I agree.
Things are lookiing good for this project. I pray it's being redesigned...
Crain's NY
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...#ixzz1uxR9loZi
Raising the roof on ‘lower' Fifth Ave.
Rents for space along the seven-block retail strip above 42nd Street jumped 47% in the first quarter. SoHo and Madison Avenue also saw solid gains in an otherwise lackluster period.
We just about have to get something stunningly beautiful (i.e. on the level of a Tower Verre) to lessen the pain of the loss of these beauties.
Somehow though, Joseph Sitt and Thor do not give me that feeling.
The problem this will face is getting a quarter of a billion dollar construction loan, especially in this unstable economy. Also, Thor doesn't have a track record of doing any big projects like this before. Expect a short squat box or another Drake special.
Last edited by gundam00; May 15th, 2012 at 08:06 PM. Reason: i said million instead of billion
That just means we'll have a fenced off site for years while Sitt tries to sell the site.
The retail tenants have cleared out of these buildings.
This tower will block basically all of 500 Fifth Avenue from Top of The Rock.
I hope this will not be slimmer version of the Grace Building
See large: Eric.D.Fleury
Also you can see Extell's hotel tower rising on 45th Street to the far right.
Extell has a mini-monopoly on the cranes in the skyline right now.
A permit has been filed for the 6 story base. Submitted by the city's most prolific high-rise architect, Gene Kaufman.
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01
Sitt is a putz. He's razing these gems for a POS by Kaufman!
Originally Posted by Derek2k3
Worst-case, nightmare, Defcon 6 scenario.
Seriously, something needs to be done about the Kaufman-ification of Manhattan. Can anyone think of any way to derail this insanity? Anyone know Burden? Other members of our faceless-but-powerful bureaucratic elite? Anyone have any connections or access to architecture/city beat reporters?
The irrelevant architectural critics spend their time writing about whether Gehry's Beekman or Mahi's WTC4 is worthy of this or that ... who cares?! Those are fundamentally decent, high-investment buildings, and they come in one's.
Meanwhile, we have Sitt/Chang/Moinian allied with Kaufman/Poon/O'Hara waging war on the city on a scale 10 times as prolific. And ... crickets from the archi-gurus. WTF?
516 Fifth is a lovely, stately Beaux-Arts beauty of historic and aesthetic importance. Amanda Burden, who wouldn't let a Nouvel make its mark on the skyline, is about to let this diaper-rash building stain Midtown.
This of course goes into the larger question of Midtown: Will it remain quintessentially New York, with masonry office towers and old beauties classing up the place ... or will Bloomberg get his re-zoning and inevitably lead to thousands of Kaufman buildings replacing the city's prime architectural heritage? Manhattan these days reminds of the James Joyce quote about Ireland: "the sow that eats her own" young.
I believe the original planned tower was denied by the landmarks commission because it was too glassy, so maybe the tower portion on this one will be like the other new neo-traditional towers down the street.
Doesn't look like Rosen will be building this and the renderings we saw are probably irrelevant.
Prime Fifth Ave. development site hits market
Owner of Seagram Building and other properties said to seek price of around $178 million for a site between West 43rd and West 44th streets that could hold a building as big as 355,000 square feet.
Read more: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...#ixzz28dbQ63IK
Thor bought this site in the spring. We can anticipate a cheap box by Kaufman.
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