Check out Gary Barnett’s “Adult treehouse” at One Manhattan Square

Extell’s 45k sf amenity deck at One Manhattan Square is coming together.

One Manhattan Square’s adult treehouse (Credit: Extell)
One Manhattan Square’s adult treehouse (Credit: Extell)

Extell Development is making headway with One Manhattan Square’s 45,000-square-foot “urban oasis” outdoor amenity pedestal, including what it calls an “adult tree house.”

Along with erecting the treehouse — a small wooden house on stilts that really is marketed specifically to adults — workers have laid down the stone pathways and planted greenery through the pedestal area, according to Bowery Boogie.

Extell completed the 80-story Lower East Side condo tower last year and closed a $690 million refinancing package for the project in August.
Landscape architects West 8 said the pedestal is inspired “by the squares and parks of Europe.” Renderings of the design show squared-off hedges and trees reminiscent of old-style European gardens.

The pavilion is one chunk of the 100,000 square feet of amenities at the 80-story tower. Marketing materials say other amenities include “intimate garden rooms, a tea pavilion, numerous social courtyards and lounges, an outdoor kitchen and dining area, fire pits… birch garden, ping pong tables, putting green, and [an] observatory.”

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The amenities at One Manhattan Square are not accessible to residents of the 13-story affordable tower that Extell built next door as part of negotiations with the city to secure approvals for the market-rate tower.

One Manhattan Square was built in a largely working class neighborhood, flanked by shorter NYCHA-owned properties, and is largely unpopular with residents and elected officials in the neighborhood.

As One Manhattan Square rises, Extell is at the starting gate with its latest project in Manhattan. The firm filed plans for a 22-story mixed-use tower on the Upper West Side in late January. [Bowery Boogie] — Dennis Lynch