TEN Arquitectos to complete 1.3 million s/f Clinton Park mixed-use development in Manhattan

TEN Arquitectos is working on a mixed-use development located at the western edge of Midtown Manhattan, the Clinton Park, which will occupy more than half of a city block with 1.3 million s/f of commercial and residential programs. The building fills a void in the urban fabric by integrating multiple commercial uses at the base and providing needed housing in the 27 floors above. The base building will include a 50,000 s/f auto showroom fronting 11th Ave. with 250,000 s/f of service floors below grade, a 30,000 s/f horse stable for the NYPD Mounted Police, a 7,500 s/f neighborhood market, a 30,000 s/f health club, and 200 parking spaces. The residential form sitting atop this plinth creates more than 900 apartment units, including 20 percent inclusionary housing. The overall massing of the project slopes up and away from Clinton Park, starting at 96 feet along 11th Ave. and climbing up to 348 feet at the middle of the block; this height transition negotiates two very dissimilar urban scales: the flat, horizontal one of the park located to the west of 11th Ave. and the vertical, windowless structure of the telephone switching tower to the east of the site. Securing light and air for a great majority of apartment units, the double loaded corridor shifts diagonally across the site in a unique orientation to the Manhattan grid, reducing the building's mass adjacent to the neighboring buildings. Each floor steps up from the one below, allowing for unobstructed views to the park and Hudson River and providing private roof terraces with green roofs on every floor. The design of the project capitalizes on the site's through-block condition and its spectacular views to Clinton Park and the Hudson River. In an attempt to keep the project's mass both away from the park and off the narrow side streets, the design presents a totally unique design resolution for Manhattan. The building's mirrored structure introduces the creation of two garden terraces, a unique green feature among the city's urban grid. The gardens and the green roofs on each floor introduce a refreshing sense of proximity to nature into the otherwise massive structure. On the ground floor, the design reconciles the complex program of the building by placing the dealership and horse stable on the two opposite spaces below the terraces, while on the first level above the plinth the health club brings the program together as the two gardens merge across the amenities floor: a sun bathed pool garden to the south and a shaded activities court to the north. The developer behind the project is Two Trees Management LLC. The estimated completion date is set for 2012.