Macy’s, Brooklyn, N.Y.
RETROFIT TEAM
ARCHITECT: Perkins Eastman
DEVELOPER: Tishman Speyer
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JRM Construction Management
RESTORATION AND WINDOW-REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR: Allen Architectural Metals Inc.
MATERIALS
A refreshed, historic, 4-story façade greets visitors to the redesigned and reopened Macy’s department store at 422 Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn. The 9-story building’s top five levels have been converted to Class A offices. Macy’s occupies approximately 300,000 square feet of retail space on the lower floors, retaining its street-level prominence, architectural heritage and community connection.
The windows on the second, third and fourth floors were replaced to improve the exterior appearance of the ornate, cast-iron façade. The previous window units had aged through the decades. Dramatically enhancing the retail façade for shoppers, staff and the community, the new windows present an exterior worthy of the building’s legacy. In total, 63 aluminum-framed windows were supplied with panning by Winco Window. All of Winco Window’s aluminum material was finished by Linetec in a Key Lime soft green color to complement the historic façade’s palette.
Each window’s dimensions span approximately 4 by 9 feet, and 15 were manufactured with arched tops. Winco Window’s 1450H Series window systems are fixed with offset lites to replicate the historic look of traditional, operable hung units. The systems are standard but were utilized in innovative combinations to meet the historic requirements.
Winco Window’s team worked closely with Allen Architectural Metals to provide the window system design, engineering and isometric details to suit the façade system’s punched openings. The restored historic façade was reinstalled over a concrete weather wall that is Macy’s portion of the building.
The window systems’ modern construction meets the Architectural AW-100 Performance Class designation per the North American Fenestration Standard (NAFS). Supporting the windows’ performance and durability, Linetec finished the aluminum framing and panning using a 70 percent PVDF resin-based architectural coating. To retain the project’s unique color and withstand New York’s climate and high-traffic conditions, the windows’ painted finishes meet the AAMA 2605 coatings specification for high resistance to corrosion, weathering, pollution, salt spray, humidity and abrasion.
ALUMINUM-FRAMED REPLACEMENT WINDOWS MANUFACTURER: Winco Window
RESIN-BASED WINDOW COATING PROVIDER: Key Lime by Linetec
THE RETROFIT
Long before becoming Macy’s downtown Brooklyn store in 1995, the building was constructed in 1865 when horse-drawn carriages were the primary transportation in New York. It first was the flagship department shore of Wechsler & Abraham, forerunner to the better-known Abraham & Straus stores.
The building was designed in the French Second Empire architectural style capped with a mansard roof and clad in a cast-iron façade, consisting of thousands of interconnected pieces. It underwent several renovations and expansions through the decades.
By 2015, the iron cladding remained up to the fourth story and stretched 98-feet wide. More than 1,000 pieces weighing 69 tons were cataloged and shipped to restoration and window replacement specialty contractor Allen Architectural Metals in Alabama. Construction costs for the total five-floor renovation are estimated at $100 million.
The historic retail destination has grown and developed with the community around it. With the renewed store, Macy’s executives said it seeks “to fuse its traditions with Brooklyn’s local flavor to create a modern environment of cutting-edge style and hip, urban attitude.”