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NEW YORK | 51 Astor Place | 13 floors

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...en_in_2013.php

Starbucks-Crushing Astor Place Office Building Will Open in 2013

Quote:

If you build it, will they come? Developer Edward Minskoff sure hopes so. It turns out that new pedestrian plazas and preservationist-angering road realignments aren't the only major changes coming to Astor Place. Minskoff has once again told the Wall Street Journal that he's moving ahead with 51 Astor Place, the 13-story ribbed granite-and-glass office building that was supposed to replace Cooper Union's old engineering building (and a Starbucks!) before the credit crunch delayed those plans. The building has a flashy Fumihiko Maki design, but what it doesn't have is construction financing, or tenants. Minskoff isn't worried, though, despite speculative office towers not faring so well recently. In fact, he's already predicting who will be moving downtown come 2013.

Minskoff says the building will attract high-tech companies, investment banks, insurance and advertising firms. Though Astor Place seems like an odd location for a new office building, AOL and J. Crew already call the gateway to the East Village home. And Minskoff isn't the only developer eager to break ground on new cubicle farms. The Journal adds that other arrested developments might be making a comeback, including the Manhattan West twin towers near Hudson Yards and 250 West 55th Street in Hell's Kitchen, both designed by SOM. These zombies will add more fuel to the fire regarding construction's big comeback in NYC, at least when it comes to office buildings. Guess it's a working stiff's world, after all.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7...08251astor.jpg

http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=1383

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1...80306astor.jpg

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com...upload_id=2044

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/941...lacepage11.jpg

http://ny.curbed.com/tags/51-astor-place
Current Location:
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/982/200912bucks1.jpg

Yikes! It looks like a Transformer barfed up a drive-in movie screen.

ooooooo i like that!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACKinNYC (Post 5182413)

Yikes! It looks like a Transformer barfed up a drive-in movie screen.

Not sure what you mean. It seems fairly simplisitic and a not very 'out-there' type of design. I like it.

Observation: Park 51 and 51 Astor Pl both have 13 floors. Coincidence?

"ribbed granite and glass." Certainly doesn't read like that in the renderings. The description sounds good, but the renderings make it out to look like a parking garage clad in vertical metal panels. Conceptual as they may be, they still need to tell a better story

The ground floor transparency needs to double in height too. Notice the surrounding buildings? The datum line is much higher. The building feels out of place...almost reclusive in a way from the surrounding neighborhood despite the prominent location.

I can agree the design doesn't have to be over the top. But it should be visually energizing. The building needs to create a climatic termination on St Marks, not one that is dull and blank

I've seen better looking jails.

I like it better at night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACKinNYC (Post 5182889)

I've seen better looking jails.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so we will stop there. We'll see how it is when it is finished.

As with every building with a reasonably simple shape, it is all about the materials. If they use top notch glass and stone, it will be gorgeous. The good news is, Maki doesn't seem like an architect who would be down with pre-cast concrete and plexiglass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obey (Post 5183441)

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so we will stop there. We'll see how it is when it is finished.

I hope for the best. That's a prime location with some great old buildings and one decent new one. I hope it turns out better than this.

http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content...art-design.jpg

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

Have you been to the MAD? because it is very nice IMO. If you think that that's bad you obviously have not seen what was before that museum was there. Also, great connection, very similar kind of placement. I didn't even think of that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACKinNYC (Post 5184146)

i like that bldg :haha:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obey (Post 5184741)

I haven't been inside the MAD... I'm sure it's nice inside. I was referring to the exterior, not the interior. I wasn't crazy about the old iteration of the MAD, but in my subjective opinion what they did to it on the outside was not an improvement. Anyway, I hope 51 Astor Place turns out to be better than it looks in the renders. The pretty lights will make it look interesting at night, but probably not better than Gehry accomplished a couple years ago on the West Side Highway in Chelsea.

The new MAD is certainly an improvement exterior or interior.
Look at it!
http://www.ask.com/wiki/2_Columbus_Circle

http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikiped...bus_Circle.jpg

It's worse than the Verizon bldg
We're off-topic now so this is done.

Work on Glassy Astor Place Starbucks-Crusher Starting Soon
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...rting_soon.php

Quote:

Developer Edward Minskoff has big plans for 51 Astor Place. A Starbucks closed to make way for Minskoff's proposed Fumihiko Mahi-designed structure in 2009, and the developer has chatted with a few media outlets about his hope of filling the building with high-tech companies, investment banks, and advertising firms. The key question, of course, is when all this will happen. The answer: pretty soon! EV Grieve has an update from this week's developer-community meeting, and it turns work at the site will start July 1, with actual demolition likely for mid-August after the abatement and inspections are finished. The entire project will take about 17 months. Of course, that's 17 months of early morning and occasional weekend construction to really warm the neighbors up to the place.
The developer describes the 183-foot building as "black glass with black granite and silver fins," which lines up with the rendering we've had on our radar. The building has educational space—with NYU and Cooper Union on the list of potential tenants—and retail. In the plaza, pending Community Board 3 review, there'll be an Alexander Calder sculpture where the Film Academy Cafe now sits. Competition for the Cube?

I guess a mod can include "183 ft" into the title.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pico44 (Post 5183461)

Agree.

This area could have some very interesting architecture with the Cooper Union building and the hotel or whatever that is next to Asia Pub.

Very nice. The existing building which takes up the vast bulk of the site is ugly!

awesome!

this area is in dire need of a makeover...the land near the astor place 6 isn't used very effectively...

great project