The West’s Exterior Nears Completion at 547 West 47th Street in Hell’s Kitchen
Exterior work is nearing completion on The West, a 12-story mixed-use building at 547 West 47th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. Designed by Concrete and developed by CB Developers, SK Development, and Ironstate Development, the 201,000-square-foot development will yield 219 residential units above a 40,000-square-foot ground-floor car dealership. The Marketing Directors is exclusively handling sales and marketing for the units, which range from studios to three-bedroom layouts, and CM & Associates Construction Management LLC is the general contractor for the project. The property is bound by Eleventh Avenue to the west, West 47th Street to the south, and West 48th Street to the north.
A significant amount of progress has occurred since our last construction update in June of 2020, when the reinforced concrete superstructure had topped out. Since that time, the scaffolding has come down from the lower massing and the windows and exterior treatments have all been installed on the upper volume. Only minor work remains to be completed on the uppermost portions of the building.
The West stands out along Eleventh Avenue with its bold architectural juxtaposition of an warehouse-style lower box topped with a lively modern extension featuring a number of cantilevering and set back volumes.
The lower half is clad in up-cycled Dutch-made bricks laid in various running bond patterns. Industrial-inspired windows are repeated on every one of these floors. Close-up photographs show the intricate vertical and horizontal brick layouts that wrap around the windows in an understated show of craftsmanship. Not every surface is completely flat, resulting in long shadows that stretch the length of each elevation and highlight the depth of the fenestration. The ground floor is lined with metal-framed canopies protruding from every opening between the perimeter columns, and these will soon be fitted with flat glass panels. An annex portion on the lower part extends to the eastern side of the property with the main entrance wedged in the center facing West 47th Street.
The upper portion, named The Cloud, is designed with a staggered array of modular structures clad in floor-to-ceiling glass panels and topped with railings. This eye-catching motif is largely replicated on the northern, western, and southern sides of the building.
The property is set to contain more than 25,000 square feet of amenities including expansive green spaces, a 24-hour attended concierge desk, a library with a fireplace, a community mailroom with a package wrapping station, a communal kitchen, and a children’s indoor-outdoor playroom. There will also be a double-height gym by The Wright Fit with an outdoor training deck, a pet spa and dog run, an outdoor rooftop deck with a swimming pool, dining areas with BBQ grills, and two fully furnished guest suites residents can reserve for their visitors.
“Photo credit New York YIMBY.”