Reply With QuoteI hope it's consistent with his style. Having his tower next to Calatrava's and the FT will signal a renaissance of the Lower Manhattan skyline.
Yes
No
Getting back to Gehry . . . my guess is that the tower will look similar to the one he proposed for The Times, a wavy box.
It seems like that is his signature style and besides, Ratner himself described it as wavy like a woman's figure.
I hope it's consistent with his style. Having his tower next to Calatrava's and the FT will signal a renaissance of the Lower Manhattan skyline.
I agree.Originally Posted by antinimby
Can you imagine her being Copper? Go oxidation!No, but since many people assumed that was what all the scaffolding was for, it was explained on a TV program about the renovation. Removing the green stuff was really removing metal that had chemically changed. Exposing the shiny copper to the air would just start the process all over again, making the metal thinner. Once the green patina forms, oxidation almost stops.
I guess it works.
Any renderings yet?
Im sure when there are renderings, they will be posted.
Haha, i like your new sn....i'm thinking of chaning mine
thanks!
Thank you Yankee. Kolbster incase you didn't see the deleted post above yours bumping of threads is not allowed on Wired New York. When there is an update it will be posted in the appropriate thread respectively. Bumping threads does not magically create updates, it creates clutter.
More of the same, atleast its still on track:
Tribeca Tribune:
Will New K-8 School Solve Crowding?
by Etta Sanders
The recent announcement of plans for a new 600-seat kindergarten through 8th grade school Downtown was welcome news for a community where classroom space is getting tighter as the residential population soars.
The 100,000-square-foot school, part of a planned 75-story residential tower next to NYU Downtown Hospital on Beekman Street, will open its doors in the fall of 2008.
Additionally, a 10,000-square-foot annex to P.S. 234, at Greenwich and Chambers Streets, is expected to be ready in the fall of 2007.
The new schools will help relieve crowding at P.S. 234, now more than 100 students over capacity. But with the many families expected to move Downtown in the next few years, will it be enough?
"In an immediate sense it will help," said Sandy Bridges, principal of P.S. 234, which is soon to be dwarfed on two sides by new apartment buildings. "I don't know what the growth is going to be. It is quite possible they could fill that up immediately."
Community Board 1 has projected that 13,000 new apartments will be built or under construction Downtown between 2000 and 2005. The 75-story tower that will rise along side the east-side school will encompass 650 and 750 apartments, according to the developer, Bruce Ratner. If only one-third of those apartments have just a single child in public school, they alone would fill nearly one-third of the new school.
"Even with the annex built and the new school, there will not be a great many empty seats," said Paul Hovitz, chairman of the community board's Youth and Education Committee.
The new residential developments on the two lots adjacent to P.S. 234, Sites 5B and 5C, will add another 670 apartments that will likely be ready for occupancy before any new school space is ready. Scott Resnick, the developer of Site 5C, where construction has already begun, said he hopes to have the apartments occupied in 2006, a year before the P.S. 234 annex opens.
In a September 2004 agreement signed by City Councilman Alan Gerson and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, the city promised "to use reasonable efforts to complete the building of the [k-8] school by the date the residential units of Site 5B are occupied."
But Edward Minskoff, the developer of Site 5B, told the Trib in January that he hoped to have people moving in by early 2007. That would be a year and a half before the projected opening of the new school.
"Our big concern is that 5B will be populated before the new school opens," said Kevin Fisher, P.S. 234's PTA president. "We may get 50 kids."
That may leave P.S. 234 scrambling to absorb new students in already cramped space. While it is not known how many school-age children may be moving in, Bridges said, "the space they allocate [in the new schools] is to play catch up and before you know it we'll be suffering again."
Bridges said that in the next two years the school may have to convert its science and art rooms into classrooms, and there are doubts about whether pre-k can be offered next year. "There is going to be a year or two where we're going to be really uncomfortable," she said. "We're just going to have to do the best we can."
Still to be determined is who will go to each of the neighborhood's three elementary schools once the new east-side school opens. "I think it's wonderful we'll have a k-8, now we'll want to talk about the catchment area," said Hovitz.
Marge Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Education (DOE), said it was too early to know what the zoning will be. "Zoning lines have not yet been determined," she said. "The region will be looking at the needs of the entire Downtown area, so it is premature to discuss zoning lines at this point."
In the September 2004 agreement, the city pledged to seek zoning for the school that would be carved out of the area now zoned for P.S. 89 and P.S. 234.
The procedure for zoning of new schools starts with the Education Department's community superintendent, who draws the lines after consultation with the regional superintendent, community representatives and neighborhood parents. The final zoning decision will be made by the Community Education Council (CEC), a parent body whose forerunner was the District 2 school board. Zoning for P.S./I.S. 89, at Chambers and West Streets in Battery Park City, was determined just seven months before the school opened in September 1998.
The new k-8 will be the first school in Lower Manhattan where students will continue in the same school after 5th grade. Currently most graduates of P.S. 89 and P.S. 234 go to middle schools outside of Lower Manhattan.
