New York, NY
The new flagship location for HAB, a community bank which focuses on commercial real estate, repositions an existing, seven-story structure built in the late 1940’s. Gertler & Wente worked closely with the Bank’s leadership team to develop a program that responds to the evolution of today’s banking industry. Public functions are located on the ground floor, staff dining on the second, operations on floors 3-6, and an executive suite on the seventh floor. Unique to the property, is an outdoor courtyard created by the building’s “T” shape floor plan. A small conference center with movable partitions opens out onto this exterior courtyard, allowing the area to “flex” in size and use. Other exterior amenities include a second floor, dining terrace as well a roof-top terrace for occasional use by the executive suite. To maximize floor efficiency, GW replaced the two existing egress stairs and toilets with a new scissor-stair and code-compliant toilets. The new scissor-stair was offset to the west and a portion of the second-floor slab was removed to create a double-height, ground floor lobby for the Bank’s retail operations.
In repositioning the structure for the 21st century, GW replaced the existing ribbon windows facing north along 45th Street with a curtainwall and storefront system; and new metal panels cover the existing brick veneer. The project responds to the recently-adopted NYC local law pertaining to bird-safe glass as well as energy codes. The new storefront system identifies the Bank’s double-height lobby area at the street level with low-iron glass; thereby introducing HAB’s new flagship location to midtown Manhattan with a welcoming and transparent façade.
