Reply With Quote170 William Street
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What's its address?
170 William Street
I can hardly contain myself. It seems that another new benchmark of a world-class city has been established: having a building designed by Frank Gehry.
So I guess its fair to say that there was a height increase and that there’ll be a 22 storey commercial base topped by a 53 storey residential tower. I wonder if increased floor heights and as mentioned the ornamental crown will near 1000 feet. That would be amazing and would counterbalance whatever happens at the WTC.
This is too good for words...
This tower has been constantly evolving and increasing in height. It sounds as if it really would be a postcard for lower Manhattan, and it would have to be special with the new competition set to rise in either direction. I really can't wait to see this design. Gehry seems to be the busiest architect in NY at the moment. I wonder if this design will be completed before his Brooklyn office towers and arena. It seems likely, but either way we are about to witness the rebirth of the greatest NY yet, with the other boroughs now in on some of the action....Several blocks west of the Calatrava tower, Frank Gehry is working on a luxury high-rise for the Ratner Development Company, the same developer he is teamed with to design the proposed Nets stadium in Brooklyn.
Whatever the interiors are like, the public will most likely get the best view. Mr. Gehry's 75-story tower — which could not be shown here, because it is still in the earliest stages of design — is conceived as a series of undulating glass panels that hang down over the building's structural frame like flowing drapery. The curtain-like surfaces split apart at various points, then peel open at the top to create an almost classical crown. In its way, the tower is as elaborate as the nearby Woolworth Building, whose soaring neo-gothic stone facades set a standard of aesthetic excess and visual splendor nearly a century ago.
The great news is that he is among them and that both this project and Atlantic Yards are being fast-tracked...Gehry seems to be the busiest architect in NY at the moment. I wonder if this design will be completed before his Brooklyn office towers and arena. It seems likely, but either way we are about to witness the rebirth of the greatest NY yet, with the other boroughs now in on some of the action....
Another look at the site of the new Gehry tower...
lol--to bad that highway is there. How do you get around that thing, anyway? Are there any pedestrian passages under or above it?
That's not an expressway, but feeders for the brooklyn bridge. It's more pedestrian than it might seem b/c city hall, the bridge and a major subway station are right across the street.
ohhh, okay. Well, now it actually seems sort of cool :P
And there is Maria's Tower where ill be a resident in 1 year!!! :-D!! Prime location for construction views!Originally Posted by NYguy
You know we're going to be expecting construction pictures, right? :P
Of course
The following article from Tribecatrib.com, which dealt with the tower when it was thought to be 50 stories, demonstrates my point about how New Yorkers moan and complain about the construction of tall buildings -- let alone supertowers.
New Yorkers (residents and city government alike) lack the "rah-rah" attitude that one finds in other cities in connection with proposed development of mega projects.
Anyway, here's the article:
"50-Story Tower Will Go Up On Parking Lot Next to Hospital"
by Etta Sanders
A 50-story residential tower, to be designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, is planned for the parking lot of NYU Downtown Hospital. The lower floors are expected to house retail stores and a 10,000-square-foot outpatient center for the hospital. Other floors may be the new home for Pace University's business school and student dorms.
The plans were disclosed by community representatives who met with the developer, Bruce Ratner.
Forest City Ratner acquired the rights to develop the site from the hospital in December 2003. A spokesman for Ratner said it was too soon to comment on specific plans of the site, including the choice the architect.
Pace University confirmed that they are in discussions with Ratner, but would not give details of any pending arrangement. "Conversations are taking place, but it is premature to say anything more at this time," said Christopher Cory, a Pace spokesman.
Gehry would be the second high-profile architect tapped to design a building in the area. Last month an apartment building of transparent cubes, designed by Santiago Calatrava, was announced for a location on South Street. Calatrava is the architect of the bird-shaped PATH terminal to be built at the World Trade Center site.
Members of Community Board 1, who had hoped the plans for the site would include a community facility, said they were surprised that Pace, a private university, would be part of the development.
One board member, Marc Donnenfeld, who lives in a 15-story building on Nassau Street adjacent to the parking lot, said he was also disturbed by the size of the proposed building.
"It's going to be huge," he said. "It's going to be like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians."
Suzanne Fass, a 22-year resident of 140 Nassau St., whose windows overlook the parking lot, agreed that 50 stories would be out of scale with the surrounding buildings.
"My main concern and the concern of people in this building is that he not occupy the lot in such a way that he cuts off the air," she said. "All we're asking is that he be a good neighbor."
But the community possesses little leverage to affect the plans.
"We can oppose a tower, but as a community board we technically don't have any capacity to do anything about it," said Madelyn Wils, chair of Community Board 1.
"Out of scale?" Hello, it's the Financial District/Civic Center! The Woolworth Building is three blocks away! Neighborhoods (and views, as I'm sure that this is the primary cause for opposition, at least for residents of that building on Nassau Street) change, for crying out loud; if you wanted stability in your neighborhood, then I would recommend that you move elsewhere.
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