SL Green chooses Kohn Pedersen Fox to design Grand Central office tower

Office landlord SL Green has picked architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates to design its forthcoming office tower project near Grand Central Terminal, the Wall Street Journal reported. The building is planned for a stretch of Madison Avenue between East 42nd and East 43rd streets. SL Green acquired the lot at 51 East 42nd Street last December.

SL Green and KPF officials declined to comment. Despite SL Green’s choice of an architect, the project may not break ground until years from now. A number of approvals await, and there may not be enough demand for the office space. A proposed Grand Central rezoning could allow SL Green to build an up to 1.4 million-square-foot development.

“Certainly we’ll have the result of the zoning amendment before we take any material step forward,” SL Green CEO Marc Holliday told analysts in a July conference call.

KPF was also the Related Companies’ choice to design two office towers that are part of the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s West Side.

The architecture firm has designed four of the world’s 10 tallest buildings under construction, all of which are in Asia. The firm designed the Shanghai World Financial Center. [WSJ] — Zachary Kussin