Hoping to reproduce the wow-factor that made One Vanderbilt the city's most optimal office tower, Related is constructing a 52-story, 840,000-square-foot tower at 625 Madison Ave. designed by starchitects Foster + Partners and Gensler. It expects the site to set rental records with lease deals topping $400 per square foot. Courtesy of Related Companies The newest entrant to Manhattan’s office pipeline is poised to set a pricing benchmark at the very top of the market. Related Companies is marketing its forthcoming 52-story tower at 625 Madison Ave. with asking rents that could reach an unprecedented $400 per square foot on the uppermost floors.
The 840,000-square-foot project will target premier tenants in the technology and financial sectors, with base rents beginning around $250 per square foot and escalating sharply with elevation — ultimately delivering what would be the highest office asking rents ever recorded in New York City.
The development is a partnership between Related and Andrew Mathias, the former president of SL Green Realty, who oversaw the development of One Vanderbilt adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. That skyscraper recently secured a second lease exceeding $300 per square foot, underscoring the continued strength of the top-tier office market.
The space at 625 Madison between East 58th and 59th streets as it looked in 1955. New York Post The Madison Avenue site carries both history and sentiment. The prior building housed Revlon and once served as Related’s headquarters. Today, the firm is led by CEO Jeff Blau, while founder Stephen Ross has shifted focus to ventures in South Florida and ownership of the Miami Dolphins.
Strategically positioned between East 58th and 59th streets, the site bridges the Plaza District’s commercial core and the über-luxury residential corridor known as Billionaires’ Row.
Initially conceived as a slender, tall residential tower, the project has since been reimagined — reflecting renewed demand for high-end office space — into a state-of-the-art, carbon-neutral commercial building, supported in part by investment by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
The design team has also evolved. Foster + Partners and Gensler — the latter also on Related’s 70 Hudson Yards — have been selected to create what is envisioned as the signature trophy tower to rule them all.
The Four Seasons Hotel New York and the GM Building will be its neighbors. Four Seasons Hotel New York; Stefano Giovannini for NY Post The structure features curved glass corners, polished steel framing and integrated greenery designed to complement views of nearby Central Park.
The building will be organized into stacked, column-free office clusters of roughly six floors each, interspersed with amenity levels opening onto landscaped terraces along the north, south and west façades.
The configuring on the edges of buildings — promoted by Gensler — maximizes natural light and promotes workplace interaction, while also allowing future flexibility for a diverse mix of tenants.
Architectural highlights include double-height mechanical floors and a sculpted crown with metallic screening, as well as a dramatic, top-floor space envisioned as a double-height amenity or executive suite.
A central amenity zone features triple-height glass — rising 30 to 40 feet — potentially incorporating a mezzanine level connected by statement staircases.
With large floor plates and over 600 feet tall, the tower will be nestled among its neighbors: the General Motors Building at 705 feet, the Four Seasons Hotel New York at 682 feet and 520 Park Avenue at 781 feet.
But with air rights already transferred from the low-rise Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue, the Related project is guaranteed views of Central Park for its future occupants.
This is the only new development in the Plaza District with a timeline, sources said, that is “years ahead” of other new construction. In both design and pricing, Related is positioning 625 Madison as a leader of New York’s next generation of trophy office projects.
