[STERNyc]

It seems a number of New York projects are being lost in the shuffle. New York City is fortunate to have 600 foot buildings go unnoticed. For these buildings their glory is seeing them grow into a giant in the space of a few years, their construction is a considerable short period of time compared to the amount of work in planning. This thread is intended to shed some light on these projects, before they become part of the city fabric and fade into a more conventional role.

This thread excludes significant projects, as a rule of thumb those that consistently make it in the papers.

This thread includes all obscure proposals and constructions.

As well as projects that are developing, that are not yet materialized, but promises to be one day. These prospects can develop into something greater or earn a proper place here.

The purpose of this thread is to create an active discussion and shed-light on lesser known projects in New York City. If it were not for a combined thread these smaller projects would fall off the board and out of mention in a matter of days.

[STERNyc]

440 West 42nd Street Tower


Originally posted by Krulltime at Wired New York:

http://www.pbase.com/image/37698122.jpg
Copyright © 2004 Twining Properties

According to Crains in the "Developers home in on far W. Side" article date December 13-19:

Prices moving up


Developers already are paying top dollar for some prime sites. In a sale recently closed by Massey Knakal, Mendel Mendlowitz bought the entire eastern block on Ninth Avenue between W. 35th and West 36th streets for $22 million. The price had jumped 57% over the $14 million paid one year ago by the seller, AAG Management.

Some developers are so confident in the area and the city's need for more housing that they're not waiting for any more government approvals. Twining Properties-in partnership with The Related Cos. and MacFarlane Partners-recently closed on a site at 440 W. 42nd St., at 10th Avenue, without the promise of any zoning changes. The developers plan to construct a tower with retail stores, rental apartments and condominiums.

"The far West Side has got to happen," says President Alex Twining. "There's only so much land left in Manhattan."

Also on Twining Properties Website:

Twining Properties is pleased to announce 440 west 42nd Street, a 60-story high rise residential tower with over 600 luxury apartments in Midtown Manhattan. 440 west 42nd Street will be developed by a joint venture between Twining Properties, The Related Companies and Macfarlane Partners. The project will occupy an entire city block and will include two retail levels above underground parking and rental apartments and condominiums with dramatic views of the Hudson River and Times Square. Construction will commence in the Fall of 2005.

[AJphx]

this will be a good thread... but i remember there was a NYC boom rundown thread before. Was that one deleted?


As for the tower, hopefully it will be a good one, at least it is 600 feet or more. So is this one in the same area as those other two 600' + res towers going up - Friar's tower, and that other one near PABT/zebra tower area?

[NYguy]

There are also countless other residential projects that could make the list.

[TalB]

This is not a bad idea, b/c NYC has construction going on all the time.

[STERNyc]

50 Storey Tower at East 29th Street:

A building not unlike the Friars Tower in the very earliest stages of development.

Originally posted by billyblancoNYC at Wired New York:

A Curbed exclusive by way of a special correspondent: the much loved and landmarked Little Church Around the Corner (aka the Church of Transfiguration) on East 29th Street (above, looking east) just off Fifth Avenue has apparently struck a deal with the devil... er, with developers. The church's auxiliary structure, a modern addition to the east, will be demolished and combined with other properties to the north on 30th Street to create a thru-block parcel for a 50-story residential tower. Writes our correspondent,

How do we know this? We live on the block and for several weeks have noticed surveyors taking measurements. Then we noticed architect-types with interesting eyewear loitering on the block, snapping digital photos. When approached they were all hush hush, refusing to answer questions and walking back into the church. Then last week we saw two church workers on the block and asked them what was up. One remained silent but the other was good enough to give us the gory details. Demolition will begin in about a year. The church will take the first two or three floors of the tower for their programs. We lose our morning sunlight. And Manhattan loses a little piece of its soul.
What happens now? Expect the preservationists to come out in force against the demolition. The Little Church, for its part, was made famous in 1870 with the exclamation, "God Bless the Little Church Around the Corner!" The chants may well be different this time.
History of the Little Church [littlechurch.org].

http://www.curbed.com

[STERNyc]

West 31st Street Residential Tower

This 58 storey building would make big news in any other city.

West 31st Street Residential Tower
New York, New York
Client: Durst Organization / Sidney Fetner Associates
Completion: 2005


As the design architects for this 580,00 square foot tower, the firm is elegantly resolving varying programs and identities. Adjacent to the St. Francis of Assisi Friary, the mixed-use project includes an extension of offices, chapel, library, and housing for the friars at the base. The building includes a new headquarters for the American Cancer Society and the Hope Lodge treatment center and hospice. The four story facade on 32nd Street incorporates an expansive glass and shadow box curtain wall to give the Society its own strong identity. Above the base, the tower consists of 460 units of luxury housing.


http://www.pbase.com/image/37742014.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/37741899.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/37741474.jpg

Project Image & Description:

http://www.usgbc.org/Images/Project/project2603.jpg

Project Description: The 21,979 s.f. project site is a thru block, running from 31st Street to 32nd Street located midblock between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue. West of the site is a lot containing the existing Church of Saint Francis of Assisi with the churches' existing 4 story rectory abutting the project site. Purchase of air rights from the Archdiocese, plus allotment of a portion of the projects’ program requirements to new facilities for Saint Francis of Assisi, contributes to the 574,000 gross s.f. building. This includes a 5 story base continuous from 31st Street to 32nd Street with a tower set back approximately 85 feet from 31st Street and 48 feet from 32nd Street. The orientation and setbacks satisfy code and zoning requirements and maximize views, light and air. In addition to the new 41,465 gross s.f. facility for Saint Francis of Assisi, the building will provide 77,700 gross s.f. for The American Cancer Society, a 426,440 gross s.f. rental apartment tower, a 4,985 gross s.f. commercial establishment and a 23,512 gross s.f. parking garage. Saint Francis of Assisi will occupy all of the 5 story base, except for a 35 foot wide strip containing the 2 story high residential lobby at the eastern most portion, of the 31st Street side of the St. Francis of Assisi building. The facility for Saint Francis of Assisi provides a separate entry, off 31st Street to a large ground level multipurpose meeting hall for church or community use. Another 31st Street entrance is the access to the Provincialate offices on the second floor. The 4th and 5th floor are sleeping/living quarters for the friars with their dining recreation/library and chapel spaces on the 3rd floor. The 3rd floor roof of the adjacent residential lobby provides a roof garden for the adjacent dining and recreation space and the roof of the 5th floor is the roof garden accessible to the Residential Amenities on the 6th Floor. The American Cancer Society occupies the buildings’ 5-story base off of 32nd Street and floors 7 through 11 of the tower. Offices for the new Headquarters of The American Cancer Society will be on floors 2, 3 and 4 of the 32nd Street side of the base. Residential spaces for adult cancer patients and their caregivers who travel to New York City for the patients' treatment will be on floors 7 through 11. Each of the 5 floors has 12 sleeping units, a communal kitchen and dining area, laundry facilities and a lounge. Each of the sleeping units has a sitting area, sleeping area and a private bathroom. The 5th floor of the base has accessory spaces for the 7th through 11th floor residential spaces including lounge, library, game room and chapel. The ground level, off of 32nd Street, has three functions. The American Cancer Society occupies the western most portion. A ramp leading to the cellar and sub cellar parking garage and the residential service elevator access is at the eastern most portion. A Retail space is in the middle. There are two roof garden setbacks at the 32nd Street base. One occurs at the 5th floor, off of the Lounge for the cancer patients and the other is at the 6th floor off of the Residential Amenities. The residential rental apartments are on floors 13 through 57 of the tower. They consist of 451 apartments consisting of 0, 1 and 2 bedroom units. In addition to the Residential Amenities on the 6th floor, with garden terraces on both the 6th floor roof off of 32nd Street and the 5th floor roof off of 31st Street, Residential Amenities also exist on the 58th Floor with a small terrace. The Amenities on the 6th floor contain a Health Center. The Residential Amenities on the 58th Floor include game room, lounge, conference room and rental office. The residential apartments have access to a bike room in the sub cellar.

Source information and contacts:

https://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/project_detail_step_1.asp?PROJECT_ID=2603

[the urban politician]

It's about time a thread like this got started.

Chicago's had one for years! Now we're talkin

[STERNyc]

It's about time a thread like this got started.

Chicago's had one for years! Now we're talkin

Thanks. Ill be posting a building a day and I sincerely hope others forumers will help in the process and make this an active discussion. Supposedly there are over 150 buildings alone under construction over 120 feet.

[caw123]

No complaints now, but when I suggested this exact thread several months ago(even the excluding large projects bit), I was ripped to bits!

How the times change.

[TOBoy]

The West 31st street building looks really nice. I look forward to seeing what else the American powerhouse city has in store, as it has the nicest looking projects in the U.S.

[GO_UAE]

West 31st Street Residential TowerThis 58 storey building would make big news in any other city.


:haha:

[GO_UAE]

anyway , i know what you mean , 30+ story towers come in Abu Dhabi with no media coverage what so ever , but it would be impossible to find alll of them , they are hidden in places you would never think to look

[M II A II R II K]

He said in any other city, meaning most cities, not every other city. Dubai is of course exceptional.

[LA21st]

West 31st Street Residential TowerThis 58 storey building would make big news in any other city.


:haha:

I don't think it would make big news here in Chicago either. They just annouced 4 buildings next to Soldier Field over 53 stories ALONE, including 2 over 60. There are so many, many more...

[STERNyc]

That may be true, however I don’t think that there’s the same extent in either city. It’s not a shot at either; it’s just the very nature of New York City.

350 West 42nd Street is a 62 storey tower that went unnoticed until construction had already begun.

http://www.sotawall.com/proj_detail/USA_350W_01_lg.jpg

NY POST

Consolation prize

By Lore Croghan

High-rise apartment buildings are sprouting like sunflowers on the far western end of 42nd Street.

The newest to put down roots - or foundations - is Gary Barnett's 58-story project at 350 W. 42nd St. It will have 529 apartments.

Barnett owned another property across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal - but it was condemned for the New York Times headquarters that Bruce Ratner is building. Barnett's current project site, near the corner of Ninth Avenue, may not be quite as sexy a location but it's a nice consolation prize.

[NYguy]

No complaints now, but when I suggested this exact thread several months ago(even the excluding large projects bit), I was ripped to bits!
How the times change.

The difference is, these are projects that couldn't sustain threads of their own and would be lost. Most are projects you've probably never heard of or wouldn't have.

[NYguy]

West 31st Street Residential Tower

http://www.pbase.com/image/37741899.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/37741474.jpg


This is one of the more interesting developments in that area...

[NYguy]

350 West 42nd Street is a 62 storey tower that went unnoticed until construction had already begun.

http://www.sotawall.com/proj_detail/USA_350W_01_lg.jpg


In the leftside of this pic, you can see where the frame will eventually rise...


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/37749059/original.jpg

[NYguy]

I took this out of the Westside thread, it seems more appropriate here...

I dont know where to put this, but here...Render of the 400 5th Ave. 50 Storey Residential Tower.

http://www.thai3dviz.com/mpn/gallery/gallery/Architecture/Pnight.jpg

[STERNyc]

Thanks NYGUY thats another building @ ~58 storeys that we know too little about.

Compiled by Derek2k3 at Wired New York. Some facts at a glance:

400-404 Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue between West 37th and 38th Streets
The Far West Side/Penn Station Area
~58 stories
SLCE Architects
Dev-Trevor Davis/Chetrit Brothers
Residential Condominium
Proposed 2005-2007

Further down and closer to the Friars Tower is another apartment building, this one under construction and already half its height.

