237 West 54th Street

[lofter1]

Another brown pile to match the load of carp he built for Sheraton on Canal Street. So so so bad.

[londonlawyer]

Not to mention, they torn down a nice old building for this POS. Then again, this design is no worse than the vanilla box that will rape the skyline at 57th and Park.

[John Q. Public]

Last week CB5 met again (mostly zombies neither commenting, asking questions, nor doing any more then being yes men and women) gave Moinian and Kaufman an almost unanimous yes on the boring looking hotel. It was again reported on by Jill Colvin on DNAinfo.com, as seen here:

http://www.dnainfo.com/20111111/midt...oversial-hotel

At least the Planning Commission still has till the end of December to weigh in. Even though he has yet to get the final OK to add 7 floors to his filed plans (not yet amended), he has his gophers digging away on a foundation. I wonder what the timetable is for damaging his existing building next door?

[John Q. Public]

Strangely enough, work stopped last week on the site. Maybe his financial partner dropped out? We can only hope! He has, however, filed amended plans after he had a Partial Stop Work order on the site. Here's the amendment:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/BS...de=SC132007405

[John Q. Public]

Here's an update from Steve Cuozzo in the NY Post this Tuesday.

Hilton saying hi to 54th St.

By STEVE CUOZZO
Last Updated:12:43 AM, February 28, 2012
Posted:12:43 AM, February 28, 2012
Always something new on our favorite development block — the noisy one between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, and West 54th and 55th streets, where three big projects are clamorously under way.
The mysterious hotel soon to rise at 237 W. 54th St. is going to be a Hilton, it turns out — although which Hilton brand is unknown.
Joseph Moinian, who claims he’s merely a “minority, noncontrolling member” of a joint venture with Starwood Capital that owns the land and is buying air rights, said through a rep, “Nothing has been formally signed” on the 34-story project, for which foundation work is ongoing.
Our source, however, seemed solid — a new fence sign that states, “The name of this project is: Hilton Hotel.”
The block is also home to two rapidly rising, much bigger projects: Boston Properties’ 1 million-square-foot 250 W. 55th St. office tower and Granite Broadway’s 68-story twin hotels at 1717 Broadway, Courtyard by Marriott and Residence by Marriott.
“It’s an extraordinary amount of construction on one block at the same time,” Community Board 5 district managerWally Rubingently put it.
Boston so far has signed only Morrison Foerster for just under 200,000 square feet. A possible lease with another law firm, Mayer Brown, fell by the wayside, we’re told, when partners decided to wait another year before deciding.
In a recent conference call with investors, Boston PresidentDouglas Lindesaid lower floors at 250 W. 55th were priced in the mid-$80s a square foot, compared with the $90-plus landlords want for older East Side buildings.
Caught in the middle are tenants of 243 W. 54th St., a tiny three-story apartment building owned by Moinian that’s sandwiched between Boston’s tower and the secretive Hilton.
They’ve complained to the Dept. of Buildings about the hotel project — alleging damage to their homes, inspectors who ignored violations and work done without permits. The department says the job conforms with code, no complaints were overlooked and violations were corrected.
It’s hard to sort out, but one thing is clear: 243 W. 54th St. is no place for an afternoon nap.

When I read the above, I have to wonder how they can be building a foundation when nothing is signed. Sounds strange.

Read more:http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...#ixzz1nnVNsPO4

[antinimby]

I guess Hilton have very low standards for their hotel's architectural appearance.

The Times Square one is a hideous eyesore as well.

[Peteynyc1]

Giving Manhattan the big middle finger.

[antinimby]

There's going to be blank walls galore on that block.

[RoldanTTLB]

Other than the other buildings on the block not being shown, the eastern blank wall on this will abut the western blank wall on 1715 Bway, so success! It also looks like 1715 won't be so blank above this tower. 250 w55th is unblank all the way around, so I think it's really just the western wall on this that will be blank. That means just the lawyers there will have to stare at it.

[John Q. Public]

Since the new Hilton under construction at 237 West 54th Street will only be 34 stories high, and the Marriott to the east will be 68 stories, the Marriott could and should have windows to the west for the top half, giving visitors a view all the way to the Hudson River.

That's if it gets built in a safer way than the preceding building was demolished. Note this item by Steve Cuozzo in the New York Post on Saturday, March 24:

"Meanwhile, tenants at 243 W. 54th St. — a tiny, four-story apartment building sandwiched between mega-projects going up on either side — complained to the DOB for months of damage to their own building caused by demolition of 237 W. 54th next door.
The damage included a large hole in a foundation wall. Yet inspectors declined to cite the owners of the adjacent site for violations and, according to the tenants, at one point denied a hole even existed.
According to signs previously at the site, one contractor involved at 237 W. 54th was Breeze National — the same mob-linked outfit involved in Thursday’s tragedy in Harlem, where a wall collapse killed one man and injured two others. (Strangely, Breeze’s name doesn’t appear on the DOB Web site filings for the West 54th Street address.)
Now that demolition is over — mercifully without fatalities — residents of 243 W. 54th can look forward to a 34-story hotel going up against the side wall of their homes. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course — but is anyone at City Hall paying attention to safety?
With so much construction all over town, you’d think the need to protect the public would command the mayor’s urgent attention.
But given his strange priorities, don’t count on seeing the mouse-chasers deployed to the scenes of actual catastrophes any time soon."


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion...#ixzz1q2mygZGe

[antinimby]

Those poor folks in that four story building. I don't know how they manage but it must be like hell.

[Peteynyc1]

I wish this sh**box wasn't being built at all.

[babybackribs2314]

Monstrosity begins to rise, http://newyorkyimby.blogspot.com/201...west-54th.html

[lofter1]

Uh oh ... Big RAT is gonna getcha!

[ramvid01]

If they built a giant rat structure the size of the current development here, it would be more interesting than the actual building render itself.