Reply With QuoteIf they've been "doing God's work," then the economy must be the Eleventh Plague.
In With the New
By Eliot Brown
December 8, 2009 | 6:24 p.m
http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/new?page=all
As Goldman Sachs trades its old headquarters for the new, there is a notable constant: the financial firm’s desire for the nondescript.
The company’s new headquarters-to-be, at 200 West Street, is no avant-garde architectural statement, just as its old building, at 85 Broad Street, was entirely missable. The anonymity is on purpose: At a time when its status as the world’s most powerful company is something it would rather keep to itself, both buildings shield Goldman from the glare of unwanted attention.
The anonymous brown stone facade of 85 Broad has been replaced by a shiny glass curtain wall, a skin that blends in with other Battery Park City towers, and it will ultimately be dwarfed by the World Trade Center towers a block to the south. Like 85 Broad, the name “Goldman Sachs” appears nowhere on the building’s exterior, despite the fact that the firm owns and built the tower, and the 11,000 workers that fit inside will be Goldman employees.
Within its doors, things get a bit more flashy: Colorful murals coat the walls of the lobby and new auditorium, and an in-house fitness center and cafeteria sit in the floors above.
Move-ins began earlier this fall, and a Goldman spokeswoman said about 2,000 employees are in the building now, with the expectation that it will be mostly full by the spring. The landscaping is nearly done, as are a bike path and a drop-off: A long line of black town cars now wait for exiting employees outside the building’s front door.
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The anonymity cannot be blamed on the current crisis since the tower was climbing long before it.
If they've been "doing God's work," then the economy must be the Eleventh Plague.
Don't the people earlier in this thread arguing with me saying how this tower is beautiful, feel stupid now.
As that article points out, even Goldman-Sachs themselves did not want or think this shiny, fat turd is good looking.
Their statements back up my contention, which is that the aim of the building wasn't to make a statement or to stick out, but to be contextual and give the appearance of a good neighbor to the other buildings in the WFC.
The architects succeeded as far as I'm concerned. Take a look at the skyline before and after, the Goldman building makes the view better.
They would have built a big box if the could have, but design guidelines mandating that views from WFC be maintained forced them to think a bit out of the box -- that's how the curved wall came about.
^ The curved wall came about because Henry Cobb didn't want it to look like a "cereral box."
Those were the exact words he used to describe the design Goldman had wanted. Read it here.
If left up to Goldman, they wouldn't even have that curved feature.
oquatanginwan, you said it made the skyline better. If your point was to say that it filled up a gap in the skyline, then yes, it did fill up a gap and made it better in that regard but then any building with mass or bulk could have done that. Any building.
The posts from others following yours, showed that most people did not even agree with you that the skyline is better. It pretty much flatlined the skyline. That's not making it better.
A good neighbor in the aesthetic sense is a matter of opinion, and anyway, I doubt it was their intention. More like what was stated in the article.Originally Posted by oquatanginwan
It's more a matter of fact that the building isn't a good neighbor to the neighborhood. However the WFC is regarded in appearance, it at least engages the public. GS offers nothing. A dead spot.
Exactly ^
Seems that's Mr. Cobb trying to put the best light on a restrictive situation.
From that same article:
The 2.1 million-square-foot building was shaped not only by aesthetics, but by zoning and design controls. One key restriction, to preserve riverfront views from the World Financial Center, severely limited how far the tower could extend to the southwest. Rather than render this setback as an angular slice, Mr. Cobb turned it into a gentle curve — after convincing Goldman executives that work stations would fit more efficiently into a curved floor plan.
Yea, pretty sure Mr. Cobb isn't too thrilled. The building is not even on their website, even Fiterman Hall is on there.
PCF aren't the most innovative architects anyway. Here's a building Pei Cobb has designed for Milan that doesn't look too much better than GS.
Anyway, what disappointing is the site is so large they could have built almost anything within the restrictions. It's Goldman's desire to create the largest floorplates possible. If only BPCA stipulated more interesting zoning restrictions.
Last edited by Derek2k3; December 15th, 2009 at 08:36 PM.
Goldman agrees to pay ground rent for new headquarters
Goldman Sachs has reached an agreement in principle with the City, the State, and the Battery Park City Authority to pay $161 million ground rent for its new headquarters building in Battery Park City, according to multiple official sources and a company spokesperson. The firm was originally required to put these funds into an escrow account in return for the right to erect the new building, but was theoretically able to demand that they be returned after the City and State failed to meet a series of deadlines and milestones agreed to in 2005, such as the completion of a new transit hub and the World Trade Center Memorial, which were originally supposed to be finished by Dec. 31, 2009. The most important of these milestones was that the New York Police Department (NYPD) develop and implement a security plan for the World Trade Center complex and surrounding areas by the close of 2009.
The NYPD completed that plan on schedule, in the fourth quarter of last year, but will not be able to "implement" it for several more years because nothing has yet been built at the Trade Center site. For the past six months, says an official source familiar with the discussion, the Bloomberg administration has urged Goldman to accept its good-faith effort to complete the plan as sufficient to justify payment of the $161 million in ground rent. At the end of December, Goldman agreed.
"We've always said it's never been about the money," Goldman Sachs spokesperson Andrea Raphael said. "The New York City Police Department in particular has done a great job. Releasing the money is a gesture of our good faith and we will continue to work with the city on the outstanding issues to ensure pedestrian safety and accessibility for everyone in the Battery Park City community."
Although all sides say that a handshake deal has been reached, a formal agreement has not yet been finalized. When that happens (one government source expects it to be in the next month or so), the $161 million that has been sitting in as escrow account since 2005 will be released to the Battery Park City Authority.
- Matthew Fenton
BPC Broadsheet
Whut?we will continue to work with the city on the outstanding issues to ensure pedestrian safety and accessibility for everyone in the Battery Park City community.
Take a walk around the perimeter. This place has more cameras on site than CBS. All to "ensure pedestrian safety" no doubt. Just don't try to use your camera when there, though (so much for "accessibility for everyone").
This GS gang is too much ...
Let it snow
Downtown Express
January 15, 2010
Unlike almost every other property owner in the city, Goldman Sachs will not be responsible for clearing the snow off some of the sidewalks around its new headquarters in Battery Park City.
It’s hard to imagine that after Goldman gave out billions of dollars in bonuses last year, the banking firm can’t spring for a little extra to maintain its sidewalks, but Goldman execs told Community Board 1 last week that it was all part of their agreement with the Battery Park City Authority. Jessica Healy, who does community relations for Goldman, said the authority and Hudson River Park Trust were responsible for the sidewalk on three sides of its new building.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” said Maria Smith, a public member of the board. “I doubt it could all work.”
It turned out that Healy was partly mistaken, and Goldman will maintain most of its sidewalks, except for the West St. frontage, which will be the Hudson River Park Trust’s job. However, Noreen Doyle, executive vice president of the Trust, said she was not sure their snow removal equipment could fit through Goldman’s security bollards. If not, then Goldman will have to clear the West St. sidewalk itself, just like Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center, Doyle added.
Clearly GS built this building out of fear of the public they are pillaging. When will people show up with pitchforks and torches and storm it like the Bastille?
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