9 West 31st Street
31st Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway
41 stories 450 feet
Costas Kondylis & Partners
Dev-Jack Halpern Management
Residential Rental
283 units 262,117 ft²
Under Construction 2004-2006

[Vlad the Great]

I usually don't post in SSP, but I do in SSC. Anyways, I made something like this already in the New York section there, except I put in larger projects that can easily sustain their own thread as well, like BofA, and I left out tiny projects, mostly in the 10-20 story range. It's also linked to threads about the projects in SSC.

Here's the link: http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=2457378#post2457378

You've got my permission to take all you want out of it and post it here; Most of it however is stuff that you probably already know.

And isn't it amazing how many projects there are going on? And people think that NYC is dead! :D

Peace out fellas and I'll see you again sometime!

[STERNyc]

Great work, however in time this thread will cover all the buildings proposed or going up in NYC. Your thread only covers a fraction.

And isn't it amazing how many projects there are going on? And people think that NYC is dead!

That's how alive NYC is!

[STERNyc]

Since we're in the vicinity of the ESB. The Magellan, 35 West 33rd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, abutting the ESB. Completed late last year. 34 storeys, 348 feet.

http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/5/2003/07/203653.jpg

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=177103

[oshkeoto]

That 350 W. 42nd is quite a building.

[caw123]

West 31st Street Residential Tower has a really nice sleek design, not too keen on 350 West 42nd Street though.


No complaints now, but when I suggested this exact thread several months ago(even the excluding large projects bit), I was ripped to bits!
How the times change.

The difference is, these are projects that couldn't sustain threads of their own and would be lost. Most are projects you've probably never heard of or wouldn't have.

:rolleyes: Again, almost a word for word copy of what I suggested.

[TalB]

I also, think that this thread can also by about projects that are on the highways and subways as well as just buildings and houses. For example, the Whitestone Expwy is getting an extending lane on the northbound side. Another highway project in NYC is that there were overpasses on the Throgs Neck Expwy in the Bronx right near East Tremont Ave. Meanwhile, what are the updates on the 2nd Ave subway line b/c the eastside could use another line besides the one it has on Madison Ave and that the westside has several?

[STERNyc]

I also, think that this thread can also by about projects that are on the highways and subways as well as just buildings and houses. For example, the Whitestone Expwy is getting an extending lane on the northbound side. Another highway project in NYC is that there were overpasses on the Throgs Neck Expwy in the Bronx right near East Tremont Ave. Meanwhile, what are the updates on the 2nd Ave subway line b/c the eastside could use another line besides the one it has on Madison Ave and that the westside has several?

Yes. Anything that will be lost among the other threads in Projects and Constructions.

[STERNyc]

Queens West Super Development: Stage II

7 Towers under construction:

Of these, the design by the Miami-based Arquitectonica is the furthest along. Dubbed Queens West, the project would transform 22 acres of abandoned waterfront warehouses into a playful mix of high-rise and low-rise buildings, commercial development and waterfront parks. The project's residential towers, some of which would reach 45 stories, are lined up along the esplanade. The design would fit nicely in a department at Target: hip, affordable versions of high-concept buildings. The waterfront towers are a variety of heights and sizes, like boxes playfully stacked on top of each other. What's most disturbing about the project, in fact, is not its scale but its décor. In a bizarre effort to break down the composition's visual scale, the buildings are decorated with crisscrossing patterns of window mullions in a variety of colors: burgundy, blue, green and yellow. Together, the surfaces look like Scottish plaid.

The height of some of the buildings have been raised:

Rockrose Development, which plans to build seven towers on a 21-acre site, has increased the heights of four of its buildings.
These changes range from 2 to 10 stories higher than had been planned. When Jon McMillan, director of planning for Rockrose, remarked that “some of the buildings rose in height,” he was met with exasperated laughter from the audience.
When he was questioned about why there had been such a dramatic increase in the height of the planned building on parcel 6, from 20 to 30 floors, McMillan explained that it was a matter of economics and market value.
“It is the most valuable building on the site because of its closeness to public transportation,” he said. “We have sunk about $100 million into it already.”

http://www.queenswest.org/pictures/rockroseskylineboardnight2.jpg

http://www.queenswest.org/pictures/rockrosesitemodel.jpg

http://www.queenswest.org/pictures/rockroseboard3a.jpg

http://www.queenswest.org/pictures/rockroseboard4a.jpg

http://www.queenswest.org/pictures/rockroseboard5a.jpg

7 apt. towers to pop up

Plan no longer bottled up, & soda sign is saved

By DONALD BERTRAND
www.nyDAILYNEWS.com STAFF WRITER

Soft drink sign, an unofficial landmark on the Queens side of the East River, will be dismantled but later restored as developer spends $1 billion converting former bottling plant into site of 3,200 Queens West apartments.

The developer of the northernmost portion of the Queens West site in Hunters Point has announced plans to start building the first of seven towers on the 21-acre site next August.
The $1 billion project, planned for property previously owned by Pepsi-Cola, is noted for the massive Pepsi-Cola sign that faces the East River and has become an unofficial landmark.

That sign will come down during construction but it will be restored under an agreement by the three parties involved in negotiations that took years to complete.

"This is an enormous project, extremely complicated - three parties were involved: Pepsi, [developer] Rockrose and the [state] government," said Jon McMillan, director of planning at Rockrose Development.

"We had to figure out how to do it without the government spending any money, because they did not have any," McMillan said.

He explained that Rockrose had to acquire the property from Pepsi, but Queens West had to end up with the ownership title.

McMillan said the developer then had to transfer title to Queens West and come up with the funding mechanism to pay for all the infrastructure, the park and the bulkhead repairs.

The deal came together Sept. 19, McMillan said.

"It is further evidence that even in a less-than-stellar real estate market, Queens West continues to be a hot property," said Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp.

In February 2001, Queens West announced that Rockrose was selected as the developer of the site, which is north of 47th Road on the waterfront.

The project calls for 3,200 apartments in seven towers.

At that time, McMillan called the selection process - which took about a year - "one of the most arduous selection processes I've ever been involved in."

Across river from UN

Queens West is a $2.3 billion residential and commercial development project covering 74 acres at Hunters Point in Queens, directly across the East River from the UN complex.

The first Queens West building - a tower, called City Lights, with 522 co-op apartments - was opened in 1997; a second tower, the Avalon Riverview luxury rental tower, was opened last year.

Two more portions of Queens West are awaiting development, said Alex Dudley, a spokesman for the Empire State Development Corp.

A residential area at the southern tip of the property has been earmarked for an Olympic village, in case the city is awarded the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and there is a commercial core just south of the Avalon Riverview I apartments.

[STERNyc]

http://www.rockrosenyc.com/imgs/res_future_image00.jpg

[billyblancoNYCII]

I would love to see some update for Rockrose and Queens West. There have been a number of changes, especially in heights (for Rockrose and Avalon). Also, what's up with the commercial sector to be developed by LCOR? The proposed biotech center for MSK? New renderings with the Olympic Village mixed in. Damnit, I need some artwork, man!

[NYguy]

:rolleyes: Again, almost a word for word copy of what I suggested.


Doubtful, but then again, maybe we just didn't like your attitude. If you want to contribute something now, do so. If not, don't.

[STERNyc]

United States Mission to United Nations:

Demolition is nearly finished on the existing structure.

'Ugly' U.S. Mission Building to Get Roomier Replacement

New Headquarters at U.N. Designed to Withstand Terrorism

By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, August 30, 2004; Page A21

UNITED NATIONS -- For more than 40 years, it has been the workplace of America's most famous ambassadors, including George H.W. Bush and Madeleine K. Albright. It has also served as a key staging ground for some of the country's most important diplomatic initiatives, including U.S. efforts to sell the world on its invasion of Iraq and to defuse a potential nuclear war with the Soviets during the Cuban missile crisis.

But the headquarters of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations doesn't generate much respect among the world's diplomatic set, whose members have derided the gray 12-story structure as an architectural eyesore that is unfit to house the world's lone superpower.

"It's ugly," said Germany's U.N. ambassador, Gunter Pleuger. "And inside it's not very modern. I think the United States delegation deserves a better one."

The United States is set to get an upgrade. Construction workers will demolish the building on 45th Street and First Avenue over the next four months to make way for a heavily reinforced, 23-story high-rise that is designed to accommodate nearly twice the staff and survive a car bomb explosion.

The $4.4 million demolition has forced more than 160 American diplomats and support staff into a commercial building several blocks from U.N. headquarters, on 45th Street near Lexington Avenue, until the new building is completed in 2008.

The passing of the storied building, whose concrete, honeycombed facade once stirred fans of Modernist architecture, has generated little protest from the city's preservationists. Even former occupants are glad to see it go.

"It's lived its life," former U.S. ambassador John D. Negroponte said in a formal ceremony convened to shutter the old building. "It's kind of worn out."

"I've been in it once," said his successor, John C. Danforth. "When I see it in passing, my heart does not skip a beat."

Another senior U.S. diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, put it more bluntly: "They should have blown up the architect."

The building, which opened its doors in the spring of 1961, was not always so despised. For a country that had been ambivalent about the United Nations, the decision to erect a permanent mission across the street from U.N. headquarters was seen as a symbol of America's commitment to working with others to pursue peace. A New York Times editorial in March 1956 hailed U.S. plans to build "our own U.N. monument" as a powerful rebuke to "a few antediluvian isolationists in Congress who would like to have us pull out of this often annoying company and go it alone."

The effort faced bureaucratic, financial and political hurdles from the beginning, when American officials began looking for a site in 1947. The late U.S. ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. overcame the forces of Washington bureaucracy and American isolationism to make it happen, invoking fears that the Soviets were considering purchasing the site for their own mission. That, he warned, would constitute a "diplomatic Sputnik for them," a reference to the first man-made craft sent into space.

During Lodge's tenure, Congress appropriated about $3.7 million in March 1958 to begin construction. But President Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose golden bust is displayed in the main conference room at the mission's transitional headquarters, vetoed the bill because of an unrelated dispute over civil servants' retirement funds. The bill was ultimately signed into law months later.

Inspired by Swiss architect Le Corbusier, who helped design the U.N. headquarters, the firms Kahn & Jacobs and Kelly & Gruzen conceived the building in the Brutalist style, a form of architecture popular in the 1960s and 1970s that relied on sculpted, rough concrete surfaces.

"It was an expression by the U.S. government that we were to be associated with the same kind of modern values that shaped the creation of the United Nations," said Matt Postal, who once led walking tours of Modernist architectural buildings in Manhattan. Postal said that the building has since fallen on hard times. Its concrete facade is cracked and in need of a scrub. Inside, the mission is cramped and cluttered. The wiring is too old to accommodate modern electrical, security and computer networks, U.S. officials said.

Like its predecessor, the new building has taken more than a decade to finance and has faced intense resistance from the United Nations' toughest critics. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) pledged in 1998 to fight it, saying, "I intend to do all I can to make sure that hardworking Americans don't pay for a State Department palace in New York."

The building's shell, which will be constructed by the General Services Administration, will cost $50 million to $60 million. The State Department will pay more than $12 million for renting the two spaces. To save money, the government scrapped plans for a permanent residence for the ambassador.

U.S. officials declined to discuss the cost or the practical impact the move will have on U.S. intelligence agencies that have long used the United Nations as a prime post for listening in on foreign diplomats.

The mission's transition to temporary quarters, meanwhile, has irritated some diplomats, who complained they have been squeezed into smaller cubicles while the mission's top three ambassadors have been given equal space. Still, many diplomats are grateful to flee a building that provided an inviting target for car bombers. Indeed, the design for the new mission has been influenced as much by terrorists as by the aesthetics of architecture or the principles of international cooperation.

The new building will be set back from the street, and the first six floors will be windowless, in an effort to prevent injury from exploding glass from a car bomb. Former New York Times architectural critic Herbert Muschamp described the new mission as a "high-rise bomb shelter."

