NEW YORK | One Vanderbilt | 1,401 FT | 58 FLOORS

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by King DenCity

so i would say we need a new diagram... but this still probably isn't the final design.

Likely not, especially with what we're hearing about the TD Bank proposal. That's basically the same iteration of the tower since it was first proposed.

Looking back on it now, its almost funny how so many people thought De Blasio would kill development in the city.



http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.1811240

New Grand Central office tower can move ahead under mayor's rezoning proposal
A larger rezoning has been put on ice until 2015


May 30, 2014

One of the city's biggest landlords may move ahead with plans to build a giant 65-story office tower near Grand Central Terminal, thanks to a new proposal by the de Blasio administration.

Under the new proposal, landlord SL Green could forge ahead with a 1,200-foot tower called One Vanderbilt, at Vanderbilt Avenue and East 42nd Street. SL Green is likely to apply for a permit to build the tower immediately, which it would receive in return for delivering subway improvements.

The City Council and the City Planning Commission also must sign off on the tower.

The administration's proposal, which would allow taller high-rises on a five-block stretch surrounding Grand Central, breathes life back into a plan laid out by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The former mayor withdrew a proposal to rezone a larger swath of Midtown East citing lack of support in the City Council last year.

The new rezoned area would stretch from East 42nd Street to East 47th Street on Vanderbilt Avenue, a far cry from the massive chunk of Midtown East that Bloomberg wanted to tackle.

The de Blasio administration is putting the larger rezoning on ice until 2015 in order to consult with stakeholders such as community boards, local businesses and the city's Department of Planning. City Council member Daniel Garodnick and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will head up that effort.

Garodnick was one of several community leaders who opposed Bloomberg's plans for a larger rezoning of Midtown East last year, saying the former mayor's efforts had been rushed.

"This plan now puts the right emphasis on upfront infrastructure improvements, and guarantees that there is public review of the projects most likely to move forward early," Garodnick said of the new proposal.

TD Bank is reportedly in talks to move into the new tower once it's completed.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...ning-plan.html

SL Green Grand Central Tower to Advance After Zoning Plan


By David M. Levitt
May 30, 2014

SL Green will probably be the first applicant for a special zoning permit in the area, and its plans for the 1,200-foot (370-meter) tower should be under public review in the last three months of the year, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said today in a statement. The rezoning of a five-block area mostly along Vanderbilt Avenue is part of a “two-track” strategy to rezone the eastern portion of midtown Manhattan, he said.

De Blasio last year promised to revisit former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to rezone 73 blocks of east Midtown for taller buildings. The city council blocked the measure last year on concerns that plans to upgrade the area’s transportation and relieve pressure on crowded sidewalks were inadequate, and that provisions to sell air rights were mispriced.

De Blasio said today that “ground-up planning” will “lay the groundwork to keep districts like east Midtown thriving and attracting new businesses for decades to come.”

The plan would turn the block between East 42nd and 43rd streets into a pedestrian mall. SL Green’s One Vanderbilt tower -- on a side street just west of Grand Central -- would include a public room at street level that would serve as a western extension of the terminal, with its own train board, Jeremy Soffin, an SL Green spokesman, said in a phone interview.

“We will be moving forward with our plans for One Vanderbilt, a new world-class office tower that is already attracting attention from major tenants desiring modern space in the heart of Midtown,” SL Green Chief Executive Officer Marc Holliday said in the mayor’s statement.

Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank, whose TD Bank division has several New York branches, is in negotiations to be the anchor tenant at the tower, the Wall Street Journal reported on May 22. Soffin said SL Green, New York’s biggest office landlord, had no comment on those discussions.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...29E0573989C37#

De Blasio resets the clock on massive rezoning
The rezoning of a huge swath of midtown won't begin in earnest until 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday. But at least one major developer will get a head start.


Andrew J. Hawkins
May 30, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new timeline for the rezoning of a large swath of east midtown in Manhattan Friday, one that could stretch into 2016 but will allow for one major skyscraper project to get started in the meantime.

Under a special permit to be issued by the city and subject to public review, SL Green will build a 1.6 million-square-foot office building adjacent to Grand Central Terminal on Vanderbilt Avenue between East 42nd and East 43rd streets. The 65-story tower will be 150 feet taller than the Chrysler Building on the other side of the train station.

The project, called 1 Vanderbilt, will include indoor and outdoor public space, as well as underground connections to the subway to help relieve above-ground congestion. The public review process for the surrounding five blocks along Vanderbilt Avenue will begin this fall.

SL Green will invest more than $100 million to improve the flow of commuter traffic through Grand Central Terminal, said Marc Holliday, CEO of the development firm. But City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod said the developer's investment in transit infrastructure will be "a lot more than $100 million," and other private firms looking to reap benefits from the rezoning will need to pony up as well.

"These buildings cannot be occupied until these improvements are online," Mr. Weisbrod told Crain's. "So if inflation goes wild, if construction costs multiply, if problems are found, whatever, that's not our risk, that's not the public's risk. That's the developer's risk."

Mr. Weisbrod confirmed two other development sites as part of the initial Vanderbilt corridor rezoning: a property on Madison Avenue owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Roosevelt Hotel on East 45th Street.

I've also changed the thread title to 1,200 ft until we hear something different.

It looks like there will be a slightly larger FAR from the original plan of 24...



http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/n...the-works.html

In a statement, SL Green CEO Marc Holliday said the plan "welcomes density where it belongs."

The rules would generally allow for density of up to 30 square feet of office space per square foot of real estate, while requiring applicants to pay for improvements inside Grand Central and the surrounding network of crowded streets and pedestrian pathways.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/about/pr053014.shtml

The proposal for this five-block area recognizes that there are development sites along Vanderbilt Avenue that can provide new modern commercial space, while also enhancing the area’s public open space and subway infrastructure. These two objectives have broad support and will help to maintain and strengthen the business district.

The Department of City Planning (DCP) is proposing a new zoning special permit for sites along Vanderbilt, to create a public review process for larger modern buildings with a maximum density of 30 FAR, while requiring the property owners to make major improvements to the transit network as well as create new public spaces in the area. The new special permit, called the Grand Central Public Realm Improvement Bonus, would mandate that public improvements be delivered as part of the construction of each new building.

This initiative will help spur private commercial investment and improve pedestrian circulation at and around the Grand Central subway station, which is one of the busiest in the entire subway system with nearly a half million daily users. In order to qualify for the maximum allowable floor area, benefited property owners will be required to undertake improvements to the Grand Central subway station that help alleviate platform overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue line (4, 5, and 6), allowing trains to depart on schedule and eliminating system wide back-ups, as well as other enhancements above and below grade. Both the City’s proposal for a new special permit and any buildings seeking the new special permit will undergo full public review as part of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).