787 Eleventh avenue
Located on the West side of Manhattan in Hell’s Kitchen, 787 Eleventh Avenue has undergone a significant commercial repositioning. The original 8-story building was designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1929 for the Packard Motor Company as an automobile Service Building. Currently the ground floor to the fifth floor serve primarily as automotive showrooms. The renovated and new floors above are commercial office spaces. Architect Rafael Vinoly has overseen the expansion and redesign of the building.
Skyline Windows worked on the gut-rehab renovation which was executed on floors 6, 7, and 8, as well as the new construction project addition of floors 9 and 10. The building owner and design team reached out to Skyline to provide an economically viable slim sightline window wall solution for the masonry openings on floors 6 through 8 that were being expanded to 10’ x 10’. The goal was to provide a window design that offered a significant amount of natural light through the expanded masonry openings throughout the three floors. Floors 7 and 8 offer a double height space with a sophisticated loft feel.
Skyline Windows worked hand in hand with the design team to cantilever these window wall systems beyond the face of the existing slab edges. This close coordination resulted in a seamless integration of the punched windows with the new exterior decorative masonry spandrel friezes at each of these sills.
The new steel framed construction addition of floors 9 and 10 was built on top of the existing building from the historic roof parapet on the 8th floor. Skyline’s objective was to provide an alternate economical window wall solution in lieu of the curtain wall design as previously specified. Skyline’s Engineering team collaborated with the building owner, design team, and façade consultant to develop a slim sightline fixed window wall system with exterior applied insulated spandrel units and custom mullion covers. The result – stunning 14’ floor-to-ceiling window walls which provide an abundance of natural light, as well as extraordinary views of the Hudson River to the South and Midtown Manhattan to the East.
Fixed spandrel units were installed between the 9th and 10th floors to hide the plenum construction and to give the exterior appearance a uniform all glass look. Custom designed ‘pronged’ window-to-window mullion covers were installed to run from the roof on the 8th floor up to the bulkhead of the 10th floor to provide a greater sense of verticality in contrast to the historic punched window openings below.
The primary challenge during this project was the coordination of the new 9th and 10th floors which were added to the existing building. Through the diligent work of the Skyline team including Volume Sales, Project Managers, Field Supervisors, and Engineers as well as close communication with the General Contractor, Skyline Windows successfully navigated any scheduling conflicts that arose throughout this unique project.
The building’s lease space is nearly 100% accounted for and includes commercial tenants such as Spaces, Dwight Capital, and Pershing Square Capital on the upper floors. Jaguar, Landrover, Nissan, and Infiniti occupy the street level storefronts and lower floors. The repositioning of 787 Eleventh Avenue has proven to be a great success, and Skyline Windows is proud of their first-rate contribution to this one-of-a-kind NYC project.
architect | RAFAEL VINOLY ARCHITECTS
OWNER/DEVELOPER | the georgetown company
Skyline Windows’ Product Series
series 500 casement w/ removable handles
series 500 fixed window wall
series 1700 terrace door
Special Requirements & Features