YIMBY: The Central At 5th Completes Construction At 12 East 48th Street In Midtown East, Manhattan

From New York Yimby…

Construction is wrapping up on The Central at 5th, a 367-foot-tall Hilton Grand Vacation Hotel at 12 East 48th Street in Midtown East. Designed by Handel Architects and developed by Hidrock Realty, the 31-story structure will yield 161 rooms across 125,000 square feet. DeSimone Consulting Engineers is the structural engineer, The Rinaldi Group is the general contractor, and IBA Consulting & Engineering, PLLC is the envelope consultant for the building, which is located between Madison Avenue to the east and Fifth Avenue to the west.

Recent photos show the completed look of the distinctive building. Since our last update in December, installation of the geometric façade panels was completed and the property’s new name has been added to the ground floor by the main doors along East 48th Street. The words “Hilton Club” are also displayed on the dark stone exterior.

All of the sidewalk scaffolding has been removed from the East 48th Street frontage, and now the main set of doors and adjacent floor-to-ceiling glass panels are in place. Only a few stone panels have yet to be installed around the entrance, and a small amount of sidewalk barriers still linger around the site but will soon be taken away.

On the second floor we can see the interiors furnished with seating and tables, while glass railings line the outdoor terrace on the third-floor setback. From here the building massing is pushed back from the street and proceeds with the signature façade pattern of gray metallic panels and large staggered windows up to the roof parapet and upper mechanical extension.

he secondary southern entrance along East 47th Street is quickly catching up with the rest of the project. Brown paper sheets and tape covered the glass upon our site visit, while the other set of sidewalk scaffolding has also been taken down. This side of the property is likely going to provide the ground-floor retail space with 25 feet frontage.

YIMBY expects The Central At 5th to open sometime this summer.