A Shot in the Arm: Pfizer's $3.7B Hudson Yards headquarters gets first terrace plantings

By Michelle Mazzarella | From Future New York Friday, October 1, 2021

The Spiral from the Hudson River (Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group / Tishman Speyer)

Earlier this week, Pfizer submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from a recent study of its vaccine in children 5 to 11 years old. This is the latest news for the pharmaceutical powerhouse: Its vaccine was approved by the FDA in August 2021, and has been available since December 2020. As of this writing, over 226 million Pfizer vaccine doses have been administered in the United States, and the Pfizer vaccine is in use in 136 countries all over the world.

The success of the vaccine will easily pay for Pfizer’s spiffy new headquarters in The Spiral, a new office tower developed by Tishman Speyer, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, and located in the heart of Hudson Yards on the corner of Tenth Avenue and 34th Street. Pfizer will lease 800,000 square feet of office space, comprising 15 stories and part of the lobby, in the 65-story tower. The Spiral is fully glassed, and the empty terraces are starting to receive their first plantings. Completion is estimated for 2022.

The Spiral (Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group / Tishman Speyer)

The Spiral and the Hudson Yards skyline (Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group / Tishman Speyer)

While a number of new office buildings have come to embrace outdoor space as an amenity in the wake of the pandemic, planted terraces were always a key component of The Spiral, so named by Bjarke Ingels Group for its upward, curling, tree-filled terraces on four sides. Its location next to the High Line inspired the architects to ring the offices with a seamless line of greenery spiraling up the building and “extending the High Line into the skyline,” as Ingels puts it. At over 1,000 feet tall, its impressive height will offer uninterrupted city and river views. Ingels’ website notes that the shape of the building “combines the efficient layout of the modern high-rise with the classic ziggurat silhouette of the pre-modern skyscraper.” In the building, terraces become double-height atriums that allow for greater interconnectivity and encourage interaction.

Yes, underwhelming but they will grow bigger.

I just don't think Hudson Yards uses enough reflective glass. /s Watch out birds.

When Pfizer’s lease was announced in spring 2018, it was also reported that the firm sold its headquarters at 219 and 235 East 42nd Street to Brooklyn-based investor David Werner for about $360 million. His plans for the building have not been confirmed, but it is widely speculated that he will take advantage of the Midtown East rezoning to tear down the old buildings in favor of a significantly larger tower.

Pfizer joins such tenants as Time Warner, L’Oreal USA, Tapestry, KKR, and Skadden Arps in the Hudson Yards area. Another office tenant is BlackRock, which just announced a new Future of Work program: Beginning November 1, 2021, employees will be expected to work in the office at least three days a week with some flexibility to work remotely. All employees will have to be fully vaccinated and tested every week.

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Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group / Tishman Speyer; Model by Radii inc

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