"The form and material gesture diplomatically toward friendship and transparency," he wrote. "Otherwise this is black helicopter stuff: a crisp but hulking tower of power."

http://www.aiany.org/designawards/2003/projects/jpegs/214a.jpg
http://www.aiany.org/designawards/2003/projects/jpegs/214b.jpg
http://www.aiany.org/designawards/2003/projects/jpegs/214c.jpg

http://aiany.org/designawards/2003/projects/proj5.htm

[CoolCzech]

^Hate to say it, but these renditions of the "improved" mission don't exactly strike me as beautiful. What's with the giant stove pipe?

[TalB]

However, the US government will not let this project go through easily, especially since the UN passed a number of resolutions that were anti-American.

[CoolCzech]

I think the building would be meant for use by AMERICANS, TalB.

[Lecom]

350 w 42nd (the Orion) looks kinda retarded with its midheight break.

[Lecom]

That Pepsi sign by the Rockrose stuff makes me want a Pepsi. Didn't have one in a while.

As for the new UN mission building, it still could do better. Or at least taller. Just make it ten stories taller than the UN Plaza hotels behind it, and it would be great. The design's not that bad cause its simple and original. The hotel owners must be pissed though cause the new tower will block MANY windows in the hotel. Also, why couldn't the outside rounded edge of the cylinder be moved one block north so it goes along the center of the facade?
By the way, I find the old building pretty charming.

[billyblancoNYCII]

[NYguy]

http://www.aiany.org/designawards/2003/projects/jpegs/214b.jpg
http://www.aiany.org/designawards/2003/projects/jpegs/214c.jpg




Reminds me of the AT&T/SONY building...

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Bridge Park moves forward...

(NY TIMES)

Brooklyn Waterfront Park Inches Closer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/23/nyregion/24brooklyn.large1.jpg

Rendering of Brooklyn Bridge Park, which officials are set to approve

By DIANE CARDWELL
December 24, 2004

After several false starts, state and city officials are set to sign off on a new, final master plan for the Downtown Brooklyn waterfront that would include playing fields, a marina, stores and a new residential and commercial hub at the foot of Atlantic Avenue.

The plan for the 1.3-mile shoreline park from Dumbo to Cobble Hill is a crucial step forward for an often contentious decade-long effort to develop the area, an effort that has frequently fallen victim to community disagreements and bureaucratic delays. This time around, officials believe that they have broken the logjam and can finally move ahead with the park.

The design scheme, by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, calls for a succession of hills, open plazas and recreation zones snaking along the water and a series of canals and boardwalks winding around and above the piers. The development would include shaded sports fields atop existing piers, 10 acres of water for kayakers, marshland habitats, playgrounds, restaurants and stores. A new hotel with housing would go up near the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as residential developments in Dumbo and on Atlantic Avenue.

The plans being prepared by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation will open the formal design phase and allow an environmental review to be completed, which would, officials hope, enable the corporation to take possession of land for the project by sometime next year. Then, construction could begin.

"It represents a lot," Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, said of this latest phase. "We had to figure out what we could build with the money that we had available, and then we had to know how much revenue we would be getting" from the restaurants and other retail outlets.

Officials at the development corporation "not only want to have a park that people will like, but they want to use this unusual occasion to also build a great park," said Mr. Van Valkenburgh, whose firm is also working on part of Hudson River Park on the West Side of Manhattan. To create something "like the romantic parks of Olmsted and Vaux" meant thinking about how to make a great park that reflects "what's different about the time we live in and who we are."

To that end, Mr. Van Valkenburgh and his team have planned a park that could easily accommodate several kinds of activities, he said, while overcoming the physical limitations of the long, skinny space and its marginal location under the roaring Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Some of the new buildings and structures, for instance, would function as landmarks that, like the bridges, would help orient visitors in the park and draw them through it. Walkways that run below the piers would bring people down to the water and away from the noise of the highway. The businesses associated with the park would cover the costs of maintaining it, officials said, as well as make it into an all-weather attraction.

"We see building a spectacular park there as having tremendous economic value," said Joshua J. Sirefman, director of the mayor's office of economic development and rebuilding. "This is a critical piece of making it a great destination," he added, calling it a "major driver for activity" on the waterfront.

Several times since the completion of the first master plan, in 2000, construction seemed to be about to start. On a raw spring day in 2002, for example, Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined a bevy of other officials on an East River pier in Brooklyn to announce the formation of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and the commitment of $85 million in state funds and $65 million from the city to build the park.

Groundbreaking was to begin in a year, they said then, and the park would take eight more years to complete. A little more than a year later, the development corporation released a design scheme, called the Concept Plan, which built on the first master plan.

Within a few months, a parking lot where the city built a playground in 2001 was transformed into a park, and it seemed that a ribbon of green snaking from Jay Street to Atlantic Avenue would soon come into view.

Officials concede that there have been delays and point to the complications of acquiring the land for the park. They say things have progressed more quickly since Wendy Leventer quietly replaced James Moogan as president of the development corporation in March. Still, speed in creating an 80-acre waterfront park is a relative concept.

"Because we're government, we don't do anything in under a year," Ms. Leventer said.

Once the environmental study is completed, probably by next fall, officials said, the corporation can begin identifying developers and making deals.

"We're thinking that if we're lucky there's not going to be a shovel in the ground until '08, just because that's the way the timing goes," Ms. Leventer said, adding that construction would take another three to four years.

"Which," Mr. Van Valkenburgh added, "is pretty fast."


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Plans call for recreational, residential and commercial elements. The hope is to make the area "a great destination," a city official said.

[STERNyc]

This and QueensWest will redefine the East River coast in the outter boroughs. Manhattan access to the East River is hindered by the FDR Drive, plans are to overhaul the entire waterfront and increase access, and the possible addition of seven slender towers above the FDR.


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Rendering of a plan to convert the Peck Slip parking lot used by Fulton Fish Market trucks into a plaza with a reflecting pool by Richard Rogers Partnership, SHoP Architects and Ken Smith Landscape Architect.

City floats tower-park idea for the East River

By Josh Rogers

After a half century or so of new East Side waterfront plans, city officials think they may have an idea that won’t end up with all of the others – that is, sleeping with the East River fishes. They are now considering building seven apartment towers over the F.D.R. Drive to pay for an additional 12 acres of park space in Lower Manhattan.

The plan also includes creating the “Champs Elysées of the Lower East Side,” building a pedestrian-cycling ramp connecting Battery Park to the East River, building new park spaces on Peck Slip and Pier 15 near the Seaport, and adding pavilion spaces under the F.D.R. for things like cafes, studios, cultural spaces, and community centers. This part of the plan would not require the towers and could be completed in phases over the next three to five years. It is expected to cost at least $100 million and be paid for mostly with federal, post-9/11 money administered by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

Amanda Burden, chairperson of the City Planning Commission, told Downtown Express that she was hopeful the L.M.D.C. board would authorize the money by the end of the year.

The tower plan is considered a longer-term project. Up to seven narrow towers, perhaps as tall as 400 feet, would rise from the street through the center of the elevated F.D.R. The apartments could generate several hundred million dollars of revenue needed to build and maintain about 12 acres of new park space over the river. Even though the slips would cover more of the water than the traditional piers in the Hudson River Park, city consultants say they would be designed to be friendly to marine life and the slips would have fewer structures in the river than piers. The State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers have long been reluctant to approve projects that involve rebuilding or repairing piers because of the effects to fish.

The buildings would cover a six-block area and be near Old Slip, Gouverneur La., Wall St., Pine St. and Maiden La. They would line up with the streets to create clear access to the river, and protect whatever river view corridors exist in spite of the elevated roadway.

The seven proposed buildings combined, would be a maximum of about 1 million square feet. City officials, who presented the plan to a Community Board 1 committee Wednesday, said they were open to building fewer or smaller buildings, but that would also mean the new park space would be reduced. They believe they can finance two square feet of park space for every three square feet of apartment space, although detailed financial plans with various options are still being studied.

Michael Davies, a director of Richard Rogers Partnership, a British architectural firm working on the project, said the plan would help New York catch up to other cities by making better use of its rivers.

“The waterfront is way below the stature of this great city,” Davies told C.B. 1 members. “[This will] turn it into the front yard for Downtown.”

Some nearby building owners and their representatives are beginning to react negatively to the tower part of the plan, concerned about the loss of river views and the effects to the F.D.R., which would be reduced by one or two lanes.

“To me the drive is an asset,” Harry Bridgwood, who manages the massive office building at 55 Water St., said in a telephone interview. He said prospective commercial tenants typically want to make sure that black car limousines will be able to get to and from the building quickly. Condo owners at 3 Hanover Sq., who opposed a proposal several years ago to build a trading floor office tower on 55 Water St. on an elevated plaza, may also raise objections.

Many people at the meeting reacted favorably to the general park aspects of the plan, while objecting to some of the specifics.

Randy Polumbo, who lives and works in the Seaport, said he has to constantly clean his windows because of car fumes from the highway.

“We don’t really have a view corridor, we have an F.D.R. corridor,” said Polumbo. “The F.D.R. is so ugly. I feel like you are threading this large intestine through this jewel.”

Polumbo, who owns his building, said he thought the roadway should be taken down altogether. He went on to say that if Lower Manhattan had “to sell its soul” to accept more large buildings, it is important to make sure the buildings are architecturally significant and that some of the grit of the historic Seaport neighborhood be preserved when the Fulton Fish Market leaves toward the beginning of next year.

City Planning’s Burden told Polumbo: “I loved what you said.”

As for taking down the F.D.R., consultants did consider it but decided not to do it because it would have required an eight-lane, street-level roadway. The Downtown Alliance and C.B. 1 did a joint study of the area several years ago and concluded that the F.D.R. should not be taken down and the area underneath could be used for pavilions similar to the city’s current plan. The study also considered closing a few lanes of the roadway to create a walkway. Now the reduced lanes may be used to create space for residential building cores.

The apartments would be attached to the core and cantilever over the highway with waterfront views to the east and no western windows facing Lower Manhattan’s skyscrapers. The apartment floor plate would be small, about 5,000 square feet, which could accommodate several apartments per floor.

Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects said the buildings could be built without closing any additional lanes of the F.D.R. The lowest level apartments would be over the roadway and be the equivalent of five stories off of the ground.

The first phase improvements designed by Rogers Partnership, SHoP and landscape architect Ken Smith, include the pedestrian-bicycle ramp connection near the historic Battery Maritime Building, a reflecting pool plaza to replace the Fish Market parking area on Peck Slip, rebuilding open space on Pier 15, a tree-lined boulevard along Allen and Pike Sts. (what Pasquarelli likened to the Champs Elysées), a better southern entrance to East River Park, the F.D.R. pavilions, and could include things like 1,000 birch trees and a small beach area near the Brooklyn Bridge.

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A look at the proposed pavilions to be built under the F.D.R., above and what the area looks like now, below.

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Paul Goldstein, C.B. 1’s district manager, said the short term plans were “under-whelming” because so much of the money is being used for the Maritime ramp. “I think we are deferring everything for 10 or 20 years,” said Goldstein. He said the plans for open space on Pier 15 looked to be geared to accommodate tall ships and not the most pressing park need on the East Side – play space for children.

City Planning officials stressed that it was still early in the process, but seemed much more willing to design something different for Pier 15 than not building the Battery building connection. The city spent $36 million to restore the building’s exterior but the interior still needs a major investment to convert it into a new use. Ferries to Governors Island also leave from the building.

For many years, Burden has been a strong advocate for creating a continuous esplanade around Manhattan and said the ramp was an important piece to the goal.

She said the Maritime Building ramp would be considerably less than $50 million, although precise figures have not been worked out.

Vishaan Chakrabarti, Manhattan office director of City Planning, said the city is still talking with the L.M.D.C. about whether the state-city agency is willing to cover the costs of the ramp.

