park 79
117 W 79th Street, NEW YORK, NY
The original seven-story building on the Upper West Side opened as ‘The Indiana’ in 1888-1899 and was designed by New York architect Neville & Bagge in the Renaissance Revival style, with a brick and stone façade and an elegant front entrance. In more recent years, the building was known as Park 79, an extended stay, single room occupancy hotel, which was closed in 2015.
Madsen was retained by Fairstead, the new owner of the building, for the gut renovation and transformation of this building into a deeply affordable senior housing property, with 77 housing units with on-site supportive and social services administered by Project FIND, which also has an office on site and offers a multitude of services including meal security and health assistance for the residents. The property will remain affordable for seniors for at least 60 years through a regulatory agreement with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The project, designed by CTA Architects is an eco-friendly fully electric building that does not rely on the use of fossil fuels to heat or power the property.
The original terracotta flat arch floors are supported by steel beams and reinforced with steel tie rods. The beams bear on perimeter brick bearing walls and on interior steel beams and cast iron columns columns and brick walls surrounding a lightwell. The structure was deteriorated and the integrity of the arches was partially compromised during previous remodeling projects. The extensive structural work included restoring the structural integrity of the slabs and facade rehabilitation, new stairs and elevator with bulkheads, new openings in slabs and exterior walls, floor infills.
Madsen also provided temporary shoring design and sequence of demolition and construction, as well as structural steel shop drawings and connection design.