NEW YORK | Resorts World New York (Casino)

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1

If you are complaining about JFK Airport which is served by the A train and the AirTrain then you don't know how crazy it is for people to travel to LaGuardia Airport in Queens which only is served by slow buses and has no rail service.

Don't get me started. How silly is the LGA situation? you can only laugh, otherwise you'd cry.

[NYguy]

The 3 major airports in the NY area don't have direct rail service to Manhattan. But all 3 function highly well, and continue to draw record numbers to the City. There may be better access in other places around the world, and there could be better service here. But the fact is, non-direct service hasn't hurt anything. However, there is a big oppurtunity here to get some direct service in conjunction with the planned convention center. The difference in the two is that the convention center complex is being planned as a contain-all destination (meaning hotel, entertainment, etc.) with easy access to Manhattan while people destined for Manhattan from the airport will likely stay there. It should be kept in mind though that most people who use the local airports aren't destined to Manhattan.


http://empire.wnyc.org/2012/01/cuomo...uct-agreement/
Cuomo writes state legislature on Aqueduct agreement

January 10, 2012
By Colby Hamilton

Dear Majority Leader Skelos and Speaker Silver:

In my State of the State message last week, I spoke about a comprehensive program to foster economic development across the state. As the state’s resources are limited, our task will be to leverage private sector activity without significant funding from the state; no small challenge. Two projects I discussed were development of a convention center complex at the Aqueduct site in Southeastern Queens and the redevelopment of the Javits Center. As you will recall Genting New York LLC was granted in September 2010, the only franchise in New York City to operate a video lottery terminal (VLT) facility under a 30 year lease on 67 acres at Aqueduct. Genting has proceeded with the project, which from all perspectives, has gone exceedingly well.

Genting has proposed further development of the site which includes the creation of a destination location of international potential. The destination location will include gaming, hotel rooms, entertainment, exhibition and convention center facilities. The economic impact of the project would be enormous, estimated to create thousands of construction and private sector jobs. The state investment would be minimal with potentially the greatest number of jobs produced in the state in many, many years.

While the discussions are preliminary and conceptual, at this point the first phase would include construction of 1,000 hotel rooms, theater and entertainment components, approximately 3 million square feet of convention and exhibition space, expansion of VLT gaming space and a parking facility. Importantly, Genting has the exclusive lease on all the land anticipated to be used in phase one and is the only legislatively approved VLT operator in New York City.

The second phase would require additional land beyond the 67 acres currently under lease to Genting. The Port Authority controls an adjoining 22 acres which Genting is considering for an additional 2,000 hotel rooms and approximately a half million more square feet of convention and meeting space.

Opponents to the project point out that many conventions centers lose money. That is a true point. Most governments weigh the issue of building a convention center with public money as a “loss leader” for the net economic gain of additional tourism dollars, etc. That is a debatable proposition. However, that is not the case here. The state is not building anything. We are not spending public money on a convention center. Genting, a private entity, will take the risk of economic success.

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by NYguy

The 3 major airports in the NY area don't have direct rail service to Manhattan. But all 3 function highly well, and continue to draw record numbers to the City. There may be better access in other places around the world, and there could be better service here. But the fact is, non-direct service hasn't hurt anything. However, there is a big oppurtunity here to get some direct service in conjunction with the planned convention center. The difference in the two is that the convention center complex is being planned as a contain-all destination (meaning hotel, entertainment, etc.) with easy access to Manhattan while people destined for Manhattan from the airport will likely stay there. It should be kept in mind though that most people who use the local airports aren't destined to Manhattan.


http://empire.wnyc.org/2012/01/cuomo...uct-agreement/
Cuomo writes state legislature on Aqueduct agreement

January 10, 2012
By Colby Hamilton

That was my point all along mate. The opportunity and motivation is there now so don't mess it up this time. If you go that far with the new CC, might as well fix the airport problem. 2 birds with 1 stone. However, people here are not interested in that and the airtrain is enough for them. If the air train station was right beside the airport grounds, they might be right. However, that won't be the case and a long air train ride would be required to aquaduct which isn't much better than now.

