preview of the northern elevation, a view that had been absent from previous renderings. There is a three-by-four grid of floor-to-ceiling windows around each of the elevator hallways, a visible steel truss, and a mechanical bulkhead wrapped in a lighter paneling system. The rest of this side should likely have the same layout.

PENN 15’s sustainability goals include utilizing integrated photovoltaic cells on the pinnacle of the supertall, all-electric systems, rainwater collection, advanced heat recovery and storage from the transit networks below, reduced water usage, a green roof, and further targets listed below.

The following photos show the progress of demolition on the Hotel Pennsylvania. Sidewalk scaffolding has been steadily going up around the ground floor. The front doors remain sealed off, American flags still wave above the sidewalk canopy in between the set of decorative columns, which is flanked by two operating LED boards. The brick and stone façade will gradually be enveloped in scaffolding and black netting over the coming months as demolition work ramps up.

The site is located in a hotbed of subway and train access, with the B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, W, and PATH trains to the east at Herald Square and the 1, 2, 3, A, C, and E subway lines and the NJ Transit and Amtrak trains to the west at Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall. Other buildings in the Penn District in the process of being transformed include One and Two Penn Plaza.

A completion date for PENN 15 remains unclear, though YIMBY expects work to be finished by the end of the decade.

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