Quote:
Originally Posted by DCReid
The new proposal does not make much sense. Why would they position the outdoor terrace to be obscured by another fairly close building? And a building that is way to bulky, in my view.
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The planning for this tower was put in place before the railyard plans came to be. It's
always been planned to be the largest of the Hudson Yards towers along the boulevard, and could have been larger had City Planning gotten its way with unlimited FARs (the City Council put limits in the plan because they wanted some sort of control over what developers could build). Even before Related got involved with the railyards.
Unlimited FAR planning for the "four corners"
Max FAR given by the City Council
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/ny...ocks.html?_r=0
The Sky Is No Longer the Limit on Far West Side Buildings
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
January 13, 2005
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"No limit."
These were perhaps the most striking words in the rezoning plan for the Far West Side of Manhattan, also known as Hudson Yards. They referred to the density limit that the City Planning Commission, until this week, intended to place on the commercial development of two blocks at the heart of Hudson Yards. None.
Developers would have been free to build towers on these blocks as large as they could. There would have been no specified maximum under the density control called the floor-area ratio, or F.A.R., which has regulated building sizes throughout the city since 1961.
Visions of office towers soaring 80 stories and higher were conjured by Community Board 4 last year in its critique of the plan, which described the overall density as "unprecedented, undesirable and ultimately unnecessary for the city's future."
When Melinda Katz, the chairwoman of the City Council's Land Use Committee, learned of the no-limit provision at a hearing last month, she told planning officials, "I'm sure we'll be getting back to you on that."
In a telephone interview yesterday, Ms. Katz, a Queens Democrat, explained: "No. 1, I was concerned with precedent. No. 2, we were uncomfortable as a council with passing something that basically took the authority for creating a limit away from us."
To the administration's credit, she said, a floor-area ratio of 33 was quickly imposed on the two blocks after objections to the no-limit proposal were raised. That was one of several compromises made in the Hudson Yards plan before the committee approved it on Monday, 15 to 0, with 1 abstention. It goes to the full Council for a vote next Wednesday.
The blocks in question are bounded by 10th and 11th Avenues and 33rd and 35th Streets. They are known as the Four Corners because they would be bisected by a new north-south midblock boulevard, which would effectively create four large building sites. The southwest site would be directly over the new terminus of a planned extension of the No. 7 subway line.
"You have to have density to get vibrancy," said Amanda M. Burden, chairwoman of the Planning Commission and director of the City Planning Department. "We believe that deeply, deeply, deeply."
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That was a quick recap.
So we've known for a long time (along with Related) that this site would contain a
very large tower. I guess its the first time
visualizing it that leads to questions, but the deck is situated to over look Manhattan. It could have something to do with the engineering of it as well, but I don't know. Consider that if Manhattan West rose to 1,200 ft just to the east, it would be a similar situation. The tower
could potentiall be designed so as not to interfere with views, but I think Related is more interested in protecting office views from both towers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scalziand
It is very bulky, yes. It looks to me that this tower is supposed to be at roughly the same height as the obs deck in the North tower,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyscrapersOfNewYork
Guys its a place holder...
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Yeah, it's just a place holder. But now many are seeing what we've known - it will be a very large tower. Now just add the Girasole (3 HB) and Sherwood's tower to the model, and it will really drive home just how dense this area will be.
edensutley
