JP Morgan - Union Carbide Building

Department of City Planning

JPMorgan Chase has filed new applications with the Department of Buildings for their skyscraper that will replace the Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Ave, setting a new record for tallest building demolished. The new plans show a 1,322-foot-tall tower, shorter than the original 1,566-foot proposal.

The Foster + Partners-designed skyscraper will be the first to take advantage of the recent Midtown East Rezoning, which allows developers to purchase and transfer air rights from adjacent landmarked buildings – they've already made a deal with St. Bartholomew’s Church to purchase 550,000 square feet of air rights for $20.7 million. Approved by the city, the new skyscraper will have a 10,000-square-foot, privately owned public space, in addition to $42 million in investment towards transit upgrades.

Union Carbide Building

Currently, no renderings have been released for the new tower, which will break the world record of NYC's 612-foot tall #SingerBuilding, demolished in 1968 and replaced with One Liberty Plaza.

Approved by the city, the new skyscraper will have a 10,000-square-foot, privately owned public space, in addition to $42 million in investment towards transit upgrades.\

Demolition permits for the site were filed in January and approved, but typical for dense areas like Midtown, the building will not be demolished using explosives. Instead, it will be covered in cocoon netting and disassembled piece by piece, first removing harmful materials, then working inside out to remove everything from doors and fixtures to the steel structural columns and concrete slabs.

Designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1958, the 707-foot tall building has over 1.5 million square feet of office space. Plans to redo the curtain wall to make it more energy efficient were scrapped when JPMorgan Chase announced that they will demolish the 52-story building and replace it with a new 70-story world headquarters.