Like Burden, Chakrabarti said he is confident a large amount of L.M.D.C. money is coming soon for the first phase of the project. “We are optimistic about that,” he told board members. “As we go into the more ambitious schemes, there is no identifiable funding.”

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The city hopes to build a ramp in this area near the Battery Maritime Building so pedestrians and cyclists near Battery Park can get to the East River esplanade easily. Some residents fear the costs may be too high for a short term project and should be put on the backburner in favor of other park improvements.

That’s why the residential buildings would be needed, he added. The city expects to issue long-term ground leases to developers, similar to the way Battery Park City was constructed. For 30 years, Downtown’s East River waterfront was zoned to be land-filled and create an east side version of B.P.C., but the plan never got close to being approved by the Army Corps and the zoning was changed in the 1990s.

Carl Weisbrod, president of the Downtown Alliance and a L.M.D.C. board member, said he is happy to see the movement to improve the waterfront, but he has reservations about the tower idea.

The first phase would require moving the tour buses and cars that currently park under the F.D.R. Moving the parking lot has long been a goal of C.B. 1, the city and others, but there is still no alternative site.

If the parking lot is moved, it would set up pavilion space for retail near well-traveled streets like Wall and Fulton, and opportunities to bring in cultural and community spaces near other streets, Chakrabarti said.

Goldstein wanted to know what was in the works for the adjacent areas. The L.M.D.C. has been looking to make improvements along Fulton St., but has not yet presented its ideas to the community board and the next use for the Fulton Fish Market buildings remains up in the air.

City officials said a children’s play area is planned for Burling Slip as part of the Fulton St. plan. General Growth Properties is in the process of taking over control of the Seaport mall as part of its recently-announced purchase of the Rouse Corp., said Bob Balder, who works in the mayor’s office. Once the sale of Rouse is complete, General Growth will own Rouse’s right of first refusal to redevelop two of the market buildings. Balder said this provision in the city’s mall lease wouldn’t take effect until the market relocates to the Bronx early next year.

Davies said, “when the Fulton Fish Market leaves, [Peck Slip] becomes a great New York square.”

Community Board 1 is planning to schedule a meeting to discuss the plans further and City Planning officials are expected to present the plan to Community Board 3 on Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m., 466 Grand St.

Josh@DowntownExpress.com

Downtown Express is published by
Community Media LLC.
Email: news@downtownexpress.com

[NYguy]

More on the 270 Greenwich St saga...

DOWNTOWN EXPRESS

Developer trying to raise Tribeca towers’ height

By Ronda Kaysen

Developer Edward Minskoff is looking to increase the size of the apartment buildings he hopes to build across from P.S. 234 in Tribeca.

Minskoff, the developer of Site 5B, has requested to make several amendments to a September agreement with the city regarding the site, including a request to increase the street wall along Warren St., opposite P.S. 234, to 135 feet.

In the September agreement, signed by City Councilmember Alan Gerson and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, Site 5B would have buildings of 370, 200 and 135 feet, with the larger two on West St. The street wall along West St. is currently limited to 70 ft., with a provision to allow for an increase to as much as 135 ft., dependent upon Community Board 1 approval. In exchange for a street wall height increase, a portion of the additional proceeds from the sale would go to the slated community center at site 5C, another property in the agreement. Minskoff also wants to increase the size of the tallest tower to 382 feet.

“The P.T.A. has a concern that if [the street wall] gets adjusted to the 135 ft. height, it could affect the school,” said George Olsen, a C.B. 1 member and former head of the P.S. 234 P.T.A. “The school is 65 ft. high. You’d have a building directly across the street that’s twice as high.” Although Site 5C also faces the school — on West St. — it would not cause as much of a disruption to light because the school’s classrooms and playground face out onto Warren St., Olsen said.

Minskoff’s request is far from a sealed deal, according to Gerson. “We’ll see if there’s a common ground or not and if not, then they [Minskoff] have to remain where they are,” said Gerson, who received a letter from Doctoroff outlining the proposed changes. “The agreement affectively locks it in at 70 feet unless the community board O.K.’s any increase, and I am quite confident they will not allow for it unless the parents are satisfied.”

Furthermore, any street wall increase requires a shadow study for light lost to the playground, said Robin Forst, Gerson’s deputy chief of staff.

Minskoff may have a difficult road ahead. “The parents I’ve spoken to are pretty concerned about it,” said Kevin Fisher, chairperson of P.S. 234’s P.T.A. “There may be tradeoffs, and the parent body might want to accept some of those tradeoffs, but right now it doesn’t seem worth it. We’re going to be hedged in by two buildings.”

Despite some parent grumbling, Madelyn Wils, chairperson of C.B. 1, was not as concerned about the changes. A 65-foot height increase is a far cry from the 600-foot tall building originally proposed, and the shadow it would have created at P.S. 234 and Washington Market Park, said Wils, who leads the board that will have to approve Minskoff’s proposal. “One hundred thirty-five feet isn’t tall, it’s not going to obstruct the light,” she told Downtown Express. “This is reasonable.”

The added height could be a boon for the community center, which will benefit financially from a concession and is still “millions of dollars away” from its financial goal, according to Bob Townley, executive director of Manhattan Youth, which will occupy the community center. A few extra feet, said Townley, may be worth consideration. “Tall things don’t necessarily bother me, what bothers me is kids that don’t get an education and don’t get after school activities,” he said.

Nevertheless, Townley, a C.B. 1 member for close to 22 years, had not yet read the agreement and was reluctant to take a position about it. “I stand by the will of the community on this,” he said. “If it’s a nice offer, I’m sure that the community board will be reasonable about it.”

The other proposed changes to the Site 5B agreement request to extend the base along the site from 44 ft. to 46 ft.; decrease the height of the tower at the corner of Murray and Greenwich St. from 200 ft. to 139 ft.; decrease the street wall along Greenwich St. from 135 ft. to 102 ft.; as well as the increase of the tower itself, from 370 ft. to 382 ft.

Minskoff has not yet submitted his plans to the Department of City Planning to begin the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. A public scoping session for the Environmental Impact Statement is planned for Jan. 6. Minskoff’s assistant said her boss was on vacation and the developer did not respond to a request for comment.

[NYguy]

Creation of a cultural district in Brooklyn...

(BROOKLYN PAPERS)

BAM seeks arts groups for cultural district

By Jess Wisloski

The Brooklyn Academy of Music Local Development Corporation is seeking arts groups to inhabit the first phase of its planned cultural district in Fort Greene.

The property, bounded by Ashland Place, Rockwell Place, Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue currently holds a parking lot, the Mark Morris Dance Group studios and a liquor store. The BAM LDC’s Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) is a means for interested arts and cultural organizations to apply for some of the 250,000 square feet of non-residential space that will be built there.

The entire site makes up a 60,000-square-foot block. The four parcels that the BAM LDC has been charged with developing are city-owned, and in the press release it issued, the LDC reported “some capital subsidy will be available” to artistic organizations chosen to “create facilities” in the site.

Known as the “North Site” under the BAM LDC plan, the block will also be developed with 350 units of mixed-income housing. The housing is not a subject of the RFEI and its development will be determined through a Request for Proposals down the road.

“The goal was to cast as broad a net as possible and see what could be out there,” said Jeanne Lutfy, executive director of the BAM LDC.

She said the LDC reached out by mass mailings and press releases to “close to a thousand groups.” On Jan. 5, the LDC will hold a public information session for interested applicants from 9:30 am to noon at Long Island University. Those interested in attending need to call (718) 907-4403 by Jan. 3. The deadline for all submissions is Feb. 7.

“We basically took a page from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation when they were soliciting proposals for the World Trade Center site,” said Lutfy.

Indeed, the RFEI and recent efforts by BAM LDC’s partner in the project, the city Economic Development Corporation, to consult with neighborhood groups seem to have assuaged some fears that a longstanding and ethnically diverse community arts movement would be supplanted by more well-connected, predominantly white Manhattanites.

The Concerned Citizens Coalition, a Fort Greene neighborhood group that formed in response to the BAM LDC plan, has been the most vocal in expressing that concern.

Now the CCC, which in October was shopping around proposed plans of their own for the North Site that considered everything from theater and dance space to an affordable housing scheme for residential condos, seems to be suddenly on the same page as the BAM LDC.

“The CCC is trying to help,” said the Rev. Clinton Miller, chairman of the group. “We’re not trying to develop the land, but trying to ensure the process is one in which full participation is offered.”

Miller said his group has met with both the BAM LDC and the EDC.

“We know that some of the meetings we’ve attended have helped and influenced the process,” he said. “We want to make sure the outcome consistently reflects the wishes of the community.”

Fort Greene Councilwoman Letitia James sounded concerned that more specifics, like an RFP, had not been issued.

“It’s only for cultural organizations, it does not deal with the rest. It’s for arts programs, but only the arts,” James said.

But to many local arts groups, even having the option to give input on what is needed is a pleasure.

Diane Jacobowitz, whose youth dance organization Dancewave has been operating out of space leased from the Berkeley Carroll School, in Park Slope, said the group is not confined by lack of interest, they just need more room to move.

“We’ve been on the market for a while,” said Jacobowitz, executive director of the 25-year-old organization. “It’s a long, hard struggle looking for a space.”

She said they need “a minimum of two full-size studios” for their programs, which facilitate up to 200 kids, ages 11 to 18, every weekday afternoon.

“It’s a fantastic location,” she said, noting the proximity to the Mark Morris studio.

“We have a very good relationship with them and we like them,” said Jacobowitz. “It would make downtown this incredible dance place.”

Persons or groups interested in submitting a proposal for space can call (718) 907-4403 or e-mail to info@bamldc.org. The Web site is www.bamculturaldistrict.org.


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The Brooklyn Public Library for Visual and Performing Arts is part of the development area...(south site)


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[Lecom]

God damn tha thing is ugly. I'm pro-Brooklyn Downtown redevelopment, but now I am beginning to understand local nimbies. Just build a new 30- or something story version of Flatiron using the same facade glass as on the pics, not some half-assed boat that sprawls across the square.

[Lecom]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/23/nyregion/24brooklyn.large1.jpg
It would be awesome playing soccer on one of those fields. Or building mid-sized stadium with the bleachers norty, south and east of the field, with the west side looking over to Manhattan. This would also enable the Downtown people to use their expensive spyglasses to watch the games from Pier 17 of South Street Seaport.

[Lecom]

Goodbye Old US mission to UN building
my pics on emporis
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=115416
now its almost fully demolished
facts are comin soon, when they get approved

[STERNyc]

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Research Building

Nearing completion

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Project Mission

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Research Building incorporates basic science laboratories, dry laboratories, vivarium, and education center. Designed in collaboration with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, the building is to be completed in 2006. This new research facility is intended to create an inspiring and interactive environment for innovative cancer research, as well as create a distinct civic identity for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Building Type, Program, Location

The proposed research tower is located on the hospital's main campus in New York City between York Avenue and First Avenue and Sixty Seventh and Sixty Ninth Streets. The new 684,000 gsf facility incorporates three major programmatic elements: Research Laboratories, including, wet labs, lab support, offices, dry labs, and interaction spaces; Vivarium, consisting of animal research, imaging and surgery facilities; and Public Functions, including lobby, conference center and auditorium.

Client's Goals

-Promote the institutional mission of cutting edge cancer research and treatment

-Provide a supportive and creative environment for researchers and staff

-Reinforce MSKCC's role within the community

-Express a distinct image for MSKCC

-Embody the ideal of research as the basis for healing patient care, innovative treatment and the prevention and cure of cancer

Issues and Constraints

Located on a dense, midlock urban site, the new building must create efficient and flexible research space, while responding to stringent urban design, zoning and phasing constraints. Issues include:

-Complex phasing

-Minimized construction disruption and schedule

-Community concerns

-Relationship to a diverse context

Design Approach

The Design consolidates all research space into a compact phase I Tower, minimizing construction duration and disruption. Phase II includes a seven story education and dry laboratory pavilion. Programmatic functions are organized into three clear architectural components: a laboratory bar with linear equipment room and support, a public circulation spine and an office/interaction cluster.

