Demolition crews moved onto 350 Park Avenue in July 2026. Scaffolding and blue netting cover the 30-story midcentury tower at 350 Park Avenue, the 23-story office building at 40 East 52nd Street and the five-story structure at 39 East 51st Street, per New York YIMBY. Our Town reports that nearly half the block between East 51st and East 52nd Streets is scaffolded. Signage names Waldorf Demolition as general contractor and gives a demolition completion date in March 2027.
The replacement is a 1.8-million-square-foot office tower of 1,414 feet with capacity for 6,000 employees, developed by Vornado Realty Trust, Rudin Management and Ken Griffin, and designed by Foster + Partners, per New York YIMBY. New York YIMBY and Our Town both count 64 stories, and Rudin's project page describes a 62-story tower. The City Council approved the project 48-0 on 25 September 2025. The tower is projected for completion in 2032 at a cost of $4.5 billion.
The approved plan widens the sidewalks on East 51st and East 52nd Streets by five feet each. It adds a 12,500-square-foot public plaza designed by Field Operations and 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, with a cafe on East 51st Street and a restaurant on East 52nd Street.
The Six-Year Calendar
Demolition runs to March 2027. Foundation, structure and fit-out follow, and the tower completes in 2032. The block stays a construction site for six years.
Street Access on the Surrounding Blocks
Netting runs the length of the block, and the walk along both Park Avenue sidewalks changes as the demolition advances. Hotels with entrances on East 51st Street, East 52nd Street or the connecting side streets should pull the general contractor's pedestrian management plan, its sidewalk closure schedule and its delivery and loading windows before contracting group blocks for 2027.
What Midtown East's Numbers Say
PwC's Manhattan Lodging Index for the first half of 2026 puts Manhattan revenue per available room up 4.5 percent year over year on a 6.3 percent average daily rate gain, with occupancy down 1.7 percent to an average of 80.7 percent. Midtown East moved from the top-performing neighborhood in 2025 to among the weakest, with occupancy down 3.6 percent in the first half.
Four new hotels opened in Manhattan in the first half and added 1,328 rooms, per the same report. The Kimpton Ashbel at 70 Park Avenue holds 205 rooms in a 1928 Beaux-Arts building and opened on 30 April 2026.
PwC expects rate management to carry performance at these occupancy levels. The firm flags subdued international travel from stricter immigration enforcement and longer visa processing times as a near-term challenge.
Crew and Consultant Stays
Ask the general contractor for the properties its crews have used on comparable Midtown jobs and for the weekday room-night count it expects at peak. Ask each nearby operator for the project rate it quotes to construction accounts.
Consultant and construction-management stays turn on weekday supply in the walkable radius. Midtown East occupancy fell 3.6 percent in the first half, per PwC, and the Kimpton Ashbel added 205 rooms on Park Avenue in April. Take weekday occupancy and midweek rate discipline from each operator's own books across the last two quarters before setting 2027 rates.
Murray Hill spans East 34th to East 40th Streets, eleven to eighteen blocks south of the site. Grand Central Terminal anchors transit for both districts.
What to Confirm Before 2027
Ask the developer for the construction workforce at peak. Ask each operator for weekday occupancy and midweek average daily rate across the last two quarters. Those answers set the 2027 group plan for the block.