60 Charlton

60 Charlton transformed a 1920s-era commercial print shop into a modern, boutique office building in Manhattan’s burgeoning Hudson Square neighborhood. More than a mere renovation, the adaptive reuse of the property doubled its size (from 45,000 to 91,000 sq. ft.) and added state-of-the-art amenities to ensure the building’s vitality for decades to come.

Key to the building’s transformation was the addition of six new floors located atop the original six-story building. HOK’s design team performed numerous structural and facade studies before landing on an elegant jewel box addition supported by a new side-loaded core.

The addition’s transparent facade allows for abundant daylight and window views while the building’s northeast orientation minimizes solar heat gain. A glass reveal running up the center of the building accentuates its verticality and connects the original brick massing with the glimmering curtain walls on the upper levels. Restored brickwork and black-painted window mullions on the lower facade celebrate the building’s historic, industrial past.

The team incorporated multiple strategies to maximize value and cater to the tech and media tenants—such as Google and Disney—that have flocked to Hudson Square in recent years. An intimate lobby greets visitors with bamboo walls, a working fireplace and folding windows that open to the sidewalk. Indoor bike storage and locker-room showers encourage active commuting to the building.

A new double-height mezzanine on the second floor features soaring, 22-foot ceilings that increase lease values on the lower levels. A 12^th-floor penthouse suite opens onto a private outdoor terrace while all building tenants can take advantage of the building’s green roof amenity space and its stunning views of Lower Manhattan.