Who says you need to hide your HVAC? Stellar Management, Rockpoint Group, and Imperium Capital are consolidating the systems of 161 Ave of the Americas and adjacent 233 Spring Street into a new 100k SF, highly-visible tower between the buildings. It'll become an architectural addition to the skyline, set back 20 feet but 200-feet deep and rising taller than the pair of pre-war buildings it serves. The new facility will sit in what is now a 19-foot-wide shaft between the two properties. The mechanical building will also contain nine destination-dispatch elevators to serve both buildings and give the JV the opportunity to install all-new building systems, including a condenser water plant.

Designed by Gensler, the mechanical building will features poignant bands of light, a rare ornamentation for space that won't be occupied by tenants. (A completely empty building? Wasn't there a Twilight Zone episode like this?) Together, the three structures will be known as One SoHo Square. Inside the occupied parts, the complex will be modern in every sense but still offer historical touches, like the original radiators above, which were sent to Brooklyn to be stripped of paint and restored.