Have you ever looked around the city and wondered what those ginormous buildings are and how much one costs to build? Lucky for you, we know everything about the 9 most expensive buildings in NYC that made it on Emporis’s list of most expensive buildings in the world. Try to guess #1!
9. Federal Office Building
This building means serious business. Located at 290 Broadway adjacent to Foley Square, the Federal Office Building is home to government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. A combination of executive offices, open offices, conference facilities, and support areas make up each floor. Designed by the prominent St. Louis-based architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata, & Kassabaum (HOK), it was built in 1994 for $292 million. The building features 34 floors and sits 475.01 feet tall, making it #162 on Emporis’s list.
8. 12 Metro Tech Center
The largest courthouse ever built in New York state, it stands at 473 feet tall with 32 floors. It was built in 2005 for $360 million, and its features include a curtain wall system and bullet/blast resistant design. Ranked #108 by Emporis, no one should be trying to mess with this building.
7. Bronx County Hall of Justice
The Bronx County Hall of Justice is #84 on Emporis’s list, with a total building cost of $421 million. Located at 221 East 161st Street in the Bronx, this high- rise is home to the Bronx Criminal Court Complex, known as the “Superblock” due to its coverage of a 2.5 block area.
6. Belfer Research Center
When it comes to health and research, New York doesn’t do things in small scale. No wonder the Weill Cornell Medical College Research Center cost a whopping $650 million to build in 2014, funded by numerous donors. The state-of-the-art building is devoted to bench-to-bedside research application, targeting some of the most formidable health challenges of the 21st century. With 480,000 solid square feet designated for research, animal facilities, and conference meetings, and 13 floors of laboratories equipped with the most advanced research technology, amazing things are soon to be happening here. We’re proud to have it in NYC, impressively making Emporis’s list at #39.
5. Seven World Trade Center
We might already be at #5 on our countdown (and #36 on Emporis’s), but the fun is just getting started. Completed in 2006 for $700 million, Seven World Trade Center’s design has a high focus on safety, with a reinforced concrete core, wider stairways, and thicker fireproofing of steel columns. A “Go Green” building, it was the first commercial office building in New York City to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, where it won a gold rating.
4. New York Times Tower
Home to the New York Times’s seventh headquarters since the newspaper’s founding in 1851, this building was completed in 2007 for $850 million. Its main feature is its beautiful lobby garden, constructed by Pritzker-prize winning architect Renzo Piano. The 70-foot square enclosure is the first moss garden in New York City (outside of the New York Botanical Garden). Adjacent to the garden is a 178-seat auditorium. The building also houses four retail units dedicated to high-end shops and restaurants, which serve the tenants and surrounding neighborhood. The New York Times Tower scored a spot as #28 on Emporis’s list of most expensive buildings in the world.
3. Bank of America Tower
Reaching heights of 1,200 feet and located at 101 West 42ndd street, the Bank of America Tower was constructed in 2009 for $1 billion. The building was awarded the title of Best Engineering for being “The Most Ambitious Eco-Friendly Skyscraper” in the December 2005 edition of Popular Science. It features a 5MW on-site gas generator with heat capture, providing the building with 2/3 of its annual energy requirements. Its design was influenced in part by the New York Crystal Palace, erected in Bryant Park in 1853, which was America’s first glass and steel building. Making money and saving money at the same time, the Bank of America Tower comes in at #3 on our list and #16 on Emporis’s list.
2. Goldman Sachs Headquarters
As the only official office building in Battery Park City north of the World Financial Center, Goldman Sachs Headquarters holds the title of the #5 most expensive building in the world. Completed in 2010 for $2.1 billion, it features an environmentally-friendly raised floor underflow air system , improving ventilation and giving users the ability to control their own space temperature. It received a LEED gold satisfaction for its amazing design. And if that isn’t enough, artist Julie Mehretu created a $5 million, 80×23 foot mural for the entrance lobby—talk about an entrance!
1. One World Trade Center
We made it! #1 on our countdown is also #1 for Emporis: FiDi’s iconic One World Trade Center. As the tallest building in North America, this building holds a lot of power. Sitting just over 1,776 feet high (a reference to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding year of the U.S.), construction started in July of 2006 and was completed in November of 2014, with a stunning total cost of $3.9 billion. Though you have probably already heard of 1WTC, here’s something you might not know: the height of the new observation decks matches the heights of the original Twin Towers. It’s an honor to have a building that represents America so proudly in our great city.
We hoped you enjoyed learning more about NYC’s buildings and largest feats. We sure did! Want to learn more?
Categories:
