Developer Scott Rechler’s big vision for Manhattan’s skyline

New York City real estate developer Scott Rechler is on a mission to reshape Manhattan’s future — and skyline.

As CEO of RXR, Rechler has $17 billion in properties under his management but also finds time to squeeze in being on the MTA board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Board of Directors, giving him a deeper understanding of the city’s infrastructure and its challenges than almost anyone else in Manhattan.

A lifelong New Yorker born on Long Island, Rechler’s optimism for the city’s potential is tempered by the realism that success in the city is never guaranteed.

“New York… has proven over and over that it can rebuild itself bigger and stronger, but it’s not something that’s preordained and it’s something that we can’t take for granted,” he told me.

Rechler thinks now — more than ever — we need to invest in creating something that will last, which is why he is planning to build the ultimate skyscraper at 175 Park Avenue, which he claims will be the tallest building by occupied floor in the Western Hemisphere at 1,581 feet.

Technically, One World Trade Center is taller but Rechler notes its that building’s 408 foot spire which makes it 1,776 feet.

Quibbling aside, the project will create an entirely new skyline in Manhattan by 2030, when Rechler hopes the project will be completed.

Rechler draws parallels to Trump’s transformation of the dilapidated Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt during a grim chapter in New York’s history in the 80s, which sits adjacent to where his own project will be.

“The city was just coming out of a really tough time… and that Commodore hotel, which was a public-private partnership… actually lifted the city up.

“We’ll have the opportunity to actually sort of fulfill what was his [Trump’s] original dream, which is a much taller building on that site,” he adds.

But Rechler clarifies his project is about more than height. 

“As you reimagine and want to reinvent places like New York, you’ve got … to build things that are the best that they can be — things that are going to grab people’s imagination. “

“You can imagine people… feel energized and proud to walk into that building.”

This seems to align with Trump’s own vision, which was laid out in a recent executive order which stated: “Federal public buildings should be visually identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces.” 

While Rechler is excited to highlight RXR’s expanding vertical presence in New York City, the biggest change for the average New Yorker may be how office space is reshaping the city.

Amid a dramatic return to the office, high-end offices are booming — with companies like JPMorgan not only building more space but holding onto temporary offices as well.

“When companies ask employees where they want to work, 80% say New York,” Rechler says.

But employers are opting for high-end buildings with modern amenities, leaving so-called B-quality buildings — less glamorous properties — struggling to find tenants. That has created a new opportunity to turn those properties into apartments — and house the new people flooding into the city.

“There is a situation where you have empty office buildings and not enough housing so we are finding ways to convert it,” Rechler explains. “There’s now 15 million square feet of office buildings that are in the process of being converted to residential.”

This shift is already reshaping neighborhoods in much the same way downtown Manhattan was reshaped after 9/11 — when it went from the part of town where people worked to an area where people live.”

“You go there now, everyone’s outside, people with baby carriages, the restaurants, — it’s a whole different dynamic,” he said.

“It will help retail… more restaurants will be able to open up, public transit will be used more effectively because you’ll have people using it on the weekends — this is good planning.”

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