2628 & 2633 Broadway: Ariel West - by Cook + Fox | Ariel East - by Cetra/Ruddy

[krulltime]

I just though about making a different thread for these two...

Originally Posted by Gulcrapek

http://www.arielcondos.com

The cousins across Broadway..

Good find Gulcrapek! I like them!

Here are the renderings and an article...




Extell's Broadway towers are dissimilar


25-OCT-05

Renderings of the two condominiuim apartment towers that Extell Development Company has begun constructing facing one another on Broadway between 99th and 100th Streets indicate that they are very dissimilar.

The projects are known as Ariel East and Ariel West. Extell names it projects after stars.

Ariel East is a 37-story, 64-unit tower at 2628 Broadway designed by Cetra/Ruddy Incorporated and it features 7 setbacks facing Broadway and many corner windows.

Ariel West is a 31-story, 73-unit tower at 245 West 99th Street and 2633 Broadway designed by Cook & Fox and it has few setbacks and its slab from recalls that of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It is a mid-block site that was formerly occupied by a Gristede’s store that collapsed during demolition injuring several pedestrians.

The two towers will significantly alter the northern skyline of the Upper West Side that heretofore has been dominated by the Riverside Church at 120th Street and Riverside Drive, the Master Apartments on Riverside Drive at 103rd Street and the Columbia Apartments at 275 West 96th Street.

Extell is also developing the Orion at 350 West 42nd Street and the former Stanhope Hotel at 985 Fifth Avenue and Altair 18 and Altair 20, condo conversions in Chelsea at 32 West 18th Street and 15 West 20th Street, respectively. Gary Barnett, a principal of Extell, was a principal in the recent purchase of a large property at the southern end of Riverside South, the huge development by Donald Trump.


Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY

[krulltime]

Took some photos today...

Ariel West:



Ariel East:

[czsz]

I'm so glad these are happening. These were awkward little sites for the longest time.

I wish there were hope for the west side of the block between 110th and 111th, but it seems that Commerce Bank has expensively rehabbed the building, so little will likely come of it for the time being. The southeast corner of 109th may have potential though.

[krulltime]

Yeah there are so many lots that I see with potential all along on broadway.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Are the buildings on the corners coming down or are those renderings just not showing them?

Thanks for the photos krull.

[krulltime]

You know I notice scafolding on some of those buildings but I ask a worker and he said the scafolding is just there to protect them. So they are not coming down.

It is just that lot you see on the photo for Ariel West... and for Ariel East they will leave the theater like it is. Thats how they gain more high. They bought the air rights.

[Fabrizio]

What a shame.

Upper B´way was for so long distinquished by it´s mix of tall and low buildings. It kept a certain intimacy and small neighborhood feel.... but at least these new towers aren´t so bad looking. Compare them to that 1970´s thing at 96th.

[krulltime]

No! The Art Deco Metro Cinema is not going to be destroy.

No buildings are coming down. There was nothing really special on those lots.

I think these towers are fine... tall and glassy yeah.

I am all on conserving the nice old buildings myself but for new ones... they have to be modern and interesting looking not trying to pretend to be an old gem.

[Fabrizio]

Sorry I didn´read carefully and changed my post... actually the tall stepped-back tower is really nice....majestic.

[czsz]

Upper B´way was for so long distinquished by it´s mix of tall and low buildings. It kept a certain intimacy and small neighborhood feel

It kept it looking patchy and neglected. There's intimacy in a 4-story townhouse next to a 15-story apartment building, but it's not the first word which comes to mind when I think of the 1-story taxpayer buildings nestled between 20-story towers...its appearance was rather more one resembling missing teeth, especially when compared to the majestically unified sweep of West End Avenue nearby.

[Fabrizio]

In fact West End ( like Riverside) was another story...all residential, no business, a quiet boulevard of important doorman buildings....with no street life.

B´way was a MIX of low buildings and tall...lively and kind of funky...that was it´s identity.... a lot of those small buildings were really beautiful and eccentric... the Zabars building is a good example of one that has remained. As I said though, these two towers at least look good and I´m glad to see that the Metro will be saved.

[czsz]

I'm all for buildings like the one Zabar's is in, but undistinguished one-story boxes like those being replaced by these towers have been the bane of Broadway for decades.

[ablarc]

Originally Posted by czsz

I'm all for buildings like the one Zabar's is in, but undistinguished one-story boxes like those being replaced by these towers have been the bane of Broadway for decades.

Banks are prime offenders. They occupy corner lots with single-story crap.

[czsz]

The fact that many of these buildings are now occupied with banks (or their doppelgaengers, Duane Reade pharmacies or cell phone stores) has more to do with the recent trend adopted by certain corporations to blindside the competition and steal their market share. You see the same proportion of them in any sort of building in Manhattan. It really doesn't help though that the big banking chains, which are capable of meeting any high rent demand and even sustain losses to that end to hold onto their market shares, can in that way effectively stave off eviction and therefore any new development on those sites.

[NoyokA]

Originally Posted by Fabrizio

What a shame.

Upper B´way was for so long distinquished by it´s mix of tall and low buildings. It kept a certain intimacy and small neighborhood feel.... but at least these new towers aren´t so bad looking. Compare them to that 1970´s thing at 96th.

Are you talking about the building at the northwest corner of 96th and Broadway?