This approach:

-Maximizes efficiency and flexibility

-Maximizes views and natural light

-Creates clear functional zoning and systems integration

-Allows for future expansion

Associated Awards:

1. "American Architecture Award" - Chicago Athenaeum (2003)

http://www.som.com

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[STERNyc]

Chelsea Club Condominium
444 West 19th Street

http://www.chelsea-club.com/

[NYguy]

[
http://www.som.com/resources/projects/3/4/6/som8__1133.jpg

Reminds me of the new hotel/tower planned for 125th Street...

[NYguy]

(to keep these project/developments separate, I've decided it's easier to number them as we go along, for reference)

PROJECT 17


NY TIMES
City Sees Way to Get Mix of Homes on Brooklyn Waterfront

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/27/nyregion/27zone_650_2.jpg

Schaefer Landing, now under construction along Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will have luxury condominiums along with less expensive units.


By DIANE CARDWELL
December 27, 2004

ss a critical shortage of housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, city officials are planning to let developers put up larger buildings along the long-neglected north Brooklyn waterfront in return for setting aside up to a quarter of the apartments as lower-cost units.

The concept, called inclusionary zoning, will face a crucial test as part of a plan that seeks to develop up to 10,300 units, most of them in one of the city's few sweeping tracts of underutilized land, two miles of the East River waterfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The coastline is currently dotted with chunks of concrete, hulking factory shells and storage lots, but its stunning views of Manhattan and proximity to trendy residential areas have made it a prized trophy for developers.

Under an enormous rezoning plan, now under public review, more than 350 acres would be turned into a lively mix of light industry, commerce and housing in low and midsize buildings, with tall residential towers, an aquatics center, parks and a landscaped public esplanade overlooking the river.

In recent rezoning efforts, the Bloomberg administration has come under intense pressure to include lower-cost housing in areas where it allows new development, and community groups have accused it of lagging on this front. To spur the construction of such housing, city officials have now embraced the idea of offering developers permission to build more units than would normally be allowed under zoning regulations if they set aside 15 to 25 percent of the housing for people of limited income.

The city has flirted with inclusionary zoning in the past, creating a narrow incentive program in the late 1980's for the highest-density neighborhoods in Manhattan, but officials in the Bloomberg administration dismissed that program as ineffective because it yielded only 600 or so lower-cost apartments. More effective, they say, is a program that offers subsidies to developers of rental apartment complexes that set aside 20 percent of the units for tenants with limited incomes. But because developers have recently been shunning rental projects, that program appears to be yielding diminishing returns.

Now, as housing officials try to meet Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's goal of creating roughly 13,000 new housing units each year, city officials are promoting inclusionary zoning as a new and potentially powerful tool to ensure that at least some of those units go to low- and moderate-income families. The city has already included a similar incentive program in its rezoning proposal for the Far West Side of Manhattan, which is before the City Council, and is planning to apply the concept to the redevelopment of parts of Chelsea.

But the proposal for north Brooklyn is in some ways the most ambitious, and it could have sweeping consequences.

"It's not like there's been a huge amount of development outside of Manhattan," said Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Noting the demand for market-rate housing even in once-depressed areas like the South Bronx and Brownsville, Brooklyn, he said, "It's time for us to look at our policies and think differently. And Greenpoint-Williamsburg is a perfect example."

The Idea Takes Hold

New York is far from alone in using inclusionary zoning programs to increase development of lower-cost housing. Hundreds of cities, including Boston, San Francisco and San Diego, have adopted such programs, and many others, including Los Angeles, are debating their merits. But the city's plan, if realized, would be among the most aggressive in the nation, yielding a higher percentage of apartments whose cost would be permanently lower than market rate, officials say.

Still, some community leaders and housing advocates are skeptical that the plan will succeed because it would be voluntary for developers, and suggest that the city should be going even further.

"It's a good second step in that it recognizes that we need to use the rezoning to guarantee that some of the housing will be affordable," said Brad Lander, the director of the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development and a co-author of a study on inclusionary zoning and housing opportunities. "The concern is that it won't do enough of what it's intended to do."

What the overall zoning plan is intended to do is create a new community, practically from whole cloth, on the crumbling edge of the East River while preserving and amplifying the diverse mix of commerce, industry and residences that has made the area increasingly attractive to developers and others, city planning officials said.

"This is an opportunity to reclaim this waterfront for parks, open space and provide badly needed housing, including affordable housing," said Amanda M. Burden, chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, whose staff studied the area for 18 months and worked with community leaders in developing the rezoning proposal.

"It's just amazing - it's been derelict for decades, totally cut off from the community," she continued. She added that the plan would provide public access to a new waterfront promenade, which would be built by the developers constructing the new residences.

Indeed, the proposal, which comes as the city is working to revive its neglected waterfronts, is one in a long line of ideas for revitalizing the former manufacturing hub.

Over the years, property owners have tried to develop everything from housing complexes and big-box stores to waste transfer stations and power plants, but many of those efforts were stymied by economic downturns or community opposition. At one point, city officials even suggested that the pornography displaced from Times Square should relocate to marginal neighborhoods like Greenpoint, said Kenneth K. Fisher, who represented the area in the City Council during the 1990's.

To planners looking at zoning maps, he added, the area appeared perfect for all manner of unpleasant uses because it was zoned for heavy manufacturing, and therefore supposedly devoid of people.

But on the ground, things were very different, with homes and industry coexisting for a century. So even as manufacturing and waterfront activity declined throughout the city, some light industry, like custom furnishings, specialty food production or musical equipment manufacturing, thrived in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. And in the past 15 years, the neighborhoods have enjoyed a residential and commercial renaissance as people were drawn to the area in part for its ethnic mix and its proximity to Manhattan.

As a result, Ms. Burden said, the proposed zoning map is finely drawn, block by block, to fit in with the uses that have already evolved over time. In the inland areas, she said, the plan would "preserve both the scale of the housing and the wonderful mixed use. That's been the tradition of these neighborhoods, and that's why people love it so much, because it has that edgy mix."

The zoning proposal would permanently legalize many of the lofts in old manufacturing buildings that have been claimed as housing, would limit height levels for new construction in low- and mid-rise residential areas, and would preserve manufacturing in some industrial areas on the East River, along Bushwick Inlet and along Newtown Creek. The proposal would also surround low-density residential areas with mixed-use zones allowing for both residences and the kinds of creative industries that have helped rekindle the vitality of the area.

But the most striking changes would occur at the waterfront, with 150- to 350-foot residential towers creating a varied skyline over a promenade interspersed with several new parks, one of them marked for swimming and beach volleyball competitions in the city's Olympic bid. And it is there that the city is planning to use the rezoning in largely new and untested ways: the elaborate low-cost housing program and the requirement that developers create the public esplanade at their own expense.

It is the first time that the city has made building public waterfront access a condition of development on such a large scale, Ms. Burden said. "It imposes a lot of costs on the development, but we think it's absolutely essential," she said. "This is how we can leverage the waterfront."

[siz=34]A Shifting Policy[/size]

The inclusionary zoning program represents a departure for this administration. In 2003, when the City Planning Commission rezoned a huge stretch of Fourth Avenue in Park Slope to allow 12-story buildings along a stretch of low-rise structures, Bloomberg administration officials rejected an inclusionary zoning plan, proposed by City Councilman David Yassky and advocates like Mr. Lander, as unworkable and instead reserved $6 million to offer subsidies to developers in exchange for including low-cost units. So far, none of the developers have taken the offer, Mr. Yassky said.

Now, with a different housing commissioner in place, the city is working with elected officials, housing advocates, community leaders and developers to fine-tune its policy, although there is still widespread disagreement over the details.

Under the current proposal for north Brooklyn, developers on the waterfront would be able to build about 18 percent more square footage in exchange for setting aside 15 to 25 percent of the dwellings for people with limited incomes. Depending on the dimensions of the project, that would translate into roughly 8 to 10 extra stories, and potentially hundreds of apartments. Developers would be free to choose from a range of income limits, providing apartments only for low-income residents or for a mix of low- and moderate-income residents.

The program would also give developers a choice in how to meet the affordability requirements, either by building low-cost dwellings within their market-rate complexes, or putting them in different locations. They could opt instead to preserve existing lower-cost housing in the area by buying a building and maintaining the monthly charges. A similar, less ambitious program has been proposed for the inland areas, where there would be lower height limits.

City officials estimate that the rezoning will yield up to 10,300 new apartments overall, with 1,600 to 2,500 being affordable to low- and moderate-income residents. Of those, officials expect 900 to 1,500 to result from the waterfront developments, 500 to 750 from publicly owned sites and 185 from new inland construction.

Forging a New Path

The inclusionary proposal is unusual in several ways. It differs from the city's old program and the one proposed for the Far West Side of Manhattan in that developers who take advantage of it would also be eligible for other subsidy programs. And, in a departure from many other programs across the country, the lower-cost apartments would remain that way permanently.

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said that some of his members have said they would take advantage of the program. Part of its attractiveness, he said, is that the city would allow "double-dipping," meaning developers could take advantage of other subsidies in addition to getting the right to build more apartments.

But some critics say that such "double dipping" will leave less money available for inexpensive housing elsewhere in the city.

They also say that the base height proposed by the city under the new zoning is already so high that the bonus formula does not necessarily guarantee a developer a more attractive package. Imposing a mandatory or more restrictive program might lower the value of the land, these critics contend, but since many of the current property owners paid so little for it, the rezoning, which would automatically increase the value of the land by increasing the size of what could be built on it, would still give them an astronomical profit.

As the proposal - which the community board voted against and which is currently before Borough President Marty Markowitz - goes through the city's elaborate public review process, several of the details may change, city officials said. The City Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on it in March before it goes to the City Council for final approval.

Still, Bloomberg administration officials argue that the structure of the program and the combination of incentives is necessary to accomplish all of the goals for the new community, including the construction of new housing and the esplanade with all of the required infrastructure, in an untested residential property market.

"We've got a big housing shortage in New York, period," said Mr. Donovan, the commissioner of housing preservation and development. "There's been a lot of concern about density, and I understand that," he continued, adding that the new housing policy had helped build support for the rezoning among at least some parts of the community.

"As folks try to plan for and accommodate growth in the city, we need to create more units, and density is a way to get at that," he added. "What we've done, I think, through this policy is to say to the community, 'You want affordable housing, you now have a stake in density, too.' The higher we're able to go to a reasonable level, the more affordable housing you're going to get."


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/27/nyregion/27zone2_650.jpg

Williamsburg and Greenpoint have had a renaissance in recent years, but some sections near the waterfront have not kept pace.

[NYguy]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/27/nyregion/27zone_650_2.jpg

Schaefer Landing, now under construction along Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will have luxury condominiums along with less expensive units.


Renderings:

http://www.elliman.com/elliman_data/NewHomeDevelopment/nhd_home/57261a.jpg__http://www.elliman.com/elliman_data/NewHomeDevelopment/nhd_home/57261b.jpg

[try 2B funny]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/23/nyregion/24brooklyn.large1.jpg
It would be awesome playing soccer on one of those fields. Or building mid-sized stadium with the bleachers norty, south and east of the field, with the west side looking over to Manhattan. This would also enable the Downtown people to use their expensive spyglasses to watch the games from Pier 17 of South Street Seaport.

Soccer finally go to america.

