99 Church Street (30 Park Place) - 57 stories, 807 ft - by Robert A.M. Stern

**londonlawyer** · January 30th, 2008, 04:23 PM

I would not be surprised if Ratner does not have financing for this tower and that it will not be built. Only the school will rise.

**tmac9wr** · January 30th, 2008, 04:42 PM

I like this building a lot. It is sandwiched between one of the most beautiful buildings of the last century (Woolworth) and the largest project of the new millenium (WTC)...with those neighbors it would be easy to make something that tried too hard and ended up looking crappy. But this building is very simple and doesn't do much wrong. Due to its noteworthy neighbors, it won't be the first building to draw your eye when looking at downtown, but that's a good thing to me because it fits in very well with its surroundings.

I agree a crown of some sort would have been nice, but what's there isn't horrible and it fits the rest of the building.

**Tectonic** · January 30th, 2008, 04:49 PM

Goldman Sachs looks rather stout in those renderings. I'm liking this project, nothing original, but at least its respectful and respectable.

**antinimby** · January 30th, 2008, 04:58 PM

My gut feeling is that Silverstein, after seeing the runaway financial success that the Zeckendorfs had with 15 CPW, thought he can do the same thing here, in Lower Manhattan.

That is why he first commissioned Kondylis but later decided to go with Stern because he wanted to follow the same formula as 15 CPW. He didn't want to take any chances and since Stern is known more for high-end products than the mainstream Kondylis, it became a no-brainer.

I'd bet that Silverstein himself asked Stern to try as much as he can to make it as similar to 15 CPW as possible. With that in mind and with the somewhat tighter schedule (remember the plan had always been to raze the current structure and begin construction by June), Stern couldn't get as elaborate and creative as he might have. This was a rush job and with what we have seen so far, it is somewhat obvious.

**Tectonic** · January 30th, 2008, 05:36 PM

^very Interesting Points.

**lofter1** · January 30th, 2008, 07:24 PM

What one might see when crossing the Brooklyn Bridge ...

**stache** · January 30th, 2008, 07:44 PM

Makes the Woolworth building look small -

**londonlawyer** · January 30th, 2008, 11:05 PM

Notwithstanding the Church Street tower's height, I think that Stern's building in Atlanta is nicer.

**TREPYE** · January 30th, 2008, 11:32 PM

LL youre right. Based on the one angle that I have seen and what Lofter postulates a couple of posts above the massing on this tower is beggining to look very sucky; which prob explains why they haven't "officially" showed this angle, cuz its not that great. Nice materials and all but next to the WW you gotta do better than what it seems like right now.

**stache** · January 31st, 2008, 02:51 AM

It's possible that this building will get more refined as it goes along.

**Tectonic** · January 31st, 2008, 08:55 AM

Say Goodbye...

01-30-2008

Whats up with Wooly (as Brooklynlove calls it)

**BrooklynLove** · January 31st, 2008, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Skylimitone

Say Goodbye...

01-30-2008

Whats up with Wooly (as Brooklynlove calls it)

i'll tell you what wooly is thinking -

"WTF?! Thank goodness I'm special. Sucks to be small."

**Tectonic** · February 1st, 2008, 08:12 AM

I wasn't sure if this can be a new thread but here we go. (Moderators please advise)

99 Church vs 50 West Street vs 610 Lexington

**Ebola** · February 1st, 2008, 09:15 AM

They all seem to be the bigger new towers on Manhattan Island with a pencil-like shape, each over 700 feet tall to the roof. 99 Church Street looks great, sort of like in the same way as the AIB at 70 Pine Street (also, aside from seeming like they have the same features, they are the same size, but AIB tapers much more and has a spire that reaches a few meters taller than 99 Church's roof), and 50 West seems rather simple, but with modern towers, simple is almost always better. The other tower is nothing but a box, yes, but it's Lord Norman Foster's box; therefore, you'd be an idiot to whine about it. For all three towers, we are still in the dark; for all three, I'd like to see more detail besides a rendering from one angle, but, still, I'm going to remain confident that none of them will let us down.

**Scraperfannyc** · February 3rd, 2008, 02:17 PM

I like 99 Church alot. It has some nice details, it has respectable height, and yet it is thin so it does not block too much of the great buildings of lower Manhattan. This is one of the residential buildings going up in Manhattan that I feel good about. I consistently like silverstein's stuff. He looks to make Manhattan a better place, and he speaks like this. This is so unlike Macklowe who speaks of manhattan development as playing a game of poker.