Hearst Tower: city's next landmark.

It has been overshadowed by the Time Warner Center and the Bloomberg building, but the soon-to-be-developed Hearst Tower might become a true New York landmark.

Created by Norman Foster, the 42-story office tower at Eighth Avenue and 52nd Street is expected to feature an innovative design, spectacular views and green building efficiency.

"William Randolph Hearst built the original tower in 1928. It was a u-shaped structure, designed with the intent that you could build a tower above it. Under the Giuliani administration, [when property values went up], this core became increasingly valuable. The time was right for us to develop this building," said Brian Schwagerl, director of real estate with the Hearst Corporation, in his speech to the Association of Real Estate Women on March 16.

Currently, the Hearst Corporation, one of the largest media companies in the country, is scattered throughout several Manhattan locations. According to Schwagerl, the new Hearst Tower would allow the company to consolidate, as well as save money on the rents.

"In 2000, we came to Cushman & Wakefield and asked them to help us [determine what we should do with our space,]" Schwagerl said. "They said we were not using our space efficiently. We could either buy a new building or develop one ourselves."

According to Schwagerl, convincing the city to let the company build atop a landmark structure wasn't easy, but the administration was finally won over by Norman Foster's clever design.

"Our requests were repeatedly turned down, but the city said if we would bring a different kind of design, they would consider it," he explained. "And Norman Foster had a history of doing unique designs. He created the new Hearst Plaza at the base of the building, used a triangle [instead of a square] as the starting point of his design and incorporated floor-to-ceiling windows, [allowing natural light to come in]."

The Hearst Corporation also worked in partnership with the city to make sure that the subway station next to the building was not obstructed by the structure. The company created three new elevators and two new mezzanine platforms for the subway stairs and reconfigured the stair to the street.

At the current moment, the Hearst Corporation is working on interior designs for the space, as well as figuring out ways to make the building more environmentally friendly. The company will occupy most of the space itself, but Schwagerl also expects that there will be several floors left for an outside user. He would not discuss prospective rents, however.

The Hearst Corporation expects to move into the new building in April of 2006.