NEW YORK | International Gem Tower l (590) FT l 32 FL
 

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...nders/dia2.jpg

In the middle of the world famous Diamond District on West 47th st in Manhattan, Extell Development teamed up with SOM NY to create a place where various industry businesses could be located in a centralized location. The one block long Diamond District is maxed out on street frontage so the logical step would be to go up. Extell received a hefty subsidy from the Industrial Development Agency and the city. One of the stipulations is that no less than 65 percent of the tower must be occupied by the diamond businesses or they lose the subsidies.

The tower will reach 574ft and have 39 stories. It will have 725k square footage.


An older version of the tower
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...nders/dia1.jpg

8/24/08
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http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/DSC05106.jpg

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^^^cool pics. I love the density that is New York.

This is a "huge" lot for a mid-town construction. Too bad its only 500ft. It won't be visible from any of the rivers given its buried deep in the center of the skyscraper jungle of mid-town.

Wow. Great development

Aw...the old version had a beautiful design.

Building will now rise to 39 Stories and reach 574 feet (175 Meters).

NYC Dept. of Buildings

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01

By: econ_tim - Wired New York

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i've always loved how low rises look from above, nice pic...

Sweet Its still going. This was one of the few NYC towers I thought would have been postponed due to the current enonomic issue. At that height this will stand out in the low rises area between 5th and 6th ave, 42nd st to Roc Center. Especially since its a midblock tower. Those glass bricks will make a cool reflection of the GE tower 2 blocks north

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01272009...wer_152211.htm

CONDO PLAN FOR DIAMOND TOWER

http://www.nypost.com/img/cols/stevecuozzo.jpg

January 27, 2009


THE Diamond District's mysteries are many: There's no explaining why two men were trying to sell persimmons - no other fruit, just persimmons - off a sidewalk table on deserted West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues on the coldest night of the year.

By comparison, Extell's maneuvers on the Block of Baubles are an open book, even if the book has some pages missing.

The big news is that Gary Barnett's company just filed a condominium-offering plan with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office for its long-awaited Diamond Tower at 44 W. 47th St., where Extell is building the foundation for the 39-story, 900,000- square-foot project.

If the plan is approved, the condos won't be apartments, but diamond-industry facilities including showrooms and offices.

The tower - to be split between jewelry uses on West 47th Street and regular commercial offices on West 46th Street - will have separate entrances on the two streets.

Except for some retail units, commercial condominiums are scarce in Manhattan.

Developers would rather own what they build, and most office tenants want the flexibility to expand, contract and change locations that renting affords more easily than ownership.

But for jewelry dealers, condo ownership might make more sense.

Diamond companies' space needs - whether for more or less square footage - don't change as much as at other kinds of firms, and because ownership is traditionally passed from generation to generation, condos lend themselves to the sense of permanence that ownership provides.

Meanwhile, Extell, which was gobbling up properties left and right on the block, is selling at least one of them.

Our deeply embedded gem-world moles report Extell is unloading 30 W. 47th St., two doors east of its tower site. The sale will close next week. The price is unknown, but the buyer appears to be Jemco, the same outfit that owns 31 W. 47th St. across the street.

Extell is shedding the property basically because it never really wanted it. Barnett bought the "Fifth Avenue Jewelers Exchange" building last year for $50.1 million because he needed its air rights for the new tower.

The only way to get the air rights was to buy the whole shebang. Extell kept the air rights but has no use for the building.

570 ain't too shabby. I always saw lots of skyscraper potential in the space between 43rd and 50th between 6th and 5th aves.

You can take that all the way down to 34th Street.

Looks nice.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032009...ugh_153328.htm

EXTELL'S DIAMOND TOWER IN THE ROUGH

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February 3, 2009

GARY BARNETT'S Extell hopes to sell more than $355 million worth of jewelry-industry condominiums at its eagerly awaited Diamond Tower on West 47th Street.

And although Extell doesn't have construction financing yet, Barnett is confident the 41-story tower, with a striking Skidmore Owings & Merrill design, will be "substantially complete" by Oct. 31, 2010.

That's according to the commercial-condo offering plan Extell submitted last week to the state attorney general's office, which requires reports be submitted for condo and co-op conversion projects.

The document also reveals more than the developer has ever shared about the project, officially known as 50 W. 47th St.

The site between Fifth and Sixth avenues, now a construction pit, is expected to become the new, modern home of the gem industry, which has traditionally worked out of small warrens in run-down, prewar buildings.

As we've reported, the tower - 581 feet tall with 602,819 square feet of floor area - will have two different components above ground-floor retail.

About half the floor space will be devoted to diamond-industry users and half to regular commercial offices. The diamond portion will have its entrance on 47th Street and the offices on 46th.

Now, we learn from the offering plan (which must first past muster with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office before sales can begin):

* Extell plans to offer 84 of 88 "industry units" for sale. The diamond spaces will all be in the tower's lower half, on floors three through six, eight through 12 and 14 through 20. Extell is keeping four units of 29,300 square feet each for itself on floors three through six.

But the units above them are up for grabs. Sizes range from 816 square feet (asking as low as $1.203 million) to 11,064 (up to $15.2 million).

* If all the industry units are sold, Extell will see a total payoff of nearly $355.3 million, according to the offering plan.

Diamond industry veteran A. Joseph Lipton will be the sales agent, while CB Richard Ellis will be the managing agent for the commercial-office side (and presumably leasing agent as well).

Still, two questions remain:

Will Extell be able to land a construction loan in a no-credit climate that has stopped other Manhattan developers from going forward? (We'll bet yes.)

The second has to do with Extell's deal with the city's Economic Development Corp., signed two years ago, which grants Extell up to $49.6 million in tax benefits.

The complicated arrangement provides for tax relief for Extell based on the percentages of the building's floor area that are ultimately used for the diamond industry and for firms new to the city.

At the time Extell and EDC agreed to the formulas, the expectation was that the jewelry-industry space would be leased to users, not sold as condos.

It's not clear if the sale strategy affects tax benefits, but a source close to Extell said it's "working with EDC to determine whether the condo plan will still meet the criteria."

The Diamond Tower has been one of Manhattan's most closely followed development schemes ever since Barnett began buying up properties on the fabled block.

Extell's plans not only punched a hole in the middle of the block, they also split jewelry world insiders.

Some tried to discourage landlords from selling to Barnett, while others welcomed the tower essential to the industry's future.

According to the brochure, the top of the tower will be 590 feet...
http://newyorkdiamondtower.com/broch...AMONDTOWER.pdf

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/109925925/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/109925991/original.jpg

Somebody put this rendering in the wrong location...
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/109925949/original.jpg

Dang, that's a nice looking facade.

Its ribbed for our pleasure

wow, wtf, how could they have been that wrong in placing where the tower is going in that rendering?

haha. you're right. that image is taken from the top of met life