There’s just one tiny flaw with billionaire Ken Griffin’s massive new office on the top floor of 425 Park Ave. — he won’t be able to see his new $238 million quadplex at 220 Central Park South, as it is blocked by towers.
The Citadel founder’s 13,900-square-foot office floor will otherwise be awesome. The 47th floor office — roughly 680 feet in the air — has 38-foot-tall windows overlooking most of the city and Central Park.
His two companies, Citadel Securities and the Citadel hedge fund, have also rented the 46th floor along with 14 others on over half the 670,080-square-foot tower.
On my recent exclusive tour of the yet-to-be completed 425 Park, developer David Levinson of L&L Holding Co. explained he brought in feng shui master Alex Stark, who has already performed three blessings on the space and will do another before a final one when the building opens in early 2021.
Mineral quartz crystals, wind chimes and additional feng shui items were buried and inserted into the walls.
The shimmering walls of the 45-foot-tall lobby, slated to be completed in November, are lined with thick glass panels imported from Germany that sandwich vertical metallic strips. The lobby floor and reception desk will echo the silvery grey look with a white marble that has bluish grey “flow marks” and columns clad in embossed stainless steel.
The same German glass lines the Thyssenkrupp elevators that whoosh silently up and down the 47 stories at 1,200 feet per minute. As the elevator is still in test mode, our ride was throttled back to a mere 1,000 feet per minute.
Citadel’s space includes two of what Levinson calls the “diagrid” floors — the 14th floor mezzanine with 20-foot high ceilings that overlooks the 12th floor trading area with its spectacular 38-foot high ceiling and triangular windows.
Lest you think Citadel will get all of the perks, chef Daniel Humm will operate the ground-floor restaurant for dinners,and will be serving breakfast and lunch with a full-time barista on duty at the double-height 26th story Club Floor of amenities.
Lest you think Citadel will get all of the perks, chef Daniel Humm will operate the ground-floor restaurant, and will be serving breakfast and lunch with a full-time barista on duty.
This Club Floor includes two outdoor gardens, while a meditation space and guest lecturers will be programmed through a partnership with the David Lynch Foundation.
There’s also a private 52-space garage and a lounge for chauffeurs that will receive worldwide security alerts. Companies can also sign up for a digital, point-to-point emergency radio network.
For décor, 500 of the mirrored, stainless steel globes created by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama that last floated in Central Park as the “Narcissus Garden” were purchased by Levinson to be piled onto gardens in the center of the floor. How much did they cost? “A lot,” he says.
It is the first building in the city to have a “Well” designation, which relates to the health of the occupants, whereas LEED is focused on the environmentally friendliness of the structure.
Helping the Well certification is the stunning metallic façade encasing the rear exterior that will suck in tons of fresh air.
When the sun hits the front façade, there are channels in the Art Deco-like exoskeleton that will glow as if they are strips of light, Levinson says. The building is dramatically topped by three 136-foot-tall “fins” that will light up the skyline with LEDs.
Availabilities include the 28,900-square-foot eighth floor and the 24th and 25th floors of 20,400 square feet. While some rents will be less than $200 per foot, most are over. Citadel famously leased the top at $300 per square foot — the highest office rent ever.
“We will respond to the market,” Levinson insisted of the rents. “We want the right tenants in the building.” In fact, he confided, he’s already turned down tenants that he declined to identify. “This is like a club,” he says.
