NEW YORK | 31 W. 57th St | FT | FLOORS
 

I will hate to see these buildings go, but the 57th Street wave is just too hot...


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/ny...gain.html?_r=0

Bookstore May Have to Flee the Wrecking Ball, Again


http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/...-master675.jpg


By CHARLES V BAGLI
JAN. 14, 2014

Google Earth view...


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/154141752/original.jpg



http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/154141753/original.jpg



http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/154141754/original.jpg


Location in relation to other development or potential development sites...


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/154141785/original.jpg

My guess is another skinny supertall residential, and with a location just off Fifth, could have the highest prices of any of the 57th Street towers.

Yeah, I'm thinking that also. There's no way they're getting an office building of any value built on that site, and the highest value of a residential tower there is in views of the park. I don't know how tall they will go, it doesn't really need to be a supertall. But stay tuned.

Ow. That's gonna hurt when those are knocked down. If only they transferred the airrights to 50w58th. That's a crummy building that would be ok being demoed.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.honestbui...134bf8f9a4.JPG
https://www.honestbuildings.com/buil.../50-w-58th-st/

Actually, now that I look into it, 50w58th was sold in 2012 to BOB 57 LLC, with plans to demo in 2015. So that may just happen.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...66730240179896

I think this is one of the assemblages that RW and Crawford have been hinting at.

Yep. These buildings back up to the Hadassah building, which was just sold.

So you can see this is a bigger assemblage than just the three 57th Street buildings. Vornado has very substantial air rights here.

The townhouse on the left can go. It's plain hideous but the other ones are beautiful and should stay. This will be painful to watch.

Will be interesting to follow this development. They have Park Lane to contend with, too.

this is a good yet bad thing,sure we may see something good arise from this but these buildings are really a loss :/

This is a tragedy we lost enough of these buildings with 432 Park Ave... can no one do as the Hearst did and incorporate these towers in with the design?

^ikr? its disheartening :(

Yeah, plans are quietly coming together. The views of Central Park drives this and other similar developments. So I expect something tall here. They will at least get a head-start on whatever happens with the Park Lane.

New York sucks.

I wish those three buildings were landmarked; surely there are plenty of banal buildings on 57th street that can be razed for this tower. Will never get over the Drake Hotel and this will be another catastrophe. So many of the buildings that make or made New York beautiful came down or are coming down at rapid speed, while the hideousness remains untouched.

But at the end of the day it all comes down to $$, and this is NYC and not Paris where beauty is celebrated. It's much cheaper to buy these helpless beauties and knock them down vs razing the hulking 1970s dumps.

One could also argue that so many buildings that make or will return the New York skyline to the beauty it is known for are going up at a rapid speed.

As is obvious, you can't just replace one site with another. Still, it will be disappointing to see these towers go, but there is nothing particularly landmark-worthy of them. The value to me is in variety of scale on the block. But do I need to see a townhouse on that stretch of 57th? Not really. That stretch of 57th is turning into something else, those townhouses may no longer have a place there.

We can't be so sure. Look at that horrendous pile that Barnett is throwing up on 57th St. If Tower Verre and Steinway tower were the norm, it wouldn't bother me as much.

The general state of architecture in this city has me on edge.

Yeah, we don't know, but we can't just freeze development because of it. I can't recall the address right now, but remember the lone townhouse that stood while Rockefeller Plaza got built around it? It's the natural evolution of Manhattan. It wasn't always covered with these tall skyscrapers.


http://www.scoutingny.com/about-that...-sixth-avenue/

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8526/8...09b735bb_o.jpg

Man, I wish u could pick these old beauts up and relocate.

You can. The ability more than exists to deconstruct these facades piece by piece and reconstruct them on a new frame. It just takes deep pockets and a owner that cares enough to undertake such a thing. Plenty of building have been facadectomised in place, but I would think reconstructing elsewhere would actually be easier.

Can they not use those facades and incorporate them? It happens here in Toronto all the time (though sometimes it looks pretty bad). Would definitely be sad to see those buildings go.

Rizzoli was an awesome store back in the day
 

Although I understand the economic rationale for its impending demise, I can remember spending very pleasant times leafing through very beautiful (and expensive) architecture books back in the 80s before the wealth of photos these hallowed pages now provide. RIP, Rizzoli, and thanks for the memories.

To the new developers: build something worthy of Rizzoli!