At least if they get the LIRR to aquaduct, a link could happen in the future when the mood is right. If they do a subway project with the a train, all bets are off.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by aquablue

At least if they get the LIRR to aquaduct, a link could happen in the future when the mood is right. If they do a subway project with the a train, all bets are off.

They could do a spur of the LIRR from the convention center to the airport, two birds with one stone, but it would be more likely an extension of the airtrain would happen first. BTW, there has long been talk of getting a rail line directly from the airport to lower Manhattan. But there are many complex issues of transportation to be worked out, on both sides of the City.


http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/201...ood-for-queens

What’s Good for Manhattan Must Be Good for Queens

By Vin Cipolla
January 11, 2012

For almost two decades, The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) has advocated for the transformation of the Farley Post Office into a new Penn Station to be called Moynihan Station. Governor Cuomo’s recent State of the State address suggests that 2012 could be the station’s moment. The immediate story is, of course, the possible razing of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and its replacement, at the site of the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, by what the Governor describes as the nation’s largest convention center.

Before moving ahead, however, we must make sure that what’s good for Manhattan is equally beneficial for Queens. Let’s start with transportation. With both a new convention center and a redeveloped Javits site on the horizon, New York urgently needs a transportation infrastructure that can support these mega-projects.

The gargantuan size of a modern convention center like the one proposed by the Governor dictates a comprehensive transportation upgrade. The 18-acre Javits site is larger than 13.5 football fields and gets more than three million visitors a year. The proposed Queens site would handle at least that number of people, if not considerably more. Numbers this large demand an expanded Kennedy Airport and extensions of the subway and bus lines serving Ozone Park.

While, on Manhattan’s Far West Side, some transportation improvements are already in progress, more are needed, with the perennially overcrowded Penn Station topping the list of challenges. In 1963, 200,000 people passed through its concourses daily; by 2008, usage had more than tripled to 640,000 – more than LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark Airports combined. A redeveloped Javits site necessitates replacing Penn Station with Moynihan Station, and soon.

The construction of a new convention center in Queens and the simultaneous redevelopment of the Far West Side could bring millions of new visitors – and millions of tax dollars – to New York City. Let’s make sure these projects benefit their host neighborhoods as much as they do the city as a whole. Our citizens deserve nothing less.

Vin Cipolla is president of The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS), founded in 1893

_____________________________________________



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...021506952.html
Cuomo Casino Plan Roils Las Vegas
Gambling Companies Scramble to Stop Malaysian Conglomerate from Cornering the Lucrative New York City Market.

By ALEXANDRA BERZON and JACOB GERSHMAN
Jan 11, 2012

Some Las Vegas casino companies hope to prevent a rival from cornering the New York City gambling market after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a handshake development deal for a convention center and casino complex in Queens.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. and MGM Resorts International said they are considering battle plans for New York. At least one other casino company, Boyd Gaming Corp., which owns part of Atlantic City's Borgata, has started to reach out to Albany lobbyists.

Genting's talks with the Cuomo administration were interpreted by some as an indication of the Malaysian company's inside track toward capturing what could be a multibillion-dollar market. Some Las Vegas companies said they will seek to keep bidding for any New York casino an open process.

"We would hope if this is something that New York wants to do...all of the companies that have experience in this area are given the opportunity to show their credentials," said Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Resorts.

A New York-based casino-industry lobbyist said: "They're waking up from a slumber and trying to figure out what to do."

Mr. Cuomo and Genting have insisted that the company's construction of a convention center isn't hinging on the expansion of casinos in New York. While Genting is seeking exclusive rights to operate a New York City casino, the Cuomo administration says it's not negotiating a special arrangement with the Malaysian conglomerate.

[NYguy]

• Video Link



• Video Link

[NYguy]

http://www.rpa.org/2012/01/remaking-...west-side.html

By Bob Yaro, President, RPA
Jan 12, 2012

The Aqueduct site, at close to 200 acres, is one of only a handful of sites in the city that could accommodate a very large, single-story convention facility. Another is Willets Point in Queens, which New York City has proposed as an alternate site for a convention center. Whichever of these projects moves forward, improved transit and roadway access to the convention center site will be critical to its success.

