Excavation Underway at 249 East 62nd Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side

Excavation work is underway at 249 East 62nd Street, site of a residential tower on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Developed by Zeckendorf Development with CM & Associates as the general contractor, the project has undergone some design modifications since our last update in early 2018, when renderings and plans for a Rafael Viñoly-designed 32-story, 510-foot-tall skyscraper were revealed. There is now a revised building diagram that depicts a roughly 27- to 28-story edifice with a tall ground floor, a tiered and multi-faceted crown, and an L-shaped footprint with frontage on both East 62nd Street and Second Avenue. Zeckendorf had hired INC Architecture & Design in late 2020 to redraw plans for a scaled down residence roughly 330 feet tall with 30 floors.

Not much can be spotted from across the street through the green wooden sidewalk boards and beyond the foreground of mechanical equipment and machinery. Work is progressing below street level and foundations should likely commence in the coming weeks and months.

Viñoly’s iteration would have yielded just over 150,000 square feet with over 98,500 square feet of residential space divided into 83 units, averaging 1,200 square feet apiece, and about 2,600 square feet of retail space. It’s unclear what the new configurations entails, although the setbacks on the upper levels could likely be private outdoor terraces for a select few homes. The old list of amenities called for a bar/wine tasting area with private dining room and pantry, a media lounge, and a study room around the midway point of the tower. See YIMBY’s previous update for more details and imagery of the former design as seen below.

“Photo credit New York YIMBY.”