One Vanderbilt unveils plans for soaring 1,020-foot observation deck

The supertall office building rising next to Grand Central Terminal will have an observation deck at 1,020-feet above ground, Bloomberg has learned. It was something one of our readers wondered about too when the developers behind One Vanderbilt, SL Green, released a trove of interior renderings in October. On Monday, SL Green announced that it would in fact have a publicly accessible observation deck much like some of the other tallest buildings in the city namely One World Trade Center, and the Empire State Building.

The observatory at One Vanderbilt will be an indoor/outdoor space. One of the managing directors at SL Green told Bloomberg that they expect their observatory to generate similarly high revenue as the Empire State observatory.

Bloomberg investigated into whether an increasing number of observatories across the city had impacted sales at one or the other locations, and so far it doesn’t seem to be a problem. Despite the opening of One World Trade Center’s observatory, business for the Empire State Building’s observatories continues to grow.

Another supertall planning an observatory is 30 Hudson Yards. That will stand at 1,100-feet above ground, and will reportedly make it the tallest outdoor observation deck in the city when it is complete in 2019.

Construction on One Vanderbilt is expected to wrap up a year after that, and the observation deck there will be accessible through the Grand Central Terminal, when the former project is complete. GSM Project, the firm that designed the observation decks at Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the Shard in London, is working on creating the one at One Vanderbilt. No word yet on how much tickets to the observatory will cost.

• Manhattan to Get 1,020-Foot Skydeck Near Grand Central Terminal [Bloomberg]
• One Vanderbilt reveals public plaza, huge transit hall in new renderings [Curbed]