With the Aqueduct site, the state and Genting have reached a preliminary agreement through which the developer would self-finance, build and operate a 2.6 million square foot convention center as well as 1.2 million square feet in an expanded gambling facility, hotels and related entertainment venues. While some have questioned the size of the facility and the mix of activities at the site, Cuomo has made it clear that the developer will be investing its own, and not state funds on the site. Further, Genting's business model calls for the creation of an entertainment, hotel and gambling destination, and not just a free-standing convention facility.

While the convention industry has had longstanding concerns about Javits's inadequacies, they have also questioned whether a new facility in Queens could draw conferences, trade and consumer shows that are currently held in Manhattan. Some of these events would remain at the proposed in-town convention facility, while the largest, such as the Car Show and Boat Show, would move to the Queens facility. But these large shows, and the hundreds of trucks required to set them up and take them down, are increasingly incompatible with the Midtown West area, which is rapidly becoming the city's newest business and residential district. These events need to go somewhere outside Manhattan.

___________________________________________________



http://www.qchron.com/news/south/cou...3ac2bc3ef.html

Could Cuomo plan derail greenway?
Convention ctr. might bolster bid by Goldfeder for rebuilt rail line



Some residents want to create an elevated linear park along train tracks abandoned in 1962. But a convention center proposed near Aqueduct Racetrack could be the impetus for rebuilding tracks between Ozone Park and Rego Park.

Jan 12, 2012
by Michael Gannon

Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder figured he’d be swimming against the tide last week when he proposed rebuilding a railroad between Ozone Park and Rego Park, where many are proposing a high-line park. Then a day later Gov. Cuomo, in his State of the State address on Jan. 4, proposed building the country’s largest convention center near the new casino at the Aqueduct racetrack. “The governor’s people briefed me just before the speech because it’s in my district,” he said. “I had no idea.”

Cuomo came out in support of a $4 billion proposal by Genting America to spend $4 billion on a convention center and 3,000 hotel rooms. And he also may have given Goldfeder some serious justification for putting trains back on what was the Long Island Rail Road’s Rockaway line until 1962. “While I’m a strong advocate of increased park space for Queens, I believe southern Queens and Rockaway would be better served with a railroad,” Goldfeder said.

The city now owns the land and the right of way along the 3.5-mile stretch. The rails, ties, platforms, switches and some towers remain in place, though the tracks and the ground beneath them have deteriorated. Some portions, such as the trestle across Metropolitan Avenue, are impassable even on foot due to the tangle of trees and brush that has sprung up over the last 40 years.

“I’m sure people in Rego Park and Forest Hills do want parks there,” Goldfeder said. “But then they already only have a 40-minute trip into Manhattan. For some of my constituents it takes an hour and 40 minutes.”

Goldfeder said he has not yet thought through details such as whether to return LIRR service or extend the MTA’s A Train service. He also would like to see proposals for extended AirTrain service, and believes that a convention center would draw investment in rail service.

“I’m opposed to Queensway if it would interfere with a new rail link,” he said.

A feasibility study for the greenway is being underwritten by the Trust for Public Lands. State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) has his own.

“Rockaway has to come into the conversation, and I would talk about service south of where the convention center would be located,” Addabbo said. “But I have constituents north of where the convention center would be who are strongly against a rail line or even a greenway. They like the way it is with the growing vegetation, and don’t want that disturbed by people with bikes or strollers.”

Interesting look...
http://davidkrulewitch.com/Rockaway_Beach_Paper.pdf



http://www.lirrhistory.com/rockaway.html

[RobertWalpole]

I never even heard of this line until recently. Are there dormant tracks that connect from JFK to the LIRR?

[Roadcruiser1]

Originally Posted by RobertWalpole

I never even heard of this line until recently. Are there dormant tracks that connect from JFK to the LIRR?

Here is the link on the Branch. I don't usually use wiki but it has to do for now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockaway_Beach_Branch

[RobertWalpole]

Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1

Here is the link on the Branch. I don't usually use wiki but it has to do for now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockaway_Beach_Branch

Thanks!

