Richard Meier's Midtown monolith has topped out

The 42-story building is now being fitted with its shiny black facade

The Richard Meier-designed rental and condo building at 685 First Avenue has made significant progress this year, and earlier this month, the 42-story structure topped out. Now, a new construction site photo by Tectonic has revealed that a large portion of the building is now clad in its shiny black glass facade.

Developer Sheldon Solow filed plans for the building in August 2015. Pritzker Prize-winning Meier was revealed to be the architect in May 2016, and construction got underway not too long after that. When we last checked in with the project in February this year, the building was 11 stories above ground, and it has clearly made a huge amount of progress since.

This Far East Side structure will bring 556 apartments to the area; of the total units 408 apartments will be rentals and be located on floor 27 and below. The rest will all be condos and take up the upper portion of the building. The two sections will be separated by a terrace.

It's not yet clear when sales or leasing will get underway, but construction is still on track to wrap up in 2019.

Via Tectonic

• Richard Meier's Murray Hill monolith makes its skyward ascent [Curbed]
• Behold, Richard Meier's 'Neo-Modernist' Monolith For the Far East Side [Curbed]
• Richard Meier's Far East Side black monolith shows off its airy interiors [Curbed]