In addition to traveling out of their neighborhood as early as 6th grade, children must be interviewed or take tests to get into a middle school of their choice. "For a 10-year-old, it's ludicrous," said Hovitz. "The pressure is enormous."
Parents at P.S. 89 have advocated for I.S. 89 to be a zoned neighborhood middle school, but the Department of Education has rejected their request because the school is not large enough to accommodate all the eligible students in the zone.
Last year the 5th grade graduating classes at P.S. 234 and P.S. 89 totaled more than 175 students. Even with a middle school as part of the new east-side k-8 school there still may not be enough middle school seats to have a zoned 6-8 grade school.
Hovitz said there is community support for a zoned middle school, but that it would have to have space for students at P.S. 89, P.S. 234 and P.S. 150. This year, the 5th grade graduating classes at P.S. 234 and P.S. 89 will total 160 students and the numbers are growing. At P.S. 89 the graduating class jumped from 45 last year to 70 this year, according to principal Ronnie Najjar.
Last month parents at P.S. 89 broadened their request beyond just the zoning of I.S. 89. In a letter to Mayor Bloomberg they said they want an option that "guarantees their children a seat in a zoned 6th-8th grade school located in our community."
Angela Benfield, co-president of the I.S. 89 PTA, said it's up to the city to devise a solution. "We just tell them what's needed," she said. "Let them figure it out."
Weren't we supposed to see renditions by now?
Oh well, you can never trust the designs of big buildings to come out on time. *Cough* Freedom Tower *Cough*
At least Gehry's likely is worth the wait.Weren't we supposed to see renditions by now?
Oh well, you can never trust the designs of big buildings to come out on time. *Cough* Freedom Tower *Cough*
No renderings, one must accept that from a celebrity architect, but the project continues to make news.
Perspectives on Expansion: Part Four in a Five-Part Series on Campus Planning
Surrounded Downtown, Pace Looks to Grow by Leasing
By Emily Schwarz
Spectator Senior Staff Writer
March 24, 2005
In November 2003, the president of Pace University, David A. Caputo, launched a five-year improvement plan to raise the school to Tier II status in the U.S. News and World Report annual college rankings. While this plan focuses on developing the university’s academic resources, Pace has also looked to expand physically. Pace’s Lower Manhattan campus faces unique constraints because its neighborhood is so highly developed and because of grants made available to developers in Lower Manhattan after Sept. 11th, 2001.
Frank Gehry, a prominent architect, is designing a skyscraper near the school’s Lower Manhattan campus. Pace had planned to lease 50,000 square feet of space in the new building and move its business school there, and to build new residence halls. But in November 2004, the developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, increased prices in the building, and the deal fell through when Pace refused to foot the bill. To the community’s satisfaction, a public school will now occupy part of this space.
Pace’s failed attempt to expand its campus illustrates the often-fragile relationship between developers and universities. Richard Whitfield, Pace’s executive vice pesident for Finance and Administration, said Pace has learned that “campus development and involvement in any project is complex. Even with the best plans and the best intentions, things can go wrong. When they go wrong, you have to step back and revise.”
After losing access to this space, the university has commissioned an external study to determine its space needs and which buildings in Lower Manhattan might be feasible places for Pace to lease or purchase. Unlike the other universities featured in this series, Pace is located in Lower Manhattan where there is very little vacant land, and so, Pace must look to acquire space in existing buildings.
The Ratner Building
In the 1950s, the area where Pace’s downtown campus is now located was designated an urban renewal zone. Jordan Gruzen, a partner at Gruzen Samson, an architecture firm that works in Lower Manhattan, explained that under this designation, the existing buildings were torn down and new buildings were built, including Pace University’s main academic building and NYU’s Downtown Hospital. However, a parking lot in this area, owned by the hospital, was never developed.
The hospital has only recently realized its plans to develop on this land, in the form of a one million square foot, 70-story multi-use building. The hospital hired Forest City Ratner Companies as its developer and in December 2003, Ratner purchased the land from the hospital, on the condition that the building include clinical space.
“The whole genesis of the project is the sale of the hospital land,” argued Paul Goldstein, the chair of Community Board 1, who hold local jursidiction.
According to Goldstein, the hospital is severely in debt and in poor condition. “We have to accept a huge building because the hospital wanted to gain every possible dollar out of the sale of their land,” he said.
Since the area is no longer an urban renewal zone, there are no restrictions on the use of the land, explained Michele de Milly of Geto & Demilly Inc., the public relations company representing Ratner, in an e-mail. “The building will conform to all existing zoning regulations and there are no limitations on the site,” said de Milly. “Forest City Ratner Companies has been working closely with government agencies to accommodate these important community facilities and amenities into the development,” such as retail space.
The bottom 24 floors were designated for Pace University and the hospital. Pace planned to lease 330,000 square feet. There is also a 45-story residential tower, retail on the ground floor and below-ground parking.
Pace planned to include dormitories, its business school and offices, an art gallery, and community space for the public in its portion of the building. Whitfield said that this project was valuable because of its proximity to Pace’s other academic buildings, and because of its magnitude, which would have brought visibility to the school. Also, Whitfield explained that with growing interest in the university’s dance and forensic science programs, there is a greater need for both lab and studio space.
