Reply With QuoteIf this bldg lives up to its name ( i.e. facetted diamond panels which reflect light and quality glass) this could turn out to be quite spectacular despite its boxy shape. As always its all in the execution.
go talk to Gene the Hack Kaufman, and then we'llAnyone could design a building better then this...
talk about how "anyone" could design it better
If this bldg lives up to its name ( i.e. facetted diamond panels which reflect light and quality glass) this could turn out to be quite spectacular despite its boxy shape. As always its all in the execution.
I agree with you!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/ny...20diamond.html
May 20, 2009
Work Resumes on International Gem Tower in Diamond District
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
The city approved the project in 2006.
Demolition of a half dozen buildings in the diamond district followed in 2007, and workers excavated the site last year and poured concrete for the foundation walls.
So the developer, Gary Barnett, couldn’t very well use the word “groundbreaking” on Tuesday morning. But he did describe the “first phase” of building the 34-story International Gem Tower, on the south side of 47th Street between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas, before television cameras and a milling crowd of diamond dealers and tourists in what turned out to be a marketing opportunity for both him and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Mr. Barnett, the chief executive of the Extell Development Company, promoted his long-awaited $750 million tower, albeit six stories shorter than he originally envisioned it, in the hope of attracting his first tenants, while Mr. Bloomberg wrapped it into his oft-repeated election-year “five-borough economic opportunity plan.”
“For the first time,” Mr. Barnett, a former diamond dealer, told the crowd, “New York City’s diamond district will have an international gem and jewelry center on par with other global markets.”
It is a gambler’s move, said Sushil Goyal, who owns Liberty Gems, four doors west of the construction site, at a time when many developers, like Boston Properties, are canceling planned office towers in light of corporate layoffs and rising vacancies. About 20,000 construction workers in New York City have lost their jobs since August.
Hoping to counter any notion that New York is grinding to a halt, Mayor Bloomberg applauded Mr. Barnett’s decision to forge ahead, saying that the tower would provide more than thousands of construction and permanent jobs and help New York City “compete with worldwide gem markets like Shanghai, Dubai and Las Vegas.”
That may be, but even the planned 50-story World Jewelry Center in Las Vegas, which was announced about the same time that Mr. Barnett unveiled plans for his diamond tower, has delayed its construction schedule, and scrapped plans for 100 residential condominiums.
Still, Mr. Barnett appears to be doing what few of his rivals are willing to do in the current downturn: put up a lot of his own money.
Mr. Barnett said that he and his investors were contributing $175 million, and got an extension of their original $170 million loan for three years.
By the end of the year, Extell hopes to sign deals with jewelers, merchants and banks for enough office condominiums to obtain a construction loan. If not, construction could stop.
Mr. Barnett, who said he had received strong interest from gem and diamond dealers from abroad, seems to be taking a modular approach to the project. Over the next six or seven months, he will construct the tower’s three basement levels, which will contain high-security safes for jewelers. At the same time, he will try to sell or lease office space at the top of the tower to financial firms or corporations, which would have their own entrance on 46th Street.
As an inducement, the Bloomberg administration and the state have agreed to provide Extell with up to $49.6 million in tax breaks if it fills 85 percent of the tower with new or expanding jewelry businesses.
Originally, Mr. Barnett planned to lure two centerpieces of the industry: the Diamond Dealers Club and the Gemological Institute. But both to stay in their current offices nearby. So to fill his 750,000-square-foot tower, Mr. Barnett has turned to diamond and jewelry dealers who typically use a couple of thousand square feet each.
Mr. Goyal, at Liberty Gems, said he was very interested in a modern tower that would provide a roof for much of the industry.
His friend, Haridas Kotahwala, president of the Indian Diamond and Colored Stone Association, agreed. “I would prefer to buy 5,000 square feet,” said Mr. Kotahwala, who runs Royal India USA on 46th Street. “He can sell the whole building if he comes in at a good price.”
But Mr. Kotahwala’s idea of a good price is $600 to $700 a square foot, about $500 less than what Extell has in mind.
NY Post
47TH ST. DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05192009...988.htm?page=0
Last updated: 3:56 am
May 19, 2009
Posted: 3:16 am
May 19, 2009
EXTELL's long-awaited Gem Tower on West 47th Street just took a seven-story haircut -- but what's now a 32-story project will get a big sendoff today at a photo-op with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Extell chief Gary Barnett.
The ceremony in front of 50 W. 47th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will officially "launch" the controversial, $750 million project that's roiled the Diamond District and still faces hurdles. But it signifies confidence that the tower can rise once the site is built up to street level by year's end.
