Construction recently topped out at a new high-rise, 22-story building that hopes to improve the Washington Avenue landscape. Located at 2420 Amsterdam Avenue, this vibrant and colorful building first broke ground in 2018. The building has eight separate and distinct boxy shapes, each with a specific purpose (and distinctive color). The building is designed by MVRDV, with executive architect Stonehill & Taylor. MVRDV describes it as “a colorful welcome sign to upper Manhattan.”

2420 Amsterdam Avenue, Meant to Be Welcoming

The developers Youngwoo & Associates, as well as MVRDV, want the building to have an overall welcoming feeling. They want to break the mold that high-rise buildings overwhelm the street and the neighborhood. This is why this high-rise is separated into different parts, with only part of the building being part of the tower. Winy Maas from MVRDV says that this building shows that high rises don’t have to be “disconnected from their neighborhoods” and “they can be a good neighbor, a friendly neighbor, instead.”

What Are the Specifics of this Vibrant High-Rise?

It will be a mixed-use building, and upon completion, will offer 100,000 square feet of office space. Some features include:

• The ground floor will occupy a mix of retail space and office space
• Upper levels will be a combination hotel and restaurant, offering guests a large outdoor terrace as well as an outdoor pool deck
• The restaurant will occupy the 19th floor, and there will be an event space on the tenth floor in the form of an L-shape
• The outdoor terrace will also be on the tenth floor
• There will be 212 guest rooms in the hotel

In addition to the 100,000 square feet of office space, there will be 93,000 square feet of hospitality space and 8,000 square feet of retail space.

There are also plans for the hospitality space to accommodate visitors that are in the area visiting Yeshiva University as well as New York-Presbyterian Hospital. 

The project is expected to complete in 2021, with the hotel functional and occupancy by the end of the year.