Mysterious ‘Japan Land’ renderings reveal a lantern-inspired building near Penn Station
Currently, at the corner of 8th Avenue and 31st Street, diagonal from Penn Station, you’ll find a parking lot, pizza joint, and a small coffee shop. However, Nobutaka Ashihara Architects (NAA) envisions something much more spectacular for this underused locale. According to CityRealty, NAA recently rolled out a brand new website, and prominently featured on their home page is a curious scheme for a lantern-like glass tower of about 12 stories called “Japan Land.”
On NAA’s site, the project is simply being described as “proposed” with no client identified. The Real Deal, however, previously reported that the site at 415 8th Avenue was sold to Kedem Realty in 2014 for $65 million. Before that, it was owned by Savanna Partners and the firm had plans to build a 15-story, 88-unit residential tower. The project was axed due to the 2008 recession, but Savanna did still manage a profit, receiving double what they originally paid for the parcel from Kedem.
As of right, the lot has a total buildable square footage of 87,644, but could be combined with adjacent sites to support a mixed-use development of over 200,000 square feet, previous accounts detail.
Although NAA’s design may simply be speculative, their renderings do offer us a nice glimpse of what the West Side skyline will look like from Chelsea once Hudson Yards and Manhattan West wrap construction.
[Via CityRealty]
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