Extell spent three years assembling land and air rights for what was to be a 39-story tower on the jewelry block between Fifth and Sixth avenues and stretching all the way through to West 46th Street. It will house diamond-industry users on the 47th Street side and regular office tenants on the 46th Street side. A striking design by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will use transparent glass and a pattern of staggered stainless steel to blur the distinctions between floors and to suggest the facets of a gem.
But last month, Extell quietly filed with the Buildings Dept. to chop the height to 32 stories and its overall floor area to about 750,000 feet from 850,000 square feet, with the reduction all coming out of the office portion.
Raizy Haas, Extell's senior development vice president, said the tower was shortened because a "holdout" she wouldn't identify balked at selling his air rights. "Given our long-term view of things, we decided we had to get going."
It was the latest twist in the saga that's transfixed Diamond District landlords and merchants ever since Extell announced the project -- which is meant to provide a modern home for the city's diamond industry -- three years ago.
Barnett methodically assembled the site and leveled old buildings, leaving a big hole in the middle of the block. Some diamond merchants were bitter over what they felt was an intrusion by a developer on small businesses passed down from generation to generation.
But at least as many welcomed a facility with state-of-the-art infrastructure and security.
Despite today's announcement, the project is not a done deal. Like other developers, Extell can't get a construction loan in a market where credit has disappeared.
But Barnett is confident he can get construction financing next year, after he's secured buyers' commitments for most of the diamond-user space in the tower, which is all being marketed as industrial condominiums.
Haas said, "Based on initial feedback from people in the industry, there's enough interest globally that we feel comfortable."
Acknowledging that failure to sell enough condos could doom Extell's chances for a construction loan, and thus put the tower on hold, she said, "We don't have a crystal ball, but we think it won't have to come to that."
As we first reported in February, Extell filed an offering plan with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office last winter in which 84 of the tower's 88 condo units would be sold, with a total projected sellout of around $355 million. Individual units range from under 1,000 square feet to just over 11,000 feet, priced from $1.2 million-$15.2 million.
Extell is keeping four units of 29,300 square feet each for itself. The tower's office portion, which will be leased, will total around 200,000 square feet, with a separate entrance on 46th Street.
The offering plan was approved last week, allowing Extell to start hunting for buyers -- not only those already in Manhattan, but around the world, Haas said.
Meanwhile, Extell plans to complete the near-finished foundation and bring the site up to street level by the end of the year -- a job that essentially requires creating three large, below-ground floors. Haas declined to discuss how that would be paid for, or by whom.
But real estate sources said it will cost Barnett and his partners $35 million or more out of their own pockets, even without a guarantee that they'll pre-sell enough condos to count on getting a loan to build the actual tower.
"They're taking a big risk," a source familiar with the situation said.
Four years ago, the city's Industrial Development Agency approved up to nearly $40 million in tax benefits for the project, but only if Extell meets specific criteria in how it fills the building. It can only reap the full benefit if 85 percent of the tower is taken by diamond-industry users and 50 percent by businesses new in town or expanding.
Workers on the block are relieved that today's event got the long-barricaded sidewalk open again. Mansour Goldman, of Homa Jewelry Design at 36 W. 47th St., said, "Busi ness was bad and that just made it worse. People had to walk on the other side of the street."
steve.cuozzo@nypost.com
Since he will not get financing before next year, perhaps there's a chance the lady he's seeking to buy the air rights from will change her mind. Though it's probably too late since Extell's is most likely constructing a foundation for a 32 story building.
This is still the 39 story version.
with the haircut down to 32
If anything should be built here it should utilize the maximum zoning allowed. Not shorten it. This is still midtown, isn't it?
Im tired of these short boxes. I would rather see it as an open pit and wait for the economy to improve than have another missed opportunity.
It's not about the economy as much as it is some lame holdout...
progress
This job is moving foward, i am here now excavating the electrical vaults. DCM erectors is waiting on the permit for the tower crane then steel will be flying up! The building was chopped down to 35 stories.
I'm glad you have work!
barely, the heavy construction industry is getting very bad in NYC. I have about 3 weeks of work there then
They are putting up the crane today. They closed 46th street between 5th and 6th to car traffic.
47th Street has some stunning buildings. If some dumpy ones are redeveloped, it could be a beautiful street.
It's a shame that Gershon sold the dump across the street from this project because it's one of the eyesores that needs a date with the wrecking ball.
Last edited by londonlawyer; August 30th, 2009 at 10:44 AM.
I havent been by this site in a few months does anyone know if there at street level with the steel?
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