After Sept. 11th, the federal government allocated money in the form of Liberty Bonds for commercial and residential development to help stimulate the economy of Lower Manhattan. Tax-exempt commercial Liberty Bonds are distributed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and residential Liberty Bonds are managed by the New York City Housing Development Corporation. The housing in this complex will receive residential Liberty Bonds, and commercial Liberty Bonds were designated for the construction of the 24 floors to be occupied by Pace and the hospital.
“We’re pleased that the Liberty Development Corporation has approved the use of Liberty Bonds for this vital project, which will enhance the city’s educational and health care infrastructures and generate jobs and economic activity in Lower Manhattan,” Bruce C. Ratner, President and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, told the Liberty Development Corporation, the umbrella organization in charge of allocating the Liberty Bonds, in May 2004.
Ratner Deal Falls Through
But in November of last year, Ratner told Pace that it had underestimated the construction price and the university would have to pay the same price, about $180 million, for 30 percent less space in the new building. At that point, President Caputo said that Pace would end its negotiations with Ratner.
Ratner’s decision to increase the price of development, forced “Pace to reconsider its plans for downtown expansion,” President Caputo stated in a Pace University press release on Nov. 3, 2004. “We have no intention of abandoning the downtown that has been our home for nearly 100 years. But neither will we financially jeopardize academic programs and scholarships for this project.”
Caputo said that Ratner made this decision “despite a signed term sheet specifying basic concepts and details, and after 11 months of good faith negotiation including discussions facilitated by a broad spectrum of city and state officials.”
Once Pace backed out of the project, it was determined that a public school would occupy some of this space the university had planned to occupy. According to Goldstein, neighbors are happy that there will be a public school because it will better serve the needs of the community.
Ratner lost the commercial Liberty Bonds designated to the space Pace was intended to occupy. According to a New York Times article by David Dunlap published on Nov. 4, 2004, Ratner said that after losing the Liberty Bonds, it “would seek low-interest financing from the city and state available for residential projects that reserve 20 percent of their units for affordable rentals.”
Pace’s Current Development Plans
Having lost space in the Gehry building, Whitfield initiated a study to determine the university’s space needs and other possible locations for Pace to lease or purchase in Lower Manhattan. Whitfield said he is currently selecting a real estate advisory firm to perform this analysis. Since the study will not be completed until early fall, Whitfield said that he did not know what other buildings Pace may consider in the future to lease or purchase.
Pace has already expanded its campus in Lower Manhattan in the past decade. There are new dorms on William and Fulton Streets, and even a new dorm across the East River in Brooklyn Heights. Pace also leases space on William Street for offices, a computer lab, and class space.
There are plenty of other buildings with available space nearby that Pace can lease, Whitfield said. He said that with a decline of office rentals in buildings located in Lower Manhattan, there is an increase in available space in large buildings that can be transformed into classrooms and dorms. Nonetheless, he pointed out that it would have been convenient to have space in the Ratner building since it is adjacent to Pace’s main academic buildings.
Goldstein agreed that there are many other locations where Pace could move in Lower Manhattan, and they are often less expensive than the proposed space in the Ratner building. “There is already dorm space a block or two away [from the main campus]. It wouldn’t be the first time they had a building further away,” he said.
Community Relations
The new Ratner skyscraper will be the second-tallest building in the neighborhood. Concerned that it will block even more air and light from homes, local residents are demanding benefits in conjunction with any new construction.
Goldstein said that when Pace was planning to occupy space in the Ratner building, it was more receptive to the community’s requests for access to the university’s resources. He said that these negotiations ended when the university backed out of the project and Pace’s head of community relations took another job. He added that CB1 plans to bring their demands back to the table as soon as a new community relations person is hired.
“Theoretically, Pace can go back to discussing, but my sense was that they were more eager to talk to the community when building a new building,” added Goldstein.
According to Whitfield, Pace has expanded its community programs over the past few years. For example, the university instituted a community service requirement last year and, as a result, there are several new courses involving volunteer work.
“The goal is to instill an active sense of social responsibility while improving the nearby community,” the university said in a Nov. 12, 2003 press release.
In one class last year, students worked with the pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary parish to create a small museum for the history of Lower Manhattan, and in a math class, students used “data analysis, probability, statistical inference to make decisions about education, health, money, careers, and government,” according to the press release.
Another outreach effort, Pace’s Center for Downtown New York, was founded to “serve the community as an academic, research, and civic leadership partner in the effort to revitalize Lower Manhattan,” according to a different university press release. The Center created the Pace Downtown Index, which will monitor the economic development of Lower Manhattan since Sept. 11.
The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace, a venue for professional and student programming, provides access to arts and dance performances for students and the neighborhood. Part of Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival took place at this Center and the Community Works/Theater Connections and brings 1,000 children to seven different dance and theater shows each year.
Similar to the University of Pennsylvania’s high school, in 2004 Pace gave funding to open a local public high school that receives guidance from its School of Education.
They now say 70 stories, but it still says second tallest in neighborhood.
Your right, sorry
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