Proposed: New Six-star Hotel - 516 Fifth Avenue - by Pelli Clarke Pelli

[londonlawyer]

Isn't this the very same POS that Rosen sought to build?

These Mullahs suck.

[Stroika]

Ugh, what scum. I walk past the building at the NW corner of 5th and 43rd twice a day going to/from work (in a nearby, lame all-glass building). It is beautiful. Really, truly beautiful.

Across 43rd Street from it sits what is in my opinion not only (1) an ugly choad of a building and (2) a horrible harbinger for all of the despicable all-glass, all-right-angles boxes to come, 510 Fifth Ave.

That glass-box choad is landmarked. 516 Fifth is not, despite being actually an old, historic building; actually having strong aesthetic appeal; and actually being built in a style, and with materials, that will never be used again. 510 Fifth, on the other hand, is the most easily imitated POS the mind can conjure.

This blows the mind.

[lofter1]

510 Fifth is currently being desecrated by owner Vornado with help from SOM & the LPC. The original was a thing of beauty and should have been properly protected and restored.

But just wait until they build a tower on top of it -- which is the plan by all indications, given the massive amount of structural steel now going into place (although Vornado & SOM speciously claim they're just beefing up the mezzanine level to accommodate future shoppers).

[londonlawyer]

I thought that 510 5th was landmarked and that these pri.cks needed permission for any alteration.

This part of 5th is the worst stretch and is getting lousier.

[lofter1]

The interior was landmarked earlier this year -- but apparently the LPC did a neat little deal with Vornado prior to designation, hinting & winking that if Vornado got behind the Landmark status that the LPC would then allow Vornado to gut the interior so they could remake & reconfigure it for a Canadian jeans retailer. Which is what happened and is happening now. Sound crazy and improper? Vornado, SOM & LPC are being sued over it and the case is working its way through court right now.

[londonlawyer]

Hopefully, someone will move for a TRO so that these mullahs can't destroy this.

[lofter1]

The preservationists are a step ahead of you ...

MANNY HANNY BACK IN SPOTLIGHT

[Stroika]

The preservationists are a step ahead in doing everything they can to preserve the forerunner of every bad architectural idea ever hatched by Moinian or his architects.

But where are they on 516 Fifth Avenue, which is actually pleasant-looking, historic, and evocative of a classic NY era and architectural ensemble whose heritage the LPC is supposed to be protecting?

[londonlawyer]

If the alleged "preservationists" didn't care about The Drake, etc., 120 W 57th, etc.they're sadly not going to intervene for this building either.

[londonlawyer]

It seems that Thor has bought this property and will "develop" it.

[Stroika]

Great, Joe Sitt has such a fantastic track record. I'm sure we'll go from a beautiful, ornately detailed 25-story limestone Beaux-Arts building ... to a 3-story cheap-glass pod, the crappiest thing (very little) money can buy. That way, 516 will look just like it's counterpart across 43rd Street, the 2-story dinky glass pod of 510 Fifth Ave -- one of the more embarrassing "landmarks" in the city.

Historic, architecturally interesting, and beautiful: 516 Fifth Ave deserves a landmarking much, much more than the homely troll template for all crappy post-WWII construction, 510 Fifth Ave, does.

[Stroika]

I already posted this crappy news in the "Endangered New York" thread. It seemed to belong there as well as here.

Thor files demolition plans for three adjacent Midtown properties

April 26, 2012 05:11PM
By Zachary Kussin


Thor CEO Joseph Sitt and 516-520 Fifth Avenue


Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities filed demolition plans yesterday for three adjacent properties on Fifth Avenue, according to city Department of Buildings records. Thor plans to redevelop the three buildings, located at 516, 518 and 520 Fifth Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets, into a 300,000-square-foot building, a spokesperson said. The plans call for building “an architecturally significant modern glass building,” according to a press release the firm sent to The Real Deal.

It will include retail, hotel and residential components. Thor already owns several properties along Fifth Avenue in Midtown and is interested in these three buildings because, a spokesperson noted, “rental rates on Fifth Avenue exploded.” He declined to answer other questions.

Sitt purchased the three buildings March 9 from Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding for $132 million after going into contract in November 2011, city records show.

The project, at 516-520 Fifth Avenue, can be built larger than its base zoning code permits because the prior developer at the site, RFR Holding, bought air rights in June 2007 from 5 West 43rd Street for $19.6 million and from 15 West 43rd Street in 2007 for $12.8 million, according to city property records.

Thor is currently doing abatement at the site now, the company’s spokesperson said, with demolition to commence by the end of this year.

At today’s Massey Knakal Real Estate Investment Summit, Sitt, the company’s CEO, toldThe Real Deal: “I think we’re already started,” and declined to answer other questions.

Thor also owns 693 Fifth Avenue between 54th and 55th streets, as well as the Scribner Building at 597 Fifth Avenue, between 48th 49th streets.

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/04/...town-addresses

[Gulcrapek]

Thor has never, ever been honest. Expect something else.

[londonlawyer]

Another cheap, sh.itty box is coming!

[antinimby]

Some of the nicest properties tend to fall into the worst hands.