The developer behind Essex Crossing plans to build a nearly half-million square-foot office tower on Trinity Church land at Hudson Square — a sign of confidence in Manhattan’s troubled commercial market.
Taconic Partners and its investment partner Nuveen Real Estate unveiled images of One Grand, a tower to rise at the corner of Grand and Varick streets where Soho, Hudson Square and Tribeca converge.
The project designed by SHoP Architects is shown here for the first time.
It will rise 28 stories with 430,763 square feet of office space.
The first office floor will be 100 feet above ground with a public school and retail below it.
The land is currently vacant.
Taconic won’t start construction until it finds an anchor tenant — standard for nearly all new developments. The leasing task falls to a JLL team headed by New York president Peter Riguardi.
Several “supertall” office projects are theoretically planned in Midtown, but their designs are vague and none is anywhere near to coming out of the ground during the market downturn.
One Grand’s more modest size and fully-realized architecture give it a head start over the field.
The land is owned by Trinity Church, which remains one of Lower Manhattan’s major landowners. It chose Taconic and Nuveen to develop the site in 2019.
Taconic says the tower will boast advanced wellness and sustainability features, a 13,000-square-foot amenities center, 20,000 square feet of outdoor space and 14-foot ceiling heights.
Riguardi, citing Manhattan’s “much-documented flight to quality,” said One Grand “is an opportunity for forward-thinking companies to secure a headquarters presence in this prized area.”
Taconic, a powerhouse in commercial and residential real estate, is currently developing the Hudson Research Center on far West 54th Street as well as three apartment buildings. The company’s Essex Crossing on the Lower East Side has been widely acclaimed as one of the city’s finest mixed-use projects ever.