Neighborhood redevelopment leads to neighborhood revolution

Real Estate Weekly, March 14, 2001

Limited commercial office construction in Manhattan has created a wave of repositioning projects in older Class B and C properties as owners attempt to meet demand created by new and expanding companies. Despite economic uncertainty, vacancy rates remain at historic lows and financing for new speculative office projects is limited.

The repositioning of Trinity Real Estate's One Hudson Square, a 17-story, one-million-square-foot former light industrial building at 75 Varick Street, demonstrates the extraordinary potential of existing properties. Rosen Johnson Architects, a Manhattan-based firm that recently repositioned 1251 Avenue of the Americas and is refurbishing the Grace Building, among other properties, was selected by Trinity Real Estate to reposition the building. The project has not only accommodated corporations seeking flexible and conveniently located space, it has helped to anchor the transformation of the entire neighborhood, which has embraced its original designation as Hudson Square.

A large structure with 70,000 SF floor plates, One Hudson Square required significant physical changes to facilitate the increased traffic that commercial office tenants bring. In addition, the common spaces of the building were enhanced to meet aesthetic demands and practical requirements, such as new and expanded electric and telecommunications services, and central air conditioning.

"When we first approached this project we saw numerous opportunities," said Paul Rosen, co-founder of Rosen Johnson Architects PC. "The client's dedication to the project enabled us to implement a design that handles the expanded traffic in a gracious and comfortable fashion."

Rosen Johnson completely redesigned the building's entrance and lobby, which was expanded to include a new 24-hour concierge desk and 15 passenger elevators. To enable the enlargement of the entrance and lobby, 2300 square feet of underutilized retail space was rededicated as circulation space.

Designed to emphasize One Hudson Square's Varick Street and SoHo orientation, Rosen Johnson centered the entrance on the facade and increased its width from one bay to three. The entrance, once flush with the street wall, now sets back 12 feet to provide shelter to tenants. Contextual and elegant, the new 600 square foot arcade has advanced the building's identity.

Rosen Johnson also completely transformed One Hudson Square's 1800 square foot Varick Street entrance hall into a spacious and inviting lobby. The space now comprises 5400 square feet and features a new concierge desk constructed of bronze and Fossile Nero, an unusual and distinctive black fossilized marble from North Africa.

The lobby was stripped of its Art Deco finishes in the 1960s and in the interest of preserving this heritage Rosen Johnson incorporated geometric patterns and rich finishes into the redesign, such as polished granite, marble, limestone, bronze and wood.

The building was originally equipped with nine passenger elevators. While these elevators were capable of moving the building's light industrial tenancy, additional capacity was required to handle the increase in passengers. Rosen Johnson is currently transforming five freight elevators for passenger use and adding an additional passenger car in an unused shaftway. The result will be two new elevator banks balanced on the north and south side of the lobby.

Construction of a new two-story penthouse is also under way. The penthouse, designed by Rosen Johnson Architects, will add 50,000 square feet of lease space to the building and is expected to be complete in 2002.

As former tenants of the building are repositioned to equivalent light industrial buildings within the owners' portfolio, One Hudson Square has attracted a new tenant base that includes professional service firms in the financial, legal, advertising and technology sectors.

Anthony Johnson, co-founder of Rosen Johnson Architects PC, said: "One Hudson Square has become a remarkable class-A building that will anchor Hudson Square and assure its transition into a premier quality commercial district."