99 Church Street (30 Park Place) - 82 stories, 926 ft - by Robert A.M. Stern

**GVNY** · August 24th, 2007, 02:45 AM

That tower is very attractive. I see it borrowed cues from the Chrysler, but what building after 1930 hasn't?

**ZippyTheChimp** · August 24th, 2007, 07:05 AM

The images are labelled original and rev (revised?).

The revised base and setback ruin the building.

**lbjefferies** · August 24th, 2007, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by ZippyTheChimp

The images are labelled original and rev (revised?).

The revised base and setback ruin the building.

"Ruin" is too strong a word in my opinion. The top 5/6ths is still inspired. It seems hastily done--perhaps there'll be further revisions before construction starts.

**stache** · August 24th, 2007, 08:41 AM

especially down near Ground Zero. I think we'll see more fortress-like bases in the future.

**Bobman** · August 24th, 2007, 09:39 AM

2nd design's base looks like scaffolding.

**lofter1** · August 24th, 2007, 09:56 AM

It ^^^ looks like the box the kit to build the faux-scraper above came in ...

**kliq6** · August 24th, 2007, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by sfenn1117

^That's good to hear. When is demolition going to start....and do you know the height?

december of this year

**londonlawyer** · August 24th, 2007, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by kliq6

december of this year

Hi, amigo.

Is it definitely going to be a Shangri-La?

I hope that the stone is limestone or granite as opposed to poured concrete.

Have you seen how crappy 240 PAS turned out? It's hideous.

This looks really promising.

**kliq6** · August 24th, 2007, 11:40 AM

Yes

**londonlawyer** · August 24th, 2007, 11:45 AM

Awesome!

I love Shangri-La.

I hope that the Taj hotel group, Jumeriah, and Mandarin expand in NY as well. Jumeriah is building a second hotel/condo in London in the incredible Beetham Tower. Therefore, they could expand beyond their single location at the Essex House; the same holds true for Taj and Mandarin.

**212** · August 24th, 2007, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by stache

especially down near Ground Zero. I think we'll see more fortress-like bases in the future.

It does look like more architecture-by-NYPD.
Hope the virus doesn't spread to WTC 2, 3 and 4, and Midtown.

**Alonzo-ny** · August 24th, 2007, 01:17 PM

It isnt bunkitecture as the ground floor is open with glass. Also its a hotel not a major financial tower so not much need for that kind of security. I think its just a classic costas touch of class.

**NoyokA** · August 24th, 2007, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by alonzo-ny

It isnt bunkitecture as the ground floor is open with glass. Also its a hotel not a major financial tower so not much need for that kind of security. I think its just a classic costas touch of class.

More like value-engineering. You honestly think that Costas prefers the squared base to his original gently tapering and nicely setback base that nicely completed the base, shaft, and capital of the tower. I have no doubt that the new base was value-engineered, which furthers my point as to why I don’t rip apart Costas, developers hire him because they know they can manipulate and cost cut his designs, for instance Gehry would probably walk away from the project if a similar request was made, that’s why Gehry is only hired for a small handful of projects by a handful of altruistic developers. That said I still love this proposal because the capital and the transition with the shaft are still exquisite, which is much more than you can say about 90% of projects currently proposed in the City.

**lofter1** · August 24th, 2007, 02:03 PM

Old + new ...

***

**TREPYE** · August 24th, 2007, 07:38 PM

Nice tower. Too bad that I am too much of a cynical pessimistic New Yorker to ever even begin to delude myself to believe that we are actually gonna get something that [apparently] beautiful.

80 South Street was enough of a disappointment, I know better this time. The drawings are too raw, it looks expensive and too daring. Some thinig New York developers abhor in their projects. I wont believe it until they actually start excavating the site with that rendering displayed on one of the plywood panels that cover the site.