Starbucks-Crushing Astor Place Office Building Will Open in 2013
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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.
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Buildings Over 200 Meters 62 Completed 20 Under Construction 50 Proposed 0 On Hold
"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
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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.
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.
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.
Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times
i like that bldg
__________________ New York City,The City That Never Sleeps,The Capitol Of The World,The Big Apple,The Empire City,The Melting Pot,The Metropolis,Gotham
Buildings Over 200 Meters 62 Completed 20 Under Construction 50 Proposed 0 On Hold
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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NEW YORK | 51 Astor Place | 13 floors
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