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1

Here is the link on the Branch. I don't usually use wiki but it has to do for now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockaway_Beach_Branch

Wouldn't it be nice if there were. Alas, no. They need to build a link of some kind pronto.

[NYguy]

Some photos of the active line...
http://world.nycsubway.org/us/lirr/lirr-rockaway.html

If you want to see current conditions of the abandoned line some want to convert into another High Line, check here...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...0541319&type=3

But for a more detailed look at the line and some ideas of expanded rail service, check this link again...
http://davidkrulewitch.com/Rockaway_Beach_Paper.pdf


(btw, the line also cuts through a park)

[NYguy]

http://westfaironline.com/2012/18473...ntial-changes/

Empire City owners excited by potential changes

Patrick Gallagher
Jan 13, 2012

Since Yonkers Raceway transformed into Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway in October 2006, it has been far and away the most profitable of the state’s racetrack casinos – but Resorts World Casino New York City in Queens is quickly closing the gap.

In each of the last four weeks for which data is available – from the week ending Dec. 17 to the week ending Jan. 7 – Resorts World Casino, which first opened Oct. 28 of last year, outperformed its Yonkers counterpart with net winnings of $43.48 million for the four-week stretch compared with $40.49 million at Empire City Casino.

However, the Rooney family, which owns Empire City Casino, said they are not overly concerned by the added competition over the local gambling market and that they have a good relationship with Genting New York L.L.C., which owns Resorts World Casino.

Timothy Rooney Jr., general counsel for Empire City Casino, said Genting’s plans do not come as a surprise, adding that any plans to build the convention center and to possibly legalize Las Vegas-style gambling down the road are still in the early stages. “We would certainly anticipate that if the governor gets his wish there would be a full casino there (at Aqueduct) and we would expect and hope that there would be one here too … we’re supportive of that and we don’t have any issue with that additional development there,” Rooney said.

Empire City Casino is nearing the completion of its own 65,000-square-foot expansion, which it plans to unveil in late spring and which comprises roughly 35,000 square feet of additional gaming space and two large restaurants.

Rooney said the casino is also looking closely at additional expansion possibilities, should full commercial gambling be legalized in the state.

[NYguy]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-for-aqueduct/

Most Oppose Cuomo’s Plan for Aqueduct

By THOMAS KAPLAN
January 16, 2012

A majority of New York State voters oppose Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s plan for building the country’s largest convention center at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, according to a poll released on Monday. “New York City voters are barely supportive, suburbanites are opposed and upstaters are strongly opposed,” said Steven A. Greenberg, a Siena pollster.

Mr. Cuomo, speaking to reporters at a memorial observance for Martin Luther King’s Birthday, predicted that once voters learned more about the jobs that the convention center would create and the project’s minimal cost to the state, they would be “overwhelmingly supportive” of it.

“Look, when you say, ‘Should the state build a convention center?’ the answer is no,” Mr. Cuomo said. “Why? Because it just sounds like a big expensive government boondoggle, and it sounds like the state is going to start to build the convention center and there are going to be cost overruns and it sounds like every big public works project gone bad.” But Mr. Cuomo said that under his proposal, “this is not the state building a convention center at all,” but rather a privately financed project, pursued in cooperation with the state by Genting, the Malaysian company that in October opened a gambling parlor at Aqueduct.

The company issued a statement, responding to the poll, in which it echoed Mr. Cuomo’s forecast that voters would come around to see the benefits of the convention center. “We’re confident,” Stefan Friedman, a Genting spokesman, said, “that once New Yorkers understand that Genting is proposing to pay for — without a dime of taxpayer money — the biggest convention center in the country, creating tens of thousands of jobs and generating untold billions of dollars in revenue for the state, support for this project will be robust.”

[NYguy]

http://transportationnation.org/2012...ention-center/

NY Gov Cuomo: MTA Considering “Additional Transit Applications” For New Convention Center



By Andrea Bernstein
01/18/2012

Governor Cuomo briefly addressed the issue of mass transit out to his new favorite project, a massive convention center by near JFK Airport in Queens to be built by the Malaysian firm Genting, which is already operating a racino there. Speaking Wednesday in Yonkers, he didn’t say much–but let it drop that the MTA “is working on additional transit applications” to the site.

