Photo credit: Talkingbox DMG, LLC; Fifield Piaker Elman Architects
The Shawmut team was involved in one of the first projects that was part of the repositioning trend in New York City, relocating the 1501 Broadway lobby entrance from Broadway to West 43rd Street. This repositioning freed up prime real estate for retail tenants—who can capitalize on heavy tourist foot traffic—while providing easier building access for tenants that’s removed from one of the busiest roads in Times Square. Shawmut collaborated with Fifield Piaker Elman Architects, Eipel Engineering, MG Engineering, Levin Management, and Tobin Barnes Design to create a lobby that connects the tenants with the building itself and celebrates the history of the Paramount Building. As a result of the team’s exceptional work, the project won the best interior/tenant improvement project from ENR New York’s Best Projects award.
Excerpt from ENR New York
The iconic Paramount Building’s new lobby required renovation and repositioning throughout 50,000 sq ft and multiple floors.
The space consists of a double-height escalator foyer leading to a third-floor sky lobby, where tenants and visitors access elevators. Twelve original elevators were raised from the first floor of the old decommissioned lobby.
The scope of work included installing another elevator and a two-story escalator; building new structural steel support into the 100-year-old steel that was in place; and installing new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
Work was performed at night as the building remained occupied, and large holes were cut into the waffle slabs to create the two-story entrance and three-story escalator atrium. The holes compromised the entire structure so a specially designed carbon reinforcement was used.
Judges surmised that the greatest challenge of the project was that there were no as-built drawings from which to work. Unexpected and unforeseen conditions arose, such as hidden beams inside the masonry that forced the team to redesign as the project was underway.