Mercedes House

Mercedes House is a rental apartment complex at 550 West 54th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, managed by Two Trees Management. It is immediately recognizable for its stepped, terraced massing, designed by Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos, which cascades down toward the Hudson in a series of planted setbacks, and it takes its name from the Mercedes-Benz dealership and service center built into its base.

The complex fills the block between West 53rd and West 54th Streets and Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, on the northern edge of Hell’s Kitchen. Hudson River Park, the Intrepid Museum and the DeWitt Clinton Park ballfields are a few blocks west, while the C and E trains at 50th Street and the 1 at Columbus Circle serve the area.

Completed in 2012, the building climbs in steps from the eastern end of its block to a 32-story peak at the west, so that many apartments open onto terraces cut into the setbacks. Its 864 apartments include income-restricted units, and the stepped form gives it more outdoor space than almost any rental building of its size in Manhattan.

Mercedes House was developed by Two Trees Management, the Brooklyn firm best known for remaking DUMBO and redeveloping the Domino Sugar site, and it remains one of the company’s few Manhattan buildings. The car showroom at street level gives the block an unusual mix of uses, and the location puts residents close to Hudson River Park, the 57th Street piers and the restaurants of Ninth and Tenth Avenues.