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60 Charlton as viewed in 2017. Image via Google Street View.
Design Challenge and Solution
Constructed in 1926, the brick and masonry building at Varick and Charlton streets originally housed a commercial print shop. By the mid-2010s, the outdated building sat mostly vacant—its largest tenant a haunted house called “Blood Manor.”
HOK’s challenge: return the property from the dead.
Working with owners APF Properties and Drake Street Partners, the team developed a plan to transform the building into a modern, yet retro, mid-rise office space catering to the tech and media firms that have flocked to the city’s former meatpacking and printing district.
Adding Value, Vitality
The team incorporated multiple strategies to maximize value and attract the type of startup and creative firms that define the Hudson Square neighborhood.
- A new entrance off the quieter Charlton Street gives the building a more residential feel.
- Six new levels of office space provide tenants with expansive views of Lower Manhattan and double the building’s leasable space from 45,000 to 91,000 square feet.
- A 12th-floor penthouse suite opens onto a private outdoor terrace, while all building tenants have access to the building’s rooftop amenity space.
Additional improvements to the building included:
- An intimate lobby greets visitors with bamboo walls, a working fireplace and folding windows that open to the sidewalk.
- A new double-height mezzanine on the second floor creates premium office space on an otherwise less-desirable level of the building.
- On-site bike storage and showers encourage active transit to and from the office.
Facade and Sustainability
The six-story, glass-and-steel addition atop the building lends 60 Charlton the look of both old and new. HOK employed numerous facade studies to ensure the addition fit within the context of the neighborhood and original structure.
A glass reveal running up the center of the building accentuates its verticality and connects the original brick massing. Restored brickwork and black-painted window mullions celebrate the building’s historic, industrial past.
The new high-performance curtain wall, coupled with the preservation and reuse of the building’s original brick and masonry facade, helped 60 Charlton achieve LEED Gold certification.
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