No word yet from the MTA on what that might be. Transit advocates have expressed concern about the cost of such a project for an essentially broke agency — and about the inconvenience to regular riders if, say, an express service gets prioritized. In a brief statement earlier this month, Genting said it would pay for transit, but didn’t offer details. Here’s the transcript:

Reporter: Are you concerned about the transit extension for the convention center? Is there going to be enough service and is that going to be a problem?

Cuomo: The convention center would be where Aqueduct Racetrack is now, it’s very close to JFK airport, so it’s a place that is accessible and can be more accessible.

Reporter: It’s not in any easy spot to get to by mass transit.

Cuomo: The MTA is working on additional transit applications.

[Dac150]

Great - I'm excited to see how much momentum is behind this initiative.

[yankeesfan1000]

It's got a ways to go, but with Cuomo firmly behind it, Genting seems like they're all in, and the city would be thrilled to get this kind of project. It seems like this has a good chance of happening. That a fair characterization...NYGuy?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by yankeesfan1000

It seems like this has a good chance of happening. That a fair characterization...NYGuy?

It's definitely happening. The plan was for Genting to expand all along. They intend to do that with or without approval of gambling in the state. Genting put the idea of the convention center - which they will pay for and build - before the governor who saw a win,win there. New York gets the long overdue convention center (without paying for it) and Manhattan gets valuable land for development. Genting is even proposing to subsidize transit to the site.


______________________________________


http://saratogian.com/articles/2012/...9618149267.txt
Michael Veitch: Aqueduct in danger of being shut down

January 17, 2012

After popping up occasionally over the last few decades, the topic of ending thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct is back in the news. Its current version has the Genting company, which operates the slots facility at Aqueduct, building a convention center on the property, necessitating the end of a rich racing history that dates to 1894. This time around, sorry to say, Aqueduct may indeed be in its final years, as the financial muscle of Genting and the ownership of the land by New York State could put an end to the Big A. What a shame.

________________________________________



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/domini...b_1206451.html

With Convention Center, Maybe Cuomo Is On to Something

Dominic Carter
1/17/12

"Let's build the largest convention center in the nation, period."
Governor Andrew Cuomo

Much to the chagrin of the rest of the country, residents of New York State have always taken pride in our history. The glory days of being "the best" of almost any industry, service, technology, or even sport. Number one with even our baseball (NY Yankees). We became so accustomed to being the best for so many decades that New Yorkers took it for granted. But the truth of the matter is, excluding Wall Street, NY's glory days haven't been that way for a very long time. Look at the demise of one-time world leader Eastman Kodak in Rochester. High taxes, expensive lifestyle, whatever the reason may be. In specific areas, not only have other states surpassed New York, but other countries as well.

Some of us yearn for the days when New York was considered the best, and that's why the words of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, at a minimum, have been enlightening. He's correcting the dysfunction with Albany politics. Dare I might say he could possibly bring back some nostalgic memories, and restore New York to its great days.

Say whatever you want. At least Cuomo is thinking big, and at times, that can be half the battle. Okay. The first question, how much will this convention center cost? The governor said $4 billion would be needed but the money is coming from the private sector to build the convention center/several thousand-room hotel at the Aqueduct Racino in Queens.

Genting Corp., the Malaysian company, that operates the Aqueduct Racino, would put up the $4 billion, and says the massive project would create 10,000 construction jobs and 10,000 more permanent jobs. Genting, would bear all the risk of building and operating the convention center.

Why shouldn't New York have the biggest convention center when people come here from around the world? New York is well, New York.

Of course there are negatives, some thorny political and financial questions. Were competitors allowed to bid on it? Why build a massive facility when convention centers around the nation seem to be struggling? "Convention centers all over the country are money-losing white elephants, so basically what the governor is saying is that we ought to build the nation's largest money-losing white elephant in New York City," said E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute.

