Building Tour: Saarinen-designed 51W52 (formerly CBS HQ Black Rock)

The only high rise and the final project designed by Eero Saarinen, the 38-story CBS headquarters in midtown Manhattan was described by its architect as “the simplest skyscraper statement in New York.” Completed in 1964, its façade of angled dark-gray granite piers alternating with dark-tinted glass contrasted strongly with the curtain-wall office tower neighbors rising around it.

Known as Black Rock, it served as the headquarters of the media enterprise until the early 1990s when other tenants were brought in to occupy 20 floors. In 2021, Harbor Group International acquired the building and Vocon and MdeAS Architects were challenged with updating the building’s plaza, ground floor, and lower level to appeal to tenants operating in a new era of work, while respecting its midcentury origins.

The design team deferred to Saarinen on the exterior, designated a New York City landmark in 1997, as well as its interior, which he designed with his frequent collaborator and longtime friend, Florence Knoll, focusing on clean lines and clear geometries. Designers cut a rectangular opening in the floor and designed a sleek a metal and stone stair to a lower level. Formerly the CBS mailroom, the space now serves tenants with amenities including a food and beverage bar, lounge, event space, conference room, fitness center, and locker room. The stair hovers above a shallow pool, echoing the form of one that Saarinen designed for the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.

The Harbor Group, Vocon, and MdeAS Architects are pleased to offer a tour of this landmark space and its 21st century update.

Speakers:
Jeanne Chiang, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Associate, Project Technical Designer, Vocon
Stephanie Cuevas Baez, Senior Designer at MdeAS Architects
Tricia Ebne, AIA, LEED AP, Director, MdeAS Architects
Sofia Juperius, Design Director, Vocon
Cordelia Meserow, Vice President of Asset Management, Harbor Group International
William Vasquez, Senior General Manager Construction and Commercial Management, Harbor Group Management Co., LLC.

About the Speakers:
Jeanne Chiang brings more than a decade of technical knowledge and industry experience to Vocon where she is Project Technical Designer. Her background spans various retail, healthcare, and hospitality, with a focus on corporate high-end interior projects throughout the New York region. With an eye for detail and thorough understanding of how a design will translate to construction in the field, Chiang shepherds execution of technical design documents through on-site construction administration and closeout.

Stephanie Cuevas Baez is a Senior Designer at MdeAS Architects. Cuevas Baez has brought her design skills and project management to major projects such as the 2.68 million-square-foot transformation of PENN 1, the modernization of 120 Park Avenue, and the new lobby and entry for the International Telephone Building at 75 Broad Street. In addition to her architecture degree, she holds a minor in real estate development, and brings more than 5 years of industry experience and a dedication to improving the built environment to her role.

Tricia Ebner is a Director at MdeAS Architects. With more than a decade of experience, Ebner brings extensive knowledge in commercial redevelopment, residential conversion, retail, and single-family residential architecture. A registered architect in New York and Connecticut, Ebner is a LEED AP and applies her passion for sustainability to all of her projects. Currently, Ebner serves as the project architect on a diverse portfolio of projects throughout New York City, including the partial residential conversion and commercial redevelopment of the McGraw-Hill building at 330 W 42nd Street. She was also project architect for the reimagination of the former Master Printer’s Building at 410 Tenth Avenue for SL Green Realty Corp., completed in 2020.

Sofia Juperius is Design Director at Vocon. With over a decade of industry experience, Juperius brings a unique perspective to building repositioning, tenant amenities, design strategy, and other landlord and developer-led projects. Inspired by the amenities of luxury apartment buildings, Juperius transforms lobbies and other public areas with spas, plush lounges and members-only clubs. Her professional experience includes technology, advertising, financial services, publishing, and building repositioning projects that span the East and West Coasts.

Cordelia Meserow is Vice President of Asset Management at Harbor Group International, focusing on the firm’s New York City office portfolio. A Chicago native, she began her real-estate career there in 2014 on the equity sales team at Eastdil Secured. Since relocating to New York, she worked in asset management for Shorenstein Properties where she repositioned large-scale office projects in New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Most recently, Meserow was an Associate Director of asset management at UBS Realty Investors where she managed a portfolio of office assets.

William Vasquez is Senior General Manager Construction and Commercial Management for the Harbor Group, a leading global real estate investment and management firm with $19 billion in real estate investment properties. A 25-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry formerly at CBRE, he has managed major New York properties including 425 Park Avenue, 32 Old Slip, 4 New York Plaza.