Working on any historic building requires time and patience, says Shawn Basler, co-CEO and executive director of Perkins Eastman. Case in point: It took 11 years to turn a 120-year-old McKim, Mead & White-designed former bank into the Fifth Avenue Hotel.

An early hurdle was getting approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to add a tower to the original “mansion,” so called by the project owner. “Our team scoured city resources to uncover a 1911 New York Times article detailing a proposal for a ‘tall loft building’ on the site”, which helped convince the commission, says Alex Ohebshalom, CEO and founder of the hotel.

Needing to acoustically isolate the new third floor ballroom to ensure it wouldn’t disrupt guests or hotel operations, the team used a kinetic floor slab system to create a “box within a box”. A new concrete slab was poured over steel tubes containing 177 kinetic isolators tied to rebar. Once the concrete was cured, each kinetic spring was torqued in increments to lift the new slab above the old, achieving the necessary air gap. Two layers of drywall ceilings were installed, 6-12 in. apart, held on kinetic springs to isolate the ceiling from the slab above.

The team created a new lobby and facade components that matched the design of the original structure.
Photo by William Abranowicz

Originally slated to be a 3-star hotel, the building was upgraded to a 5-star during the course of the project. A key challenge in this process was reworking the restaurant’s ceiling glass design, says Ken Colao, president and CEO of construction manager CNY Group. “The weight of the glass [required] a completely new attachment design and required extensive planning to ensure both feasibility and safety within schedule and budget.” Colao credits a design-assist process with keeping the project humming along.

To perform needed repairs of the building’s facade, the team restored existing elements while creating a new lobby and facade elements matching the historic design. “The blend of old and new is what makes this hotel so special,” says Basler.