Toll Brothers tap OMA to design Gramercy Park condo

After striking out with a few other projects, an international architecture firm may finally make its Manhattan debut.

Toll Brothers tapped the Office of Metropolitan Architecture’s New York Office to design its 122 East 23rd Street, a planned 30-story condominium building in Gramercy Park, a representative for the developer told The Real Deal.

If built, the property would be the international firm’s first in Manhattan. Shohei Shigematsu, the partner who directs OMA’s New York office, is designing the building. SLCE Architects is the architect of record.

A representative for OMA did not respond to requests seeking additional information on the building’s design.

It was reported by 6sqft last week that OMA founder Rem Koolhaas might be the specific architect of the building. Koolhaas, who worked with the late Zaha Hadid when she worked at OMA, has had a few false starts in the city. His design for Slazer Enterprise’s One Madison Park — a residential tower that fit between its neighbors like a Tetris piece — was eventually scrapped, as was his vision for Ian Schrager’s Astor Place hotel. His design for a waterfront tower at 111 1st Street in Jersey City — a structure resembling three blocks stacked precariously perpendicular — was also never realized.

OMA led one of the winning teams in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design competition, for its plans to protect Hoboken, N.J., from flooding. Earlier this week, the firm released a design for its first skyscraper in Tokyo, which is also designed by Shigematsu.

The condo building on 23rd Street is expected to have 133 units across 225,000 square feet, according to filings with the Department of Buildings. The property’s ground floor will have four retail condos collectively spanning 12,000 square feet.