Although the owners of 470 Park Avenue South started its renovation in 2019, their plans for the Midtown South office tower happen to work well in the pandemic era. SJP Properties and PGIM Real Estate decided to convert the building’s rear yard into an outdoor lounge area with seating, a bar and a firepit, which turned out to be a prescient choice for 2022.
A redesign of the ground floor — led by Gensler — allowed for the creation of the backyard and a connected indoor kitchen and amenity space. The outdoor patio features wood walls and benches, plantings, tables and chairs, a long marble bar, and lounge seating arranged around a gas-powered stone firepit.
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Moving indoors, there’s a large white marble bar and matching countertops, blonde wood cabinets, and a white marble backsplash that extends to the ceiling in the kitchen area. There’s also a shuffleboard table, a row of white leather midcentury arm chairs arrayed around small, dark wooden cocktail tables, next to a long white leather bench seat. One wall is exposed brick that’s been painted white, while the opposite one is coated with panels meant to resemble dark brown leather.
The $15 million revamp of the 300,000-square-foot building also includes a new 14th-floor terrace, renovated elevator cabs, a new heating and cooling system, facade updates, new windows, and a prebuilt suite on the second floor. Construction started in 2019, and is scheduled to wrap by the end of 2022.
“In the years since we acquired this property, we have continued our thoughtful repositioning — even in the midst of a global pandemic — with an evolving workforce and real estate landscape in mind,” said Alexander Erdos, a senior vice president at SJP. “The shift in priorities of office tenants has only further strengthened the importance of not just common areas that can facilitate safe, team-based work, but also outdoor amenities, which were previously unheard of in this submarket.”
SJP and PGIM purchased the 17-story building between East 31st and East 32nd streets for $245 million in December 2018 from Norges Bank Real Estate and Nuveen.
