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Vornado picks Bjarke Ingels revamp of 2 Penn Plaza over demolition

So much for replacing 2 Penn Plaza with a new ground-up building; Vornado Realty Trust’s CEO, Steven Roth, announced Tuesday that it was sticking to the planned Bjarke Ingels redesign of the building, instead of demolishing the existing structure. The Commercial Observer first reported the news, which Roth announced on Vornado’s first quarter earnings call, yesterday.

Though the 2 Penn Plaza revamp is at least two years away, Roth indicated that a complete demolition of the existing structure didn’t seem feasible, and that the Bjarke Ingels design was the best way to move forward.

The revamp plan would add nearly 300,000 square feet of space to the existing building, and make the floor plates on the lower floors more appealing to future tenants. One of the notable features of the Ingels redesign was the flowing, glass skirt-like structure that would be located over the entrance to the building. Other aspects of this revamp include adding a floor-to-ceiling glass facade, redoing the interiors, and upgrading the mechanical systems in the building.

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NYCurbed