Construction is underway at Tangram Plaza (formerly known as Two Fulton Square) in downtown Flushing, Queens. The 1.2 million square foot mixed-use complex consist of four towers that sit atop a common podium. Of the four towers, two are concrete flat plate residential buildings that will contain 306 apartments. Another tower will be a concrete flat plate building for a 185 room hotel. The fourth tower will be a 85,000 square foot steel framed office building, with clear spans of 50 feet, the building’s entire width.

The podium contains three levels of below grade parking and 265,000 square feet of retail space over the first two floors of the building. It will include the first new movie theaters in Flushing in 30 years, one of which will be 4D interactive. The podium will also provide amenities for the residents including a swimming pool, gym and tennis court. The four buildings encircle a 47,000 square foot landscaped plaza on the interior of the block with a large, jewel-like skylight at its center, illuminating a retail and recreation atrium below.

© F&T Group

© Margulies Hoelzli

The foundations, approximately 40′ below street-level, consist of 4.5′ and 5.5′ thick concrete mats, as well as secant pile walls around the perimeter, where the site abuts existing buildings. Substantial support of excavation was required during foundation construction.

The first of the four buildings being constructed is a residential tower along 39th Avenue. The superstructure currently rises to the third floor, which is a transfer level between the residential column grid above and the retail/parking column grid below. Shear walls around the stair and elevator core are also transferred at this level.

The 37th Avenue Building, the largest in the complex, includes retail at grade, a 5-theater cinema on the second floor, and hotel reception with amenities on floors 3 and 4. The fifth floor is a structural transfer level with 7 stories of hotel rooms above. At this level, the gravity loads from the tower column grid are transferred to the podium columns below by way of a 36” slab and deep concrete beams. 1’-0” shear walls resist lateral loads. The structure incorporates a double slab with vibration isolators at the second and fourth floors to provide a buffer between the movie theaters, gym and tenants.

Self-consolidating concrete was used to achieve the particular geometries in this building. This type of concrete does not require vibration or tamping after pouring and follows the shape and surface texture of a form very closely once set. As a result, pouring self-consolidating concrete is also less labor-intensive compared to standard concrete mixes.

© F&T Group

 

© Margulies Hoelzli

The 15-story Prince Street Building, which will serve as an office building, is steel-framed. W14/W18 columns and W33 girders with W16 infill beams support 3” metal deck with 3 ¼” light-weight concrete floor slabs. The lateral system consists of HSS8 braces on each floor at the north and south elevations, and W14 mega-braces at the east and west elevations, which diagonally span between 3 and 5 stories.

The design will serve multiple office tenants per floor. In order to maximize floor to ceiling heights and yet comply with height restrictions prescribed at this site, web openings within the girders are employed to accommodate mechanical systems. The retail areas are expected to open in 2018, while the full build-out is expected to wrap up in 2020.

 

© Margulies Hoelzli

Team

Developers: F&T Group,  SCG America

Architect: Margulies Hoelzli Architecture

Structural: Gilsanz Murray Steficek

Mechanical: MGE