Maybe, just maybe, we should have a little faith collectively. Whatever happened to build the biggest, the best, and they will come?

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/ny...l?ref=nyregion

A Complex at Aqueduct Is Risk-Free, Cuomo Says

By THOMAS KAPLAN
January 19, 2012

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, stung by widespread doubts about his support for the privately financed construction of the country’s largest convention center at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, offered a full-throated defense of the proposal on Thursday, saying the only cost to the state if the project failed would be “an empty building.”

In an interview with editors and writers for The New York Times, Mr. Cuomo sounded frustrated about the skeptical reaction to the convention center idea, which he proposed during his State of the State address on Jan. 4. He said the proposed development — which would include hotels, restaurants and expanded gambling, as well as the convention center — combined with the redevelopment of Manhattan’s Far West Side, would generate jobs and significant tax revenues. And he voiced confidence in Genting, the Malaysian company that runs a gambling hall at Aqueduct and proposes to spend $4 billion on the convention center.

“What happens if they go bust?” Mr. Cuomo asked. “First, I say, you want government to second-guess the private sector? They’ve had a masterful track record, masterful. This is what they do. They do it all over the world.”

He added that the state would not offer Genting any tax-free bonds to support the project, and he said the company would have to reimburse the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the full cost of improving subway access to the new convention center.

Mr. Cuomo dismissed concerns about its distance from Manhattan attractions. He said the complex would attract “more of a mass, blue-collar clientele that probably wouldn’t be going to the Broadway shows anyway,” and said many of those who patronized the convention center would be arriving by plane.

[NYguy]

http://empire.wnyc.org/2012/01/aqued...n-center-plan/

Aqueduct owner Genting wants more of gambling take to fund convention center plan


January 20, 2012
By Colby Hamilton

...Genting is also seeking a change to the rate it pays the state on gaming revenues to help make, as one Genting-associated person put it, “the convention center economically viable.”

The state’s lottery commission divvies up the take from electronic gaming machines that are legal under state law. Genting gives the state about 70 percent of the gross returns from electronic gaming at the end of the day.

While specific details on the agreement were unavailable, an example of the sort of situation Genting could be pushing for was given: Pennsylvania. According to a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, similar gaming operations about 55 percent.

Additionally, multiple people close to the deal said the proposal would not affect the current agreement on the machines located at Aqueduct. This sort of agreement also isn’t new: other racino operators in the state have received adjusted rates to help expand their facilities.

[Rey88]

Let’s Raze Javits Center (but First Finish Renovations)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/ar...?_r=2&ref=arts


January 22, 2012
By ROBIN POGREBIN

Part of architecture’s appeal, at least to architects, is posterity: the notion that what they design will last. So it came as something of a shock to the architect Bruce S. Fowle this month when he learned that a building he was renovating is already on death row.

In his State of the State address on Jan. 4 Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced plans to demolish the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which Mr. Fowle has been working to repair and redesign for the past six years.

“The waste of creative energy, money and material that would result in its being torn down is painful to think about,” Mr. Fowle said during a walk through the center last week. “When you’re worrying about every detail — trying to do the best you can to make something that represents the city — it’s like having the rug pulled out from under you.”

Mr. Cuomo proposes replacing the Javits Center with private redevelopment that would include housing, hotels and museums, and selling or leasing the state-owned land to developers.

Conventions would be staged instead at a larger center to be built at the Aqueduct racetrack in Jamaica, Queens, with $4 billion from Genting, a Malaysian gambling company.

The Javits Center is now in the midst of an extensive renovation to make it a brighter, greener convention space with a brand-new glass facade. But if the demolition, still years away, were to happen as planned, Governor Cuomo would be among those who would not be shedding tears.

“The day it opened it was outdated and already behind schedule,” he said in an interview with editors and writers for The New York Times last week, “and other states had built larger facilities.”

The Javits Center had been considered ripe for renovation almost since it opened in 1986 because it was too small for large trade shows and conventions, and many considered the dark-glass behemoth as an eyesore blocking views of the Hudson River.

“It’s just such an awful building that the only reason to keep it would be as a monument to stupidity,” said Mark Wigley, the dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.