NEW YORK | 655 Madison Ave | 1,162 FT | 74 FLOORS

[NYguy]

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-e...september-2025

Upscale Chinese restaurant Philippe Chow to open new Midtown flagship in September


JULIANNE CUBA
July 8, 2025

Philippe Chow's departure from its 20-year flagship, at 33 E. 60th St., comes after a contentious legal battle with Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development Co., who wants to bulldoze the building to make way for a new tower. Barnett went into contract to acquire the site last year and informed the restaurant's parent company, Merchants Hospitality, that it had until the end of March to vacate the space. The upscale restaurant never did, however, and its last day is now set for July 13.

Merchants Hospitality ultimately reached an "amicable agreement" with Extell and was able to resolve their outstanding litigations, Abraham Merchant, the company's founding partner, CEO and president, said Tuesday in a statement to Crain's.

[Busy Bee]

Cartwright!
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Cartwright!

[NYguy]

Don’t have time to get into it fully, but Extell is asking approval for a massing the gives us a shorter but better massed tower….

[ChiND]

They're both pretty tall. I prefer the taller one. Not for the extra hundred feet. It's just less of a box.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by ChiND

They're both pretty tall. I prefer the taller one. Not for the extra hundred feet. It's just less of a box.

Too close to 520 (look closely) and we have enough pencils in that area. Not worth it for just 100 ft.

[ChiND]

It would be nice to have a crown.

A mansard roof to pay homage to The Pierre would be ideal.

[ChiND]

As far as Bravo's allegations against Zeckendorf go, his view, indeed, will be blocked.

[Crawford]

Yeah, I slightly prefer the 1,300 version, due to greater height and more interesting shape, but this seems fine too. As long as the details are nice, it will be another landmark supertall.

Also I hope this means the Barneys building gets redeveloped into a supertall residential tower. They've been sitting on that empty building since before the pandemic. Get moving already.

[Zapatan]

I wonder if 1,162' refers to the structural top, highest occupied floor or main roof.

Still cool though!

[The New York Lion]

Another supertall for NYC.

Simply incredible.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by ChiND

As far as Bravo's allegations against Zeckendorf go, his view, indeed, will be blocked.

Not really, we went over that earlier in the thread. It would be a better argument if this tower stretched north to 61st Street, but it doesn’t (the massing).

[Hudson11]

We can now see why the Zeckendorfs sued. lol!

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

I wonder if 1,162' refers to the structural top, highest occupied floor or main roof.

Bulkhead height. Construction permits often refer to occupied floor heights.



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[ChiND]

An 1,100 foot tower is great, but I suspect that it’s basically going to be a glass box. That would be disappointing.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by ChiND

An 1,100 foot tower is great, but I suspect that it’s basically going to be a glass box. That would be disappointing.

Well, we haven't seen a design, so being disappointed by a massing is a stretch. Some of you need to learn patience. You can always be disappointed later.

[ChiND]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Well, we haven't seen a design, so being disappointed by a massing is a stretch. Some of you need to learn patience. You can always be disappointed later.

It seems that very frequently, the massing is extremely similar to the actual shape of the tower.

[BK1985]

I’m still sort of shocked that 520 built all of those lot lining windows even though that is the “money shot”. They could have easily done false windows like 220cps.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by ChiND

It seems that very frequently, the massing is extremely similar to the actual shape of the tower.

So you object to the massing of the tower.

Originally Posted by BK1985

I’m still sort of shocked that 520 built all of those lot lining windows even though that is the “money shot”. They could have easily done false windows like 220cps.

Very few of those are actual, real windows (see 220 CPS).



It was previously reported that Chanel purchased the retail space for $450 million. The EAS states there will be about 209 employees at the store. There will also be about 650 people working in the office portion of the building.

[BK1985]

Ah ok. Cool thanks. I couldn’t tell if those were false windows or not based off of the photos posted.

If it’s a glass building I think the current proposed massing makes sense, hopefully there is some sort of dynamic facade work/ sculpting going on. If it’s a more “classic” facade I think I would prefer the as of right massing given the opportunity for some dramatic terraces.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by BK1985

Ah ok. Cool thanks. I couldn’t tell if those were false windows or not based off of the photos posted.

If it’s a glass building I think the current proposed massing makes sense, hopefully there is some sort of dynamic facade work/ sculpting going on. If it’s a more “classic” facade I think I would prefer the as of right massing given the opportunity for some dramatic terraces.

It’s all in the details. One thing we know, this tower will soar alongside 520 Park…








Still curious to see how the dynamic with 625 Madison will play out.