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New renderings revealed for CetraRuddy's basket-inspired Manhattan tower

Total Basket Base

New renderings revealed for CetraRuddy's basket-inspired Manhattan tower

New renderings confirm that CetraRuddy‘s new tower, at the border of Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Midtown East, is a total basket case. The images of 200 East 59th Street released in November featured the latticed main entrance, and the wraparound roof decks with spiral staircases, but these are the first images to depict the full tower.

200 East 59th Street is developed by Macklowe Properties, the same entity behind Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue, but this tower is downright diminutive compared to its nearby cousin. It’s set to rise 490 feet (35 stories), with 67 units over 99,848 square feet, YIMBY reports. The ceilings will be 14 feet tall, on average, although renderings seem to show the ceilings becoming progressively higher as the floors rise. The base of the tower will host almost 15,000 square feet of retail, and is clad in a shiny facade that takes inspiration from a woven basket.

The ground floor looks awfully similar to Shigeru Ban ArchitectsAspen Art Museum, a contemporary art space for the ritzy Colorado ski town that was completed in 2014 (and reviewed by AN here). The woven wood panel facade encircles 33,000 square feet of galleries; art sits cozily inside like a hatchlings in an artificial nest. The video below gives a full tour of the museum, for further comparison:

But, since CetraRuddy is a homegrown firm, maybe the luxury tower’s true inspiration was the “Big Basket” out in Newark, Ohio that’s now threatened with demolition?

Regardless of inspiration, CetraRuddy’s new Manhattan structure will cost approximately $278 million to build (think of how many crafty woven baskets you could buy for that!). Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2017.

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