NEW YORK | 31 W. 57th St | FT | FLOORS

[NYguy]

I will hate to see these buildings go, but the 57th Street wave is just too hot...


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/ny...gain.html?_r=0

Bookstore May Have to Flee the Wrecking Ball, Again





By CHARLES V BAGLI
JAN. 14, 2014

The owners of the building at 31 West 57th Street near Fifth Avenue that houses Rizzoli — the LeFrak real estate family and Vornado Realty Trust — recently gave the bookstore the bad news: They plan to demolish the six-story, 109-year-old building, as well as two small, adjoining buildings.

The owners declined to describe their plans on 57th Street, where a string of extremely tall and slender ultraluxury towers are under construction.

“I can’t comment on those buildings,” Harrison T. LeFrak said. “If you have any questions, speak to my partner.”

A spokesman for Vornado did not return calls requesting comment.

But one executive who has been briefed on the plans said the owners hoped to find Rizzoli a new home. The executive said the developers had not decided whether to build a commercial or residential tower.

“It’s sad if we also lose those three limestone mansions, which were converted to commercial uses decades ago,” said Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. “There will be very little left on 57th Street that shows how it used to be.

“I think bookstores in New York City need to be protected at all costs,” she added.

Fifty-seventh Street, which had fallen on hard times, became home to a collection of theme restaurants like Planet Hollywood during the 1990s. Today, the developer Gary Barnett is nearing completion of a 1,004-foot apartment tower near Seventh Avenue, where the penthouse is under contract for $90 million. The developer Harry B. Macklowe is building an even taller tower near 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, where the penthouse went for $95 million. The developer Steve Witkoff bought the nearby Park Lane Hotel, where he, too, plans to build an ultraluxury tower.