Quote:
Originally Posted by jackster99
From the article NYguy just posted:
“Religious institutions in this city have long faced a battle in keeping up their buildings, and this is an opportunity,” Arzt said.
I'm not sure he realizes this particular "religious institution" building might actually be torn down
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I think they're leaning more towards a redevelopment along the likes of 111 W. 57th. The church is going to benefit from it, they wouldn't do it otherwise. In either case, the church would still have an improved home on site.
Barnett has similar plans with the development on 66th...
Quote:
Extell is in advanced talks to buy the Congregation Habonim synagogue at 44 W. 66th St. in a deal valued at $75 million, with plans to build condominiums on the site, according to documents the synagogue filed in New York State Supreme Court
...The Habonim synagogue agreed to the sale after concluding that its building near Lincoln Center, completed in 1958, was increasingly costly to maintain and no longer large enough for the services it sought to provide, according to the court filing.
Under the deal, the congregation would receive $45 million in cash upfront. Extell then would build a new space for the synagogue at the base of its future condo development
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As I mentioned earlier, these religious institutions are sitting on gold mines, and at a time when finances are harder, it would almost be foolish not to cash in.
Anyway, we still know very little about the development, but already speculation is in the media...
http://www.businessweek.com/articles...o-central-park
Will Gary Barnett Bring a Third Skyscraper Shadow to Central Park?
By Devin Leonard
October 14, 2014
Quote:
It appears that prolific New York developer Gary Barnett is planning another supertall, skinny tower on 57th Street in Manhattan. The Wall Street Journal reports that Extell Development, Barnett’s firm, is in negotiations to purchase a site owned by Calvary Baptist Church on the same block as Extell’s 1,004-foot One57.
The talks are pretty far along, according to the Journal, and church documents reviewed by the newspaper indicate that Fox & Fowle Architects is collaborating with Extell on a design plan. The church, meanwhile, has hired a property broker and a law firm with a deep real-estate bench. Extell already owns a 15-story apartment building behind the site.
Barnett, whom I recently profiled in Bloomberg Businessweek, surely understands that he is taking a sizable risk with his latest pursuit. He says he had all the approvals necessary to build a second tower on 57th Street with a spire that could reach as high as 1,775 feet. The area south of Central Park is zoned “as of right,” meaning there are no height limits. A third Extell tower at the site of the church could be even taller.
The news isn’t likely to be happily received by city officials and civil groups who are already unhappy about shadows that One57 and its fast-rising residential skyscraper neighbors cast into Central Park. The anti-Extell forces may not be able to do anything about the second Barnett edifice. The threat of a third Extell superstructure could galvanize Barnett’s opponents to push legislation through New York’s City Council either limiting building heights in the neighborhood or requiring a nettlesome public review process that could make it tougher for guys like him to construct future towers there.
Then again, Barnett may feel he has no choice. He has started a tower boom at the southern end of Central Park. If he doesn’t acquire the site, some other developer might.
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Here's a look at the 58th Street side where Barnett has the apartment building...
I'm not sure what else Extell already has on this side. I also don't think Barnett used all of the available air rights for One57, though I could be mistaken. Anyway, I could see a potential tower shifted to the 58th St side (like Nordstrom). The money shots for either of these towers would be north and south, so the sandwich effect might not make much of a difference, especially if there is a slender tower.
Here you also see the development sites of the Park Land and 31 W. 57th.