Vornado's New ‘Penn15’ Office Tower Design Features Parks in the Sky

Vornado Realty Trust's new renderings for what could become one of the tallest office buildings in New York City call for a 1,400-foot office tower at 401 Seventh Ave. that could replace the developer's famed 1,000-room Hotel Pennsylvania.

The New York City-based developer unveiled plans to build the proposed 2.8 million square-foot tower called "Penn15” in a presentation posted on Vornado's website for the REITWeek 2019 Investor Conference.

The buiding name is based on its location at 15 Penn Plaza, the company said. Some renderings appear to show the logo for social media website provider Facebook, which has said it selected another site in New York.

Its design has been described by some commentators as a Jenga block tower, only made out of glass and green space instead of wood blocks, according to pro-development group New York YIMBY website.

Vornado has long considered plans to either renovate the 1919-vintage hotel with a major U.S. lodging company into a huge convention center and entertainment venue or demolish and replace it with a 2.8 million-square-foot office headquarters building. A decade ago, the company hired architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, which designed a more conventional high-rise office tower.

The company is now leaning toward a supertall structure with open floor plates and green outdoor spaces in keeping with Vornado's goal of courting Facebook and other technology, advertising, media and information tenants, according to comments by executives in recent earnings calls and presentations. The proposal sketches by architect Rafael Vinoly appear to show social media giant Facebook’s logo and colors.

A 1,400-foot-tall building would rank as the third-tallest in New York behind the 1,776-foot One World Trade Center and Steinway Tower at 111 West 57th St., which is 1,437 feet tall.

Long known to the company as 15 Penn Plaza, the proposed project "will stand out as the best available site in Manhattan," Vornado Chairman Steven Roth said in a letter to shareholders last year.

Facebook at one time considered moving to a new tower proposed by Vornado at 401 Seventh, but has since leased S.L. Green's 1 Madison Avenue in Manhattan's Gramercy Park and NoMad area, where the social media giant has shown "a voracious appetite for space," according to a CoStar Analytics report.

Vornado, Facebook and Vinoly did not immediately return requests for comment.