[billyblancoNYCII]

Projects 19-27, sorry Stern


Fertile ground on W. Side
Housing boom in the works


Some of the signs are subtle - like the note in the window of the dry cleaner at Broadway and W. 93rd Street that announced its closing "due to the construction of a new building." Other signs are obvious - like the huge hole in the ground at West End Avenue and W. 59th Street.

They signal the start of a new series of apartment construction on the upper west side.

Eager to capitalize on strong demand for housing there - especially from families seeking good schools - builders are managing to find sites, though it's one of the city's most highly developed residential nabes.

"The Upper West Side's on fire," said Paul Steenson of Kreisler Borg Florman, construction manager for the rental-apartment high-rise that's replacing the dry cleaner at 250 W. 93rd St.

Architect Costas Kondylis needs to amend the design, which the city rejected, so it's unclear how closely the final plan will resemble the original.

Whatever form it takes, it'll be a first-ever residential project for the Friedland family, which owns lots of retail properties. Some of the neighborhood's most glamorous projects are shaping up around West End Avenue and W. 59th Street, an industrial enclave that's about to get a makeover.

On that corner, work is starting on a 31-story condo tower.

Directly east, a 35-story glass tower is planned on an acre of land, with indoor and outdoor swimming pools and basketball and tennis courts.

Moshe Dan Azogui's Brack Capital is developing this site with Continental Equities - whose co-founder Jane Gol is a city planning commissioner.

North of these locations, two projects are gearing up between W. 60th and W. 61st streets, just east of West End Avenue.

At 245 W. 60th St., Larry Ginzberg is planning a complex with 380,000 square feet of apartments. The proposed design has a 29-story tower and shorter companion buildings.

East of that, behind a blue construction fence, developer Stan Listokin is starting an 18-story apartment tower with a twist. The base of the building will serve as a new campus for Lander College for Women, which is part of Touro College.

Further north, West End Avenue is a solid double row of apartment houses - or almost solid. On one of the only spots with a single-story retail building - the corner of W. 70th Street - a 26-story residential tower is planned.

The developer is American Continental Properties.

A few blocks away, Donald Trump is finishing work on the seventh tower at Trump Place. This rental-apartment building's address is 120 Riverside Blvd., at W. 66th Street.

Neighborhood enthusiasm for the upcoming projects is tempered.

"We could be in danger of losing the mix of housing we have," said Community Board 7 chairwoman Hope Cohen.


Originally published on December 28, 2004
All contents © 2004 Daily News, L.PProjects 19-27, sorry Stern Projects 19-27, sorry Stern

[STERNyc]

North of these locations, two projects are gearing up between W. 60th and W. 61st streets, just east of West End Avenue.

At 245 W. 60th St., Larry Ginzberg is planning a complex with 380,000 square feet of apartments. The proposed design has a 29-story tower and shorter companion buildings.

Is this the long dormant site behind Trump International Hotel Tower?

[FerrariEnzo]

Quote: Soccer finally go to america.

Ranked numero 11 in the world, not to shabby considering Germany is....19th....

[STERNyc]

PROJECT 18

9-12 Barclay Street:

Under Construction

584 feet tall; 56 stories; 441 units

http://www.sunassociate.com/currentwork-htm/work-08.htm

NY POST:

BY Lois Weiss

Three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Leonard Litwin's Glenwood Management is preparing to build a 56-story jumbo rental that will stand directly between the 793-foot-tall Woolworth Building and the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower.

The residential building at 10 Barclay Street will rise next to and west of the Transportation Building at 225 Broadway, a 44-story building favored by law offices, and around the landmarked St. Peter's Church, the oldest Catholic Church in the city.

The new tower is being designed by Costas Kondylis.

According to public records, it will have 381 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Nineteen of the apartments would be affordable, to comply with conditions for $138 million in Liberty Bond financing from the state's Housing Finance Agency.

The entire project, which will cost $184.9 million, will also include 19,271 square feet of community facility space, a health club for residents and a 75-car garage.

Glenwood had expected to finish agreements with adjoining property owners and develop the project in 2002, with 20 percent of its units designated as affordable, but was stalled by the damage to the area and the changed economy.

Today, developers universally complain that lower rents and higher land costs simply don't work out for so-called 80/20 projects, which is why the 95/5 Liberty Bonding is so valuable.

"There is infinite demand for rentals in Manhattan if the price is right," said Nancy Packes, president of Halstead/Feathered Nest leasing consultants. "People have moved beyond looking to leave the [downtown] area."

The Witkoff Group and Cammeby's International also are working with Kondylis to create apartments on the top floors of the Woolworth Building - another plan that was sidetracked after 9/11.

They have applied for $80 million in Liberty Bonds from the city's allocation, and they plan to create 145 rental units.

Steven Witkoff declined to discuss whether the top of the Woolworth Building will be converted or what effect 10 Barclay will have on his Cass Gilbert-designed terra cotta landmark.

"I haven't seen their plans, but if asked what neighbor I would want it would be Glenwood Management," Witkoff told us.

NEW SKYLINE TO RISE AROUND WOOLWORTH

By LOIS WEISS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 23, 2003 -- DOWNTOWN's historic Woolworth Building will get an equally tall neighbor when a roughly 50-story residential tower rises at nearby 10 Barclay St.
Glenwood Management had been planning the tower, near St. Peter's Church, since 2000. It was nearly ready with air rights and other agreements in place when the area was devastated on Sept. 11 and residents fled downtown.

Now, with politicians pushing to create more housing and renters raring to watch Larry Silverstein's "Freedom Tower" rise above ground zero, financing is on the way to jump-start nearby residential projects.

Originally planned at about 300,000 square feet, 10 Barclay's design is still getting tweaked by architect Costas Kondylis. It has a budget of around $135 million and is among nine projects now seeking Liberty Bond financing.

The first five projects approved will be subject to the new 20 percent affordable housing component, so people making $50,000 to $85,000 - such as firefighters, police and teachers - would be eligible for the apartments.

Will the builders hold back on their applications to the city's Housing Development Corp. to let competitors contend with the 20 percent affordable housing component?

"We're pushing for our project as fast as we can," said one developer. "We love [80 percent market rate/20 percent affordable] projects.


"The [downtown] community knew these projects would not work as 80/20s without extra subsidies, and they promised us they would come up with more - and they did."

Along with 10 Barclay St., the residential rental projects in line for the Liberty Bonds now include $90 million for Brack Realty Capital's saving of the landmarked historic, Cass Gilbert terra cotta building at 90 West St., which was burned on Sept. 11, 2001; $140 million for Jack Parker Organization's project on the Ponte properties at 273-279 West St.; $200 million for the Jack Resnick & Sons project at Chambers St.; $114 million for the Manocherian family's long-litigated vacant parcel at 15 William St.; $140 million for Metro's conversion of the former Brown Brothers Harriman offices at 63 Wall St.; $145 million for Witkoff to convert the Goldman Sachs office at 10 Hanover St.; $45 million for Cammeby's International to create a small project at 5 Beekman St.; and $80 million for Witkoff and Cammeby's to convert the top portion of the landmarked Cass Gilbert-designed Woolworth Building.

[AJphx]

So that one is progressing. Has the height been lowered or has 584 feet always been the plan?

[Zerton]

Aren't people's basketballs going to fall into the water a lot from those courts?

[TalB]

If that's going to be the case, then I am sure that there will be gates to prevent that.

[TalB]

January 2, 2005

CENTRAL QUEENS

Dreams and Schemes for an Abandoned Rail Line

By JOHN FREEMAN GILL

For years, debate raged over plans to transform the High Line, the defunct Chelsea freight railway, into an elevated public park. Now, as the city and a nonprofit group are moving ahead on those plans, central Queens has set out on a similar mission for its equivalent of the High Line.

Far less celebrated than its Manhattan counterpart, the derelict Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, which once ran south from Rego Park all the way to the Rockaway peninsula, survives as rusty trestles and tracks, elevated along much of their route. Inspired by the planned rejuvenation of the High Line, two community boards in central Queens hope to turn parts of the abandoned spur into recreational green space.

On Dec. 14, Community Board 9 adopted a resolution calling for the city to create a bicycle path on the 1.5-mile stretch of the property running through Forest Park and south through Woodhaven and Ozone Park. North of Rockaway Boulevard, the defunct line is now owned partly by the Parks Department and partly by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

"A bikeway would take this old, abandoned ugly structure and, if you have tree plantings on it and you could beautify it, it would add to the community," said Mary Ann Carey, district manager of Board 9. "It's not something that's going to happen overnight, but we know there is precedent for it."

Community Board 6, meanwhile, plans to study a similar proposal for its segment of the Rockaway Beach Branch in Rego Park and Forest Hills. Scraggly weeds have cloaked much of this rail line, while hundreds of decades-old trees now stand in the elevated corridor along which generations of families took the L.I.R.R. to Rockaway Beach from 1908 until the 1950's.

Maria Thomson, executive director of the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation, acknowledged that turning the Rockaway Beach Branch into parkland would give the added benefit of preventing its resurrection as an active train line. Proposals for reactivation have repeatedly surfaced - and been beaten back by central Queens residents - ever since the line's last operating section was decommissioned in 1962.

"That line runs right behind all our homes and properties on 98th Street," Ms. Thomson said, "and if it were reactivated, it would be a hazard to the residents and their quality of life." But even Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, a longtime proponent of reactivating the train line to give her constituents in the Rockaways a speedier route to Manhattan than the circuitous A train, sees the merit of a linear park along part of the route.

"A bike path for the next 20 or 30 years might not be so bad," she said. "It's a very comfortable use for it in comparison to selling it and putting a building on it. But I'd really like to reactivate it."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Budabul0310]

I live in New York, and I just love this new page - I am so glad that someone finally started one!
I was wondering if anyone had information on the construction project on 5th Ave. and 42nd I believe - it is on the same block as the Grace building and semi-across from the New York Library - Thanks.

[Lecom]

Right now it's about as tall as the old building across the 42nd Street. No facade has gone up. The tower's moving real fast tho.

[TalB]

As I was going on the Henry Hudson Pkwy yesterday, the Helena looked as if it was nearing completion at least on its exterior.

[CoolCzech]

You know, when you see all the stories abou how "debate rages" each time a new construction project comes along in NYC, it just makes you wonder how ANYTHING ever got built in New York to begin with!

[Gulcrapek]

LeCom: the podium of 505 5th is almost fully clad now. I have pictures but nowhere to put them.

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Bridge Park moves forward...

(NY TIMES)

Brooklyn Waterfront Park Inches Closer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/23/nyregion/24brooklyn.large1.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/24/nyregion/24brooklyn_map.gif


More from the Brooklyn Bridge park plan (12)
NY Post

PARK-ING SPACE

By PATRICK GALLAHUE

January 3, 2005 -- Think living near the park is luxurious? Try living in the park.

Planners for one of the city's largest park developments could soon be offering just that in Brooklyn. They are exploring the possibility of putting around 700 private residential units in the middle of the planned park to help pay for its $15.4 million in annual maintenance costs.

"Once you get to that point [of self-sufficiency] you don't have to compete with other parks for scarce resources," said Wendy Leventer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp., which is charged with building the recreational space.

The 80-acre, $150 million park will stretch 1.3 miles from the DUMBO waterfront, north of the Manhattan Bridge, all the way to Atlantic Avenue, over what are now five decaying piers.

The housing is slated to be co-ops. Neighborhood leaders have been told they could be 16 stories and 30 stories high — on either end of the park.

Brooklyn Bridge Park, which has been in the planning for more than five years, was always intended to be financially self-sufficient in order to prevent further stretching parks budgets.

During the early planning stages, community groups agreed to allow 20 percent of the land to be devoted to private uses, including a restaurant, hotel and marina.

But with the master plan finally nearing completion, the development corporation announced yesterday that the park has undergone several major changes including the addition of high-rise buildings, possibly on either end of the park. More housing could be adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge, mixed into the low-lying hotel building.

