One Madison

History

Although much of the area nearby is included in various historic districts – such as the Ladies' Mile Historic District, Gramercy Park Historic District and Madison Square North Historic District – the location of One Madison is not, enabling the building to be constructed "as of right" with the transfer of air rights from the shorter buildings that surround the site.

When the building was originally announced, it was to be 47 stories and called The Saya; the name was changed to One Madison Park around the time that construction began in 2006 and then to One Madison after it was taken over by the Related Companies. The building as constructed has 60 stories. It features 360-degree views and contains 53 residential units, topped by an 6,850-square-foot triplex penthouse with a 586-square-foot wraparound terrace. The original asking price for the penthouse was $45 million, and was originally announced as including a butler with his own one-bedroom apartment on a lower floor. Prior to Related's take over of the building, the penthouse was under contract for $32 million, but that deal never closed.

As of April 2010, the building had topped out, but was still not complete, having run into financial difficulties. Sales of residential units had stopped, but the appointment of a receiver on April 15 allowed sales to start again. The building continued to be mired in financial and legal problems, including multiple lawsuits and allegations of fraud, and was forced into bankruptcy by some of its creditors in June 2010.

At one point, a 22-story building designed by noted architect Rem Koolhaas was to be the building's "companion" on 22nd Street, but later plans called for an 11-story building designed by Cetra/Ruddy, the firm that designed One Madison; although at the time construction began in January 2013, permits had reportedly been issued for a 6-story building, which will include the entrance lobby and two duplex apartments. The companion building, designed by BKSK Architects to feature a terra-cotta and glass façade, will be the primary entrance to the building.

The building is currently owned by a consortium of creditors, including Related Companies, the CIM Group, and HFZ Capital Group, who are completing construction and resumed sales in 2013.

As of February 21, 2014, seventy-five percent of the building's units had been sold.

Architecture

The building was designed by the architectural firm Cetra/Ruddy.

Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for The New York Times, called One Madison Park "a dazzling addition to a street that includes two of the city’s most celebrated skyscrapers: Pierre LeBrun’s 1909 Metropolitan Life Tower, across the street, and Daniel Burnham's 1903 Flatiron building, a half block west. It jolts the neighborhood into the present." In the New York Observer, Dana Rubinstein was somewhat less enthusiastic. Conceding that the tower was "not ugly", she wrote that the building is "in its overpowering, hubristic way, kind of pretty." Architect Dan Kaplan is quoted on a Wall Street Journal weblog as saying that the building is an "elegant, thin stalk", and represents a continuation of a long-held vision of Manhattan. Kaplan does say, however, that the sliver building "turn[s] its back, a little bit, on the park". Architect Gordon Gill, of the firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, say of the building that it was "Simply a unique and elegant solution derived without relying on excessive form making to create an 'identity' for itself."

In 2014, the building received the Architizer A+ Jury Award for Residential High Rise, and since 2013, it has been part of the "Sky High & the Logic of Luxury" exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum in lower Manhattan.

Interiors and amenities

When Related Companies took control of One Madison, about half of the units were finished, with interiors designed by Cetra/Ruddy, the architecture firm that designed the building’s exterior. For the remaining apartments, which were in various states of completion, the new owners hired the interior design firm Yabu Pushelberg, which also created the interiors of the new main lobby and the amenity spaces, and hired the lighting design firm Cooley Monato Studio who developed architectural lighting of the apartments, the main lobby, the amenity spaces, and exterior facade.

Rem Koolhaas designed the interiors of many of the condominium's originally planned amenities, which included a private screening room, an upscale restaurant run by chef Charlie Trotter, a spa and fitness room, and a wine cellar. After the building came under Related's control, the amenities were announced as including a lounge and screening room, private dining room, a fitness center and a room for yoga, a 50-foot (15 m) lap pool and steam room, and a playroom for children. A full-time doorman is enhanced with concierge service.

Engineering

The building's first five stories contain service and commercial spaces on the ground floor, above which are mechanical spaces and the building's amenities. These five floors act as a base for the building's tower, which is partly cantilevered over an existing three-story building to the east.

The cross-section of One Madison's tower is 50ft x 53ft (15.25m x 16.15m), which makes it, at the height of 621 feet (189.3 m), one of the slenderest buildings in New York City; its height-to-width ratio is 12:1. To accommodate the architectural design of the building, which called for windows on all sides, lateral bracing which would normally be placed around the tower's perimeter is located in the center in a cruciform shape, creating internal shear walls in an optimal configuration. To cope with lateral winds and potential seismic forces, the shear walls were made with high-performance concrete. One Madison also utilizes a Tuned Liquid Damping System on the roof consisting of three U-shaped reinforced concrete tanks full of water. These counter the building's lateral motion by about 3%.

Notable residents

NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen own one $14-million suite and rent out a similar apartment in One Madison. News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch bought the building's triplex penthouse and another full-floor apartment below it for a total of $57.3 million in February 2014. Peter Buffett, son of Warren Buffett, used to live in One Madison. Fredrik Eklund, top New York City realtor and author of "The Sell," also lives at One Madison.