5 Times Square

Cost: $150 million

Development Team

Owner/Developer: Boston Properties Inc., NYC
Construction Manager: AMEC Construction Management Inc, NYC
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, NYC
Structural Engineer: Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers, NYC
Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineer: Jaros Baum & Bolles, NYC
Geotechnical Engineer: Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, NYC
Site, Civil, and Subway Consultant: Vollmer Associates, NYC
Excavation and Foundation Contractor: Civetta Cousins JV, Bronx, N.Y.
Foundation Bracing Engineer: F&A Associates Inc., Nyack, N.Y.
Steel Fabricator: Helmark Steel Inc., Wilmington, Del.

The re-creation of Times Square continued apace last year, with Boston Properties Inc.'s 5 Times Square weighing in as the largest newly completed commercial building along the Great White Way in 2002.

The 37-story, 1.1 million-sq.-ft. building at the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue designed by Bill Pedersen of Kohn, Pedersen, Fox Associates cost $150 million and took a year and a half to build. It features an angular design with a sloping fin on the Seventh Avenue side. Ernst & Young is its sole commercial tenant. There is space for signage and retail at its base.

Long before it could claim its moment of glory as Manhattan's newest skyscraper, 5 Times Square had to take on the challenge faced by all who build in Times Square - the complex of subway tunnels underground.

For obvious safety reasons, New York City Transit requires that the load of the building be below the level of the subway. Structural engineer Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers and foundation bracing engineer F &A Associates Inc. decided to use 40 12-in.-diameter caissons placed in groups. The size of the group was based on the load it was required to hold. Since heavy construction equipment can't be used within 5 ft. of a subway structure, down-the-hole hammers were used.

The ground under the site not only held three subway lines, but also a 36-in. water main and numerous utility lines. A study by mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer Jaros, Baum & Bolles concluded that there was not enough space under the building to install the needed Con Ed vaults. So the vaults were moved to the building's third floor, where six transformers now occupy 2,000 sq. ft.

Because no two floors in the new building have the same layout, the danger of the steel being misaligned was increased. To solve the problem before it arose, a three-dimensional computer model of the steel structure was created and utilized through the steel construction process.

Structural support was moved to the perimeter to maximize the leased space. The north and south faces of the building are composed of W12 steel columns spaced at 10 ft. on center and linked by W36 wind girders.

The north and south faces increased the column space on center by three bays to 30 ft., which allowed the architect to use a larger column-free viewing area while still retaining many of the structural benefits of a traditional tube system.

The building also features a full-story-high, 90-ft.-long transfer truss to pick up the load from three of the tower's bustle columns on the west side of the building.

5 Times Square was named "Best New Construction in New York in 2002" by BOMA.