Rendering Reveal: Tishman Speyer’s Trophy Office Building At 21st And M

Tishman Speyer's plans to redevelop what is now the DC bureau of CBS News into a glass façade trophy office building with a radical, curved glass design from a NYC architect making its first mark in DC.

Tishman Speyer was aiming to set a new design standard for DC office buildings, and tasked New York-based REX Architecture with design for the project. The result was a design that helps to distinguish the project  known as 2050 M St from the wave of newer glass-façade structures that have popped up across the District, the Washington Business Journal reports.

REX’s design features a series of curved glass panels that will create a kaleidoscope effect, floor-to-ceiling glass without any sight line restrictions, and employs the use of concave panels to reinforce the building. This is the first project in the District for REX, whose portfolio includes Five Manhattan West in New York City, and the Equator Tower in Kuala Lampur.

The developer acquired the CBS building at 2020 M St last summer for $30.5M, and followed that with the acquisition of 2030 M St for $49M. Bisnow previously reported Tishman will build a brand-new CBS HQ on the surface parking lot adjacent to the current building by 2017. The WBJ reports that timeline now sits at February 2018. Tishman will move the news bureau into the new digs and tear down 2020 and 2030 M St NW to build a new office building around it expected to deliver in 2019.

Davis Construction is on board as general contractor, with excavation work scheduled to begin this summer. The new digs for CBS are expected to be wrapped up by February 2018, while the new trophy building is expected to deliver by the end of 2019.

Tishman Speyer has another trophy office building project in the works in the District at 900 19th St NW. That project will see the 37-year-old Presidential Plaza building repositioned into a “boutique” trophy office building, also with floor-to-ceiling glass. [WBJ]