NEW YORK & MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--View, the market leader in smart glass, announced that its smart windows have been installed at 730 Third Avenue, the 665,000-square-foot, 27-story, office tower located between East 45th and 46th streets near Grand Central Station in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan recently transformed through a $120 million renovation by owner, Nuveen Real Estate, and its development advisor, Taconic Partners.
Over 1,100 new smart windows have been installed in the entire building, which will help ownership achieve the energy reductions required to meet New York’s Local Law 97, which seeks to reduce building-based emissions by 40 percent over the next decade and will impact more than 57,000 buildings across the city. The smart windows will also help the building to maintain its LEED Gold Certification.
“Sustainability and green development are vital components of our building designs, and we’re reducing energy consumption at 730 Third Avenue to mitigate the effects of climate change,” said Nadir Settles, Managing Director, New York Regional Head, Office, Americas at Nuveen. “View improves the user experience and will allow tenants to enjoy a healthy workspace, attract quality talent and enhance their brand.”
Taconic Partners, which is serving as development advisor to Nuveen, is overseeing the project. The company is renowned as a New York City office visionary and for its leading role in establishing the Chelsea/Meatpacking District as a global office destination. The firm is also spearheading the development of the first Class-A office space on the Lower East Side as part of the Essex Crossing megaproject.
“The new 730 Third’s smart glass windows will help provide tenants with a model post-pandemic work experience,” said Colleen Wenke, Chief Development Officer at Taconic Partners. “It’s hard to overstate the impact that natural light can have on worker productivity, and we think once our tenants enjoy the View experience, they’ll never want to go back to traditional windows.”
The installation is a focal point of the recently completed transformation of the tower, setting the standard for the post-pandemic work environment. Just a five-minute walk from Grand Central Terminal, the building now includes outdoor space, health and wellness offerings, and boutique food and beverage service.
The bespoke mid-century modern renovation was inspired by Third Avenue’s timeless advertising culture and designed by Gensler, globally renowned for its forward-thinking office designs and concepts. The partnership has retained the CBRE team led by Vice Chairs Paul Amrich and Neil King to handle leasing the 226,000 SF now available on the building’s 12th to 27th floors ranging from 8,500 to 30,000 square feet.
The offering includes a fully furnished, 8,500 RSF prebuilt on the 23rd floor designed by Vocon, a double-height space on floors 17 & 18 with 25-foot ceiling heights, and an opportunity for a contiguous 156,000 square foot space in the building’s mid-stack from floors 12-19. The leasing launch follows the signing of a 70,728 square foot lease in the building with accounting firm Marcum LLP last February. Nuveen has also hired a JLL team led by Patrick Smith and Matthew Schuss to lease 5,700 square feet of ground floor retail space in the building.
TIAA, the parent company of Nuveen, owns 730 Third Ave and both firms will continue to be headquartered at the location and occupy 300,000 square feet on floors 3-9 of the building.
View is the market leader in smart windows that use artificial intelligence to automatically adjust in response to the sun, to increase access to natural light and views of the outdoors, minimize heat and glare, and reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. View is designed into 75 million square feet of buildings including offices, hospitals, airports, educational facilities, hotels and multi-family residences.
Smart glass offers significant health advantages by reducing the incidence of eyestrain and headaches by over 50%. In a recent study, employees working next to View Smart Windows improved their sleep by 37 minutes per night and cognitive function by 42 percent. These findings are particularly important today as users are focused on health, wellness, and re-entering the workplace with confidence. Research shows that buildings designed to increase access to natural light yield 5% - 6% higher rents.
“We’re excited to be working with forward-thinking partners like Nuveen and TIAA who recognize that making buildings more environmentally efficient is not only more responsible, but also more user friendly and profitable,” said Dr. Rao Mulpuri, Chairman and CEO of View. “For every new building constructed there are over 100 existing buildings in New York City, and using View Smart Windows is an excellent way for owners of existing buildings to reduce energy usage, meet regulations, and reposition their assets to attract tenants.”
The building is currently LEED Gold and Wired Gold certified and is in the process of obtaining Fitwell certification. View Smart Windows can capture points in up to seven LEED categories.
The newly renovated tower will feature additional world-class technologies and amenities including:
- A 7,000-square-foot landscaped and furnished terrace on the 22nd floor with plentiful outdoor amenity space for tenants with a wet bar and spectacular Midtown views. The building also includes 2 private terraces directly connected to available spaces on floors 13 and 19.
- A 9,000-square-foot food hall featuring rotating vendors, a central counter staffed with a barista, self-serve stations and grab-and-go options, as well as a centralized pickup for outside delivery services. The food hall will cater to the flexible work schedules of building tenants and is available for after-hours events. It will also offer in-house catering for accelerated productivity.
- An 8,000-square-foot staffed fitness center, fully equipped with state-of- the-art equipment and facilities, including Peloton bikes, classroom space and locker rooms with showers.
- The second-floor features 30,000 square feet of additional amenities, a 6,000-square-foot sky lounge featuring touchdown areas; a double-height balcony overlooking the main lobby; and in-house catering for accelerated productivity, as well as a full-time concierge desk and a 5,000-square-foot modular conference center. Tenants can also take advantage of bike storage on the building’s lower level.
The new double-height lobby will feature two striking large-scale paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Eamon Ore-Giron, titled Infinite Regress CXIV and Infinite Regress CXV. The lobby also features 12 fully upgraded elevators, four of which serve the 22nd floor roof terrace.
730 Third Avenue’s location is a block away from Grand Central Terminal, a central hub of transit for Manhattan, New York and Connecticut, which includes connections to Metro-North Railroad, multiple subway lines, and, starting next year, the Long Island Railroad. The building is also a short walk from subway stations at 47-50th Street Rockefeller Center, Lexington Avenue-53rd Street and 42nd Street-Bryant Park Subway, along with multiple Citi Bike locations. 730 Third also offers immediate access to cultural, dining and shopping destinations.
For more information about the building and available leasing opportunities visit www.730third.com.
About View
View is a technology company and the market leader in smart windows. View Smart Windows use artificial intelligence to automatically adjust in response to the sun and increase access to natural light, to improve people’s health and experience in buildings, while simultaneously reducing energy consumption to mitigate the effects of climate change. Every View installation also includes a smart building platform that consists of power, network, and communication infrastructure. For more information, please visit: www.view.com
On November 30, 2020, View announced plans to become a publicly listed company through a merger with CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: CFII), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald. For more information, see: Smart-Windows-Press-Release.pdf (view.com).
About Nuveen
Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions designed to secure the long-term financial goals of institutional and individual investors. Nuveen has $1.2 trillion in assets under management as of 31 Dec 2020 and operations in 27 countries. Its investment specialists offer deep expertise across a comprehensive range of traditional and alternative investments through a wide array of vehicles and customized strategies. For more information, please visit www.nuveen.com.