And planners expect housing to be such a windfall they anticipate needing 10 percent less private space than originally expected.

"With these new developments we'll be able to give the park an additional 10 percent of open space," said Michael Van Vankenburgh, the park's landscape architect.

But Councilman David Yassky called the budget projections "highly speculative" and said, "They've a proposed significant development on the waterfront. That may be necessary to fund the park but we really don't know that at this point."

Also to keep costs down, the planners are looking at making Brooklyn Bridge Park the first major public park in the city to be powered by renewable energy.

Designs now include solar panels over basketball courts and wind turbines adjacent to the piers, which they hope will generate one-third to 40 percent of their energy needs.

[NYguy]

PROJECT 18

9-12 Barclay Street:

Under Construction

584 feet tall; 56 stories; 441 units


Some renderings of the tower...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/38237471/medium.jpg_http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/38237489/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/38237489/large.jpg

[frank_pentangeli]

Wow, that tower looks like it fits right into its surroundings. Very cool. I'm noticing that a ton of these projects for NYC are in Brooklyn, awesome.

[billyblancoNYCII]

Wow, that tower looks like it fits right into its surroundings. Very cool. I'm noticing that a ton of these projects for NYC are in Brooklyn, awesome.

Why would it be awesome that none listed here are in Brooklyn?

[frank_pentangeli]

Huh? I think you read my post wrong.

[streetscaper]

Go bk!!:)

[TalB]

Here's a pic of the area 9-12 Barclay St is said to be built, though outdated, but it is to show where it will rise, so if there are any recent pics of its site, please post it.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/10barclay/10barclay_2oct04.jpg

[supastar]

I've been playing soccer since I was 6 and still do nearly every (weather permitting) weekend. I'm very excited about Brooklyn Bridge Park moving ahead as I live about a 20 minute walk from the site.

[STERNyc]

Here's a pic of the area 9-12 Barclay St is said to be built, though outdated, but it is to show where it will rise, so if there are any recent pics of its site, please post it.

Here's a couple of pics I took of the 10 Barclay Street site on January 1st:

http://n.1asphost.com/anstern/10Barclay.jpg

http://n.1asphost.com/anstern/10Barclay2.jpg

Next door is NYC's oldest Catholic Church.

[billyblancoNYCII]

Huh? I think you read my post wrong.

Indeed I did. Sorry about that.

[billyblancoNYCII]

More on the 270 Greenwich St saga...

DOWNTOWN EXPRESS

Developer trying to raise Tribeca towers’ height

By Ronda Kaysen

Developer Edward Minskoff is looking to increase the size of the apartment buildings he hopes to build across from P.S. 234 in Tribeca.

Minskoff, the developer of Site 5B, has requested to make several amendments to a September agreement with the city regarding the site, including a request to increase the street wall along Warren St., opposite P.S. 234, to 135 feet.

In the September agreement, signed by City Councilmember Alan Gerson and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, Site 5B would have buildings of 370, 200 and 135 feet, with the larger two on West St. The street wall along West St. is currently limited to 70 ft., with a provision to allow for an increase to as much as 135 ft., dependent upon Community Board 1 approval. In exchange for a street wall height increase, a portion of the additional proceeds from the sale would go to the slated community center at site 5C, another property in the agreement. Minskoff also wants to increase the size of the tallest tower to 382 feet.

“The P.T.A. has a concern that if [the street wall] gets adjusted to the 135 ft. height, it could affect the school,” said George Olsen, a C.B. 1 member and former head of the P.S. 234 P.T.A. “The school is 65 ft. high. You’d have a building directly across the street that’s twice as high.” Although Site 5C also faces the school — on West St. — it would not cause as much of a disruption to light because the school’s classrooms and playground face out onto Warren St., Olsen said.

Minskoff’s request is far from a sealed deal, according to Gerson. “We’ll see if there’s a common ground or not and if not, then they [Minskoff] have to remain where they are,” said Gerson, who received a letter from Doctoroff outlining the proposed changes. “The agreement affectively locks it in at 70 feet unless the community board O.K.’s any increase, and I am quite confident they will not allow for it unless the parents are satisfied.”

Furthermore, any street wall increase requires a shadow study for light lost to the playground, said Robin Forst, Gerson’s deputy chief of staff.

Minskoff may have a difficult road ahead. “The parents I’ve spoken to are pretty concerned about it,” said Kevin Fisher, chairperson of P.S. 234’s P.T.A. “There may be tradeoffs, and the parent body might want to accept some of those tradeoffs, but right now it doesn’t seem worth it. We’re going to be hedged in by two buildings.”

Despite some parent grumbling, Madelyn Wils, chairperson of C.B. 1, was not as concerned about the changes. A 65-foot height increase is a far cry from the 600-foot tall building originally proposed, and the shadow it would have created at P.S. 234 and Washington Market Park, said Wils, who leads the board that will have to approve Minskoff’s proposal. “One hundred thirty-five feet isn’t tall, it’s not going to obstruct the light,” she told Downtown Express. “This is reasonable.”

The added height could be a boon for the community center, which will benefit financially from a concession and is still “millions of dollars away” from its financial goal, according to Bob Townley, executive director of Manhattan Youth, which will occupy the community center. A few extra feet, said Townley, may be worth consideration. “Tall things don’t necessarily bother me, what bothers me is kids that don’t get an education and don’t get after school activities,” he said.

Nevertheless, Townley, a C.B. 1 member for close to 22 years, had not yet read the agreement and was reluctant to take a position about it. “I stand by the will of the community on this,” he said. “If it’s a nice offer, I’m sure that the community board will be reasonable about it.”

The other proposed changes to the Site 5B agreement request to extend the base along the site from 44 ft. to 46 ft.; decrease the height of the tower at the corner of Murray and Greenwich St. from 200 ft. to 139 ft.; decrease the street wall along Greenwich St. from 135 ft. to 102 ft.; as well as the increase of the tower itself, from 370 ft. to 382 ft.

Minskoff has not yet submitted his plans to the Department of City Planning to begin the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. A public scoping session for the Environmental Impact Statement is planned for Jan. 6. Minskoff’s assistant said her boss was on vacation and the developer did not respond to a request for comment.


Nearby Construction Brings Worries to P.S. 234 Parents
by Etta Sanders
http://tribecatrib.com/


New renderings of Site 5B

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=244781054&photoID=244781659&security=odqTBz

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=244781054&photoID=244782623&security=IjKjyY

[TalB]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_86/wilstunelextension.html
Volume 17 • Issue 32 • Dec. 31, 2004 - Jan. 6, 2005

Wils: Tunnel extension will push costs to $1 billion

Madelyn Wils, a member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board of directors, said that extending the proposed West St. tunnel two blocks north to Murray St. will cost an additional $160 to $170 million. The proposal, to sink the six-lane highway beneath a landscaped surface, is already pegged at $860 million.

“I don’t know how or who will be paying for this,” Wils, also chairperson of Community Board 1, said at the Dec. 21 C.B. 1 meeting. “This will have to be resolved one way or another. The governor is the one who’s going to make this decision and he hasn’t made it yet.”

Goldman Sachs, which plans to build its new headquarters in Battery Park City between Vesey and Murray Sts., wants a two-block extension to avoid a 260-foot wide tunnel ramp at its entrance. The alternative tunnel ramp entrance would abut P.S./I.S. 89 and the Battery Park City ball fields.

Goldman Sachs has now raised the stakes on the extension, saying that a Vesey St. tunnel entrance would be “a deal breaker,” the New York Post reports. Brookfield Properties, which owns nearby World Financial Center, and a long supporter of the tunnel, reportedly supports Goldman Sachs’ stance, citing fears of a residential development in its place.

Another tunnel supporter, Tim Carey, president of the Battery Park City Authority, told Downtown Express a few weeks ago that he still prefers a Vesey St. entrance.

The tunnel is opposed by Community Board 1 and many residents of B.P.C. either because they think it’s too costly, will take too long to build or will make the street less safe because of the ramps.

[STERNyc]

I live in New York, and I just love this new page - I am so glad that someone finally started one!
I was wondering if anyone had information on the construction project on 5th Ave. and 42nd I believe - it is on the same block as the Grace building and semi-across from the New York Library - Thanks.



PROJECT 23

505 Fifth Avenue:

Under Construction

30 storeys

First KPF design, LCOR, developer.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/505fifth/images/505fifth_sign.jpg

Site was purchased by the Kipp/Stawski Group and anticipated to be combined with neighboring sites, Steven Holl, architect:

http://www.pbase.com/image/25228652/large.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/25228653/original.jpg

The plan never materialized, the original KPF design was not included in the sale, and a smaller, less dramatic, spec. tower was designed.

NY Post:

GRAND PLANS AT GRAND CENTRAL

March 31, 2004 -- WEARING work boots and jeans, Dr. Axel Stawski celebrated the first pouring of concrete at 505 Fifth Ave. last Friday by tossing in a handful of change, including Roman coins and a Sacagawea dollar.

Paul Katz of Kohn Pederson Fox designed the concrete and glass 26-story tower in an inspiration from the sparse, International-style favored by the German-born developer who heads the Kipp/Stawski Group.

The approximately 300,000 square-foot office building now rising on the northeast corner of 42nd Street includes an open book-like protrusion on the Fifth Avenue side so that future corporate honchos can watch the ongoing parade of pedestrians up and down the avenue.

A team led by Paul Glickman of Cushman & Wakefield has been hired as the agents for the office floors that should be ready for possession in late 2005. The 20,000 square feet of retail space will be handled by Robert K. Futterman & Associates.

"There are many unique architectural details that are highly attractive to financial firms and boutique office tenants," said Glickman. These tenants tend to now rent in the Plaza District.

"Until now, they have not had this kind of product available to them in the Grand Central District."

There are many unseen structural safety features along with various setbacks, terraces and a clear glass canopy leading to an atrium lobby on the East 42nd Street side of the corner building.

A cut-out on the 43rd Street corner can also become a private entrance for either an office or retail tenant.

Stawski told us he is in discussions with minimalist artist James Turrell to light the lobby, perhaps the canopy, and the lightbox on the structure's skyline.

For the last 15 years the corner has been an eyesore as it slipped through several owners with grand plans but no financing. The Greek-owned 1 E. 42nd St. was long a target for more square footage. That building was finally sold and Stawski garnered 10,000 square feet of its air rights to create the 26th sun-drenched floor on his new project.

http://www.pbase.com/image/27474478/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/image/27474478/large.jpg

[NYguy]

New renderings of Site 5B

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=244781054&photoID=244781659&security=odqTBz

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=244781054&photoID=244782623&security=IjKjyY


http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/jan05/colo1.jpg?

A rendering of the 370-foot residential tower at West and Warren streets on site 5B. (SOM)


http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/jan05/color-b.jpg?

A whole foods, opposite P.S. 234, may be part of the 5B complex. (SOM)

[TalB]

I am actually glad that the originall model for 505 5th Ave was cancelled b/c the bottom floors looked like someone gaining wieght, making it impossible to build.

[STERNyc]

As I was going on the Henry Hudson Pkwy yesterday, the Helena looked as if it was nearing completion at least on its exterior.


PROJECT 24

The Helena:

Nearing Completion

38 storeys

NYTIMES:

580 Rentals at 57th and 11th

Two prominent New York City real estate families, the Dursts and the Roses, have joined to develop a 37-story apartment building on the northwest corner of 57th Street and 11th Avenue — a block owned by a less well-known real estate family since the 1860's, when it was a Hudson River inlet.

The Durst Organization, with Douglas and Jody Durst as co-presidents, is primarily a commercial development firm with an office-building portfolio of 7.5 million square feet.

Rose Associates, headed by Adam R. Rose, is primarily a residential development and management company.

