Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
The Durst Organization bought this site a few months ago.
He said he's interviewing architects, is planning a totally "green" building, and has discarded the old plan.
He also said he's reducing or eliminating the retail space and adding more rental apartments. So I would imagine the final outcome will be much taller and thinner than the previous design (probably something like 839 6th Avenue just to the south).
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Elimination of ground level retail is bad news. That area could use more street level activity, which would be easily channeled from the adjacent and crowded ESB/Macy's area and would provide an inviting connective corridor to Chelsea. This building would benefit from the adjacent pocket park behind The Eventi, while blocking the atrocious Eventi blank wall from northern vantage points.
This would definitely be a great place to build a taller, skinny tower. Unlike the skyscraper thickets of Downtown and Midtown, Midtown South is still largely midrise, punctuated by a few tall towers, so a tower here would provide near-unobstructed sweeping views of the streetscape, facing the ESB, Chrysler, etc on one side and the Hudson River on the other.