53 West 53rd Street Petition (Build the MOMA Spire)

[NoyokA]

Any word on the date of the City Planning meeting?

[GordonGecko]

Am I the only one that thinks NYC is long overdue for special "no height limit" zoning areas? (subject to appropriate city conditions approval of course - setbacks, public space, etc...)

[Stroika]

That would be a good idea. As, I believe, Ablarc and Antinimby have argued, NY should move toward a plot-size-based zoning model rather than a height-based one.

In other words, limit the size of a building's plot (no more Avalon Morningside Heights!) rather than its height. This would be infinitely more rational than following the mindless (and mindlessly NIMBY-backed) current model that needlessly disadvantages the height necessary to house a growing population and encourages horrid, streetscape-killing monolith landscrapers.

It's totally unclear to me why NIMBYs think height, not size, is the enemy, but hopefully the progressive Bloomberg admin will see the light if we can get this message out...

[ZippyTheChimp]

^

Off topic

This thread was opened and made sticky specifically to track the 53 West 53rd St building.

There are many other threads available for the above conversation.

Discussion about this building here.

[Stroika]

I hope this person has no idea what she is talking about...

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But onward to MoMA's NEXT expansion: Temkin, recently promoted as the museum's chief curator of painting and sculpture, told me that plans are due in the middle of next year for the museum's use of the approximately 50,000 square feet of new gallery space that will accrue to it if Jean Nouvel's soaring glass tower (contiguous with MoMA and built on land that it sold to the developer) ever gets off the ground. Unlike the Whitney, which, as expected, won easy approval for its downtown expansion from the City Council on Wednesday, MoMA (or more precisely, Hines, the developer for the tower) is coming up against some hostile neighbors.

Hines, through a spokesperson, refused to inform me of the status of its quest for the required government approvals. Community Board 5, in an advisory capacity, voted overwhelmingly against the transfer of air rights from St. Thomas Church (east of MoMA) and the University Club (to the northeast), needed to allow the megalith to rise 75 stories. MoMA owned the University Club's air rights, previously acquired by director Glenn Lowry as part of his real estate-buying spree.

Sid Bass, vice chairman of MoMA's board, recently told me that residents of Museum Tower, the apartment building that was built in conjunction with MoMA's previous Cesar Pelli-designed expansion, are up in arms about the expected obstruction of their views by Nouvel's tower. The West 54-55 Street Block Association is also on the case.

Community opposition didn't matter, however, in the first round of the official review process: Both buildings that are transferring air rights are landmarked, and the city's Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously on May 13 to allow the transfer. LPC spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon told me:

The Landmarks Commissioners found there is a "preservation purpose" to both applications to the Planning Commission...."Preservation purpose" refers to up-front restoration work of the landmarks or the establishment of an ongoing maintenance program for them. The Commission also determined that the Nouvel Tower would have no effect on either the club or the church.

Next up: the City Planning Department. But a spokesperson there, Rachaele Raynoff, told me on Monday, four months after the Landmarks Commission's go-ahead, "No application has been filed as yet."

Could it be that Hines is daunted by the challenging real estate climate and the difficulties affecting another New York Nouvel, overseen by a different developer---a condo project, merely 23 stories high, rising next to Frank Gehry's IAC Headquarters building? Alex Frangos of the Wall Street Journal wrote in August that the downtown project was "some $50 million over budget and nearly a year behind schedule."

If MoMA ever does continue its inexorable westward expansion, its new galleries will be used for the permanent collection, according to both Temkin and Kathy Halbreich, the museum's associate director. Plans call for mixing together works from different media---paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, etc. And the next installation in the existing second-floor contemporary galleries may juxtapose contemporary works with older works, Temkin said.

http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegr...rsome_sec.html

[stache]

I think this project will be delayed for at least several years due to the current economic situation.

[TREPYE]

I found this great bit of infmormation from NYGuy (thanks dude) on SSP. Please find an excerpt of what he posted that can be very useful for us.

We missed the meeting but we can still write those letters.

A public scoping meeting will be held on the 53 West 53rd Street Project on November 18, 2008 at the New York City Department of City Planning’s Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, New York, New York, 10007. The meeting will begin at 10 AM. Written comments will be accepted by the lead agency at the meeting and until Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Copies of the Draft Scope of Work and the Environmental Assessment Statement may be obtained from the Environmental Assessment and Review Division, New York City Department of City Planning, 22 Reade Street, 4E, New York, New York 10007, Robert Dobruskin, Director (212) 720-3423; or from the Office of Environmental Coordination, 253 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, New York 10007, Robert Kulikowski, Ph.D., Director (212) 788-2937. See the Scoping Notice, Draft Scope of Work, Environmental Assessment Statement, and scoping protocol below.

We finally got an official height: 1250'.


Link to the draft scope (also provided by NYGuy) of work:http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/env_review/53_west_53/draft_scope.pdf

[JSsocal]

Sweet now this building will be as tall as Empire State. Only problem is that they had some backup plans.(Much much shorter versions) as alternatives

Good news though, good news

[antinimby]

Thanks for the heads up, TREPYE.

Since we missed the actual meeting, everyone here should now send in their written comments in support of this project to:

New York City Department of City Planning
Spector Hall
22 Reade Street, New York, New York, 10007

Referencing 53 West 53rd St.


(Try not to put off writing that letter of support for too long because the deadline for the submission of written comments is Dec. 3, 2008).

[NYguy]

Thanks for the heads up, TREPYE.

Since we missed the actual meeting, everyone here should now send in their written comments in support of this project to:

New York City Department of City Planning
Spector Hall
22 Reade Street, New York, New York, 10007

Referencing 53 West 53rd St.

That meeting went right over everyone's head. Some noteworthy commentary from the draft scope and EAS...


1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6. Topping the Bofa


7. View south


8. View north


9. The sweetness

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the study includes the mandatory other alternatives:

10. A 285 ft tower


11.


12. A 1,089 ft tower


13.
__

14.

[londonlawyer]

This is going to be amazing. I am confident that Extell's Carnegie Hall Tower will be a 900+ foot landmark too. Therefore, we will have two masterpieces within blocks of one another.

[Shadly]

I feel so dirty looking at pictures of this building. A good kind of dirty. Total BILF!

[NYC4Life]

Anything, but that 250 foot proposal. Of course, We all want Nouvel's tower built. What an instant landmark that'll be.

[Shadly]

I have a bad feeling about that smaller proposal... It's there for a reason after all. This would be a huge set back and a major slap in the face to the practice of architecture in New York.