The rental building, to be called the Helena (after one of Douglas Durst's daughters), "is the Dursts', 100 percent," insisted Mr. Rose. "And I'm very proud they selected us to develop it — the official title is owner's representative — manage construction, set the rents and ultimately manage the property."

The glass and metal building, designed by the Fox & Fowle architectural firm, will have 580 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, with balconies in those units facing the Hudson.

It will also have a health club, swimming pool, residents' lounge and children's playroom. Site preparation for the $160 million building is complete, and occupancy is expected in the fall of 2004. Rents have not yet been set.

In 1998, the Durst Organization signed a 99-year lease with the Four Plus Corporation, owners of the entire block, allowing it to demolish several one- and two-story commercial buildings. Among the relocated businesses were a recent incarnation of the Copacabana night club and the Artkraft Strauss Company, the signage designers.

The Dursts planned to build a data processing center, NYCyberCenter, with its own power generating plant, in the middle of the block. "Unfortunately, since 9/11, it's on hold," Douglas Durst said.

The president of the Four Plus Corporation, Jonathan Lang, said his company was founded in 1935 by John Hutchins, a descendant of "a very aggressive 19th-century real estate guy," Charles Appleby.

In the 1860's, Mr. Lang said, the 160,000-square-foot strip that now constitutes the block where the Helena will be built was one of two "coves of the Hudson" mapped by the city for its street grid.

"About 1868," he said, "Appleby made a deal with the city that if he filled in the cove where the convention center now is, and this one at 57th Street, they would give him the land for free" DENNIS HEVESI

The Helena
Silver and Green Are the Colors In Question

By Amy S. Choi

The Helena, a 38-floor, 600-unit rental residential property owned and being developed by New York City-based Durst Organization Inc., will be "green."

Durst is aiming for a silver ranking in the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certification process through the U.S. Green Building Council. That means the developer should incorporate both construction and design strategies that balance environmental responsibility, resource efficiency, occupant comfort and well-being, and community sensitivity.

"It's a very unusual scenario here," said Joan Ulbrich, the project manager in charge of LEED for Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Co., the general contractor for the building at West 57th Street and 11th Avenue. "It's the first residential green building Durst has done and we really do believe it is the wave of the future. In the long term, the property will save money and save the environment."

The development team began planning for The Helena 18 months ago, and broke ground on the $160 million project in July. It is currently at grade level on the site and should be completed by October. At this stage of the construction process, the three most critical aspects of the project are waste management, erosion and sedimentation control, and indoor air quality before occupancy.

LEED requires that all of the construction debris on the site is segregated so paper, plastic, wood, metal and other materials can all be recycled. Rather than doing this on the site, KBFG contracted a waste management company to do it remotely, earning LEED points for preventing that waste from going into the landfill.

In terms of erosion and sedimentation control, KBFG has gravel pit systems in place to prevent soil from leaving the site and going into the rivers and the sewers, ensuring that whatever goes into the city's systems is clear. Indoor air quality during construction is maintained by covered ductwork on the site, so contaminants cannot enter the building or the apartments.

"Housekeeping is a tremendous part of this whole procedure," Ulbrich said. "During the construction and installation of the mechanical aspects of this site, everything was monitored closely to make sure that we conform to the plans that were submitted to accumulate LEED credits for the silver certification."

The building itself will incorporate dozens of environmentally responsible design elements. The individual apartment units, for example, will be constructed with renewable materials. The floors will be made of bamboo while the kitchen cabinets will be made of wheatboard, both of which are more environmentally safe than pine or oak.

The structure as a whole is using furnace slag-a waste product of steel manufacturing-in the poured concrete foundation, which strengthens the concrete and also prevents the slag from going into the landfill.

The nonrecycled materials in the building are still environmentally aware. For example, high-performance glass was utilized throughout the building, which provides for little heat penetration or loss through transparent glass.

"The glass isn't visually obtrusive like it used to be," said Bruce Fowle, senior and founding principal of Fox & Fowle Architects P.C. "We ended up with a mirror finish on the glass, which highlights the different angles and exposures of the façade and adds interest to the building."

The mechanical systems to be put in place are all also designed to be environmentally safe. For example, on many of the surfaces of the property the architects designed solar collection panels that will take energy from the sun and convert it to electric energy, which will be used alongside an electrical energy manufacturing plant within the building.

From this combined heat and energy facility, the by-product of hot water can also be used in another system, such as a chilling or refrigerant system in the building.

Green roofs will not only serve as an amenity to the residents of the property, but also help keep the building cooler and retain rainwater, which aids in preventing extraneous water runoff into the street. At the same time, a black water purification plant will collect the water used in the building and recycle it within the building. The goal is to reduce water consumption of the building by 50 percent.

"So much more engineering has to go into a green building in order to utilize all of the natural resources and track their course," said Jonathan Durst, co-president of the Durst Organization. "Engineering undoubtedly is getting better in every aspect. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the market is going to be strong when we complete the project."

http://foxfowle.com/images/helena1.jpg

http://foxfowle.com/images/helena2.jpg

It has a beautiful blue glass facade and a rather significant height anchoring the far-west-side skyline.

[Fabb]

505, 5th is a beautiful building. KPF did a good job.

[Gulcrapek]

Not really. It looks pretty bland close up.

[streetscaper]

^^how could you say that, that thing looks rad!!:)

[Fabb]

Not really. It looks pretty bland close up.

It must be nearing completion, then. Is there a picture somewhere ?

[TalB]

You can go over to Emporis (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/cs/?id=135114) to see it through the construction phases.

[Fabb]

Thanks.
Then, I guess that it still doesn't have its cladding. It's a little early to judge the result, isn't it ?

[Gulcrapek]

I can't see what you see. But I have pcitures from last week, nowhere to put them.

[NYguy]

(NY TIMES)

Brooklyn Waterfront Park Inches Closer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/23/nyregion/24brooklyn.large1.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/24/nyregion/24brooklyn_map.gif


More images of the park plan from Brooklyn Papers...


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan6.jpg

Lawn at Pier 2


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan3.jpg

Recreation field at Pier 5


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan7.jpg

Shed at Pier 2


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan2.jpg

Floating walkway at Pier 2


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan5.jpg

Floating walkway at Pier 3


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan8.jpg

Floating walkway and boating channel at Pier 2


http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_02/28_02parkplan4.jpg

Kayak launch at Pier 2

[Lecom]

You can go over to Emporis (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/cs/?id=135114) to see it through the construction phases.
Yay, people look at my Emporis pics.

[Lecom]

165 Charles Street, the new tower just south of Perry West twin towers, is coming along nicely

Dec. 29, 2004
http://img91.exs.cx/img91/5143/dscf0016165charlesucdec04tothe.jpg

http://img115.exs.cx/img115/1984/dscf0017165charlesucdec04tothe.jpg

http://img115.exs.cx/img115/2396/dscf0018165charlesucdec04eleva.jpg

[TalB]

The third one should be nearing completion soon.

[STERNyc]

PROJECT 26

Javits Convention Center Hotel

Approved

664 feet; 50 storeys

http://www.javitscenter.com/images/JAVITS_EXPANSION/mcCann1.jpg

http://www.javitscenter.com/images/JAVITS_EXPANSION/mcCann3.jpg

http://www.javitscenter.com/images/JAVITS_EXPANSION/mcCann2.jpg

The Legislature on Tuesday approved a $1.2 billion expansion of Manhattan's Javits Center that is expected to attract millions of dollars in revenue for the state and city.

The deal negotiated between Assembly and Senate leaders overnight and quickly brought to a vote, also provides $350 million in economic development funds for projects outside New York City.

Those projects have not yet been determined.

"We don't know where the money is going," said Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, a Brooklyn Democrat. "So in a sense the Javits Center expansion is being hijacked ... this is a blank check to a certain three -- and you all know who they are."

Under the bill, the $350 million for project outside New York City will be divvied up by Gov. George Pataki, fellow Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

The spending comes when the state is projected to face a $6 billion deficit in the 2005-06 fiscal year.

The near doubling of the Javits Center will include a hotel with 1,500 rooms and a ballroom and will employ 10,000 people.

"In the last three years alone, the Javits Center was forced to turn away almost 600 meetings, accounting for nearly two million hotel room nights, and almost $2 billion dollars in visitor spending," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "While convention organizers clamored to bring new events here, New York City was essentially closed to new business."

"Javits is a huge investment by the city and state," Bruno said just before his chamber approved the bill. "It will mean a lot of revenue for the city and the state. So that's a no-brainer." Tuesday's action doesn't directly affect the more controversial proposal to build a connecting $1.4 billion stadium for the New York Jets.

The measure passed Tuesday, pending Gov. George Pataki's approval, would restructure bonds, adjust the boundaries of the center and add a $1.50 surcharge to hotel taxes, worth $500 million. The state will borrow $350 million and $350 million will come from New York City. The hotel will be paid for with separate borrowing.

Pataki and Silver said they support the proposal.

The Javits Center, named for the former long-serving U.S.

senator, covers five blocks between 34th and 39th streets and 11th and 12th avenues, adjoining the city's Hudson rail yards. At 814,000-square feet, it's the 14th largest convention center in the nation. The expansion will make the center the nation's third or fourth largest.

New York City's tourism bureau estimated the city loses $1.5 million a day in visitor spending because of the center's size.

The bill passed 58-1 in the Senate, 102-34 in the Assembly.

Manhattan Democratic Sen. Liz Krueger opposed it. She complained the bill was negotiated by Bruno, Silver and Pataki behind closed doors then rushed to a vote, undermining efforts to open up the legislative process and make it more accountable.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/08/nyregion/08javits_lg.jpg

"The Convention Center Hotel would be 50 stories high, with a 45-story tower on top of a five-story
base, and contain 1,500 rooms. The building would conform to the tower-on-base configurations
common to newer buildings along West 42nd Street. The hotel would be directly connected to the
Convention Center, and additional meeting, banquet, and ballroom space, once it is expanded to West
41st Street, or connected to the Convention Center by an elevated pedestrian bridge over the existing
Quill Bus Depot after the first phase of Convention Center expansion.


The adjacent Convention Center Hotel (located in the Clinton District/42nd Street Corridor)
approximately 664 feet high, considerably taller than the adjoining Convention Center."

[Gulcrapek]

How come I never heard about that?!

[TalB]

Here are some recent construction projects in NYC I have just heard of and possibly others.

15 William St
http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/15william/15william_street.jpg

Vesta 24
http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/vesta24/vesta24.jpg

325 5th Ave
http://www.wirednewyork.com/real_estate/325fifth/325fifth.jpg

[Gulcrapek]

505 Fifth on an absolutely crapful day, camera didn't like it either

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/1305055th3s.jpg

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/130505glasss.jpg

[NYguy]

505 Fifth does make that corner a little more interesting. It also blends in with the wall of towers that is Manhattan.

[STERNyc]

PROJECT 27

310 East 53rd Street

Construction

28 Storeys

http://www.sotawall.com/proj_detail/USA_E53_01_lg.jpg

architect: SLCE Architects

Vaguely reminiscent of Meier's Perry West Towers.

[TalB]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/270476p-231640c.html
End of line for No. 9

The No. 9 train's days are numbered.
The Transit Authority is simplifying and changing service on the No. 1/9 line in the Bronx and Manhattan - meaning no more No. 9 trains in May.

That's when stations in upper Manhattan and the Bronx on the West Side IRT tracks will no longer be skipped. All stops will be served by No. 1 trains around the clock.

The number of trains running will not change, and riders at the seven skip-stop stations will see more service, TA President Lawrence Reuter said in a statement. Those stations are 145th, 157th, Dyckman, 207th and 215th Sts. in Manhattan, and 225th and 238th Sts. in the Bronx.

Pete Donohue