NEW YORK | MID/LOW RISES | General Developments Updates/Compilation

[chris08876]

Project: 607 West 161st Street

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A new 62-unit residential building slated for construction on West 161st Street is seeking a tax break to add 13 units of affordable housing, the developer said.

A representative for Sutton Management, which is developing the lot at 607 W. 161st St., appeared before Community Board 12’s Housing Committee to discuss its application for the 421a program, a partial tax exemption for new buildings that contain at least 20 percent affordable units.

The building, designed by Jeffrey Cole Architects, plans to offer 13 affordable apartments including studios, one- and two-bedrooms, application materials showed. The affordable units will rent for between $838 and $1,085 per month, while the market-rate units will rent for between $3,000 and $5,000 per month.

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http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2015...nits#slideshow

[antinimby]

^ that building should be denied just based on ugliness alone.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by antinimby

^ that building should be denied just based on ugliness alone.

Funny thing is the city is actually making it easier to get designs like this through. Easing the requirements when it comes to designs. I'd expect much more of this, especially as the housing plan increases.

The way I look at it, can't have winners all the time. Some of these mid rises are nice, but I'll admit that others are just blasphemy.

[chris08876]

Project: 26 Starr Street

Each building will have eight units spread across 5,400 square feet, which works out to rental-sized apartments at 675 square feet a piece. There will be two apartments per floor, including two duplexes with mezzanines on the top floor of 24 Starr.

This development was probably split into three buildings so the developer could avoid including parking, because zoning would require 12 parking spaces for a 24-unit building.

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http://www.yimbynews.com/2015/04/rev...-building.html

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Project: 607 West 161st Street




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http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2015...nits#slideshow

When I see stuff like this I think 'this person made it through seven years of training just like the next guy but apparently still has absolutely no talent.' It makes me wish I'd become an architect.

EDIT --- the rendering appears to show 10 stories crammed into the same height as its' six story neighbor. So unless the ceilings heights ar about six feet I don't see how this rendering could possibly be realistic. Thoughts?

[sparkling]

^^^
It's not always about talent, if the developer tells you to design something simple and easy to construct at the lowest cost possible what choice the architect has? A lot of people hate on Kaufmann for example but he provides what he is asked for, tell him to design something more appealing and he may do it but of course the price tag to build will be higher.

[chris08876]

Its unrealistic to think that all of these extra units will be starchitect quality, even of average quality. Lots of housing is going up, and not everything will be fancy.

Just drive around the city and check out the existing housing stock. Its not all glamour, especially in the outer boroughs. There are many winners, but also lots of bad architecture. With affordable housing btw, do not expect it to be stunners. Often the cheaper units come at a cost of quality. Not to say this is the case for every development, but we will not be getting the quality of lets say 15 Central Park or One57. This also applies to high rises too. Every Once in a while we get a gem, but if you;ve noticed, often they tend to be very pricey.

In terms of NYC architecture on the mid rise level, it still beats the crap out of Chinese cities. If you want to see some bad housing designs, check out some of those places. Often housing the masses comes at a cost of quality.

Originally Posted by sparkling

It's not always about talent, if the developer tells you to design something simple and easy to construct at the lowest cost possible what choice the architect has?

Exactly what it is. Architects do not have the final say. Ultimately up to the developer and what they budget entails. Profit > design in their view.

[sparkling]

^^^
The vast majority of people do not really care that much about aesthetics- they will gladly live in a boxy bland building if it means they can afford the rent.

[sparkling]

SL Green to Build Another Times Square Spectacular at 719 Seventh Avenue


ONDEL HYLTON
APRIL 10, 2015

Here’s our first look at what commercial heavyweights SL Green have in mind for a small Times Square corner at 719 Seventh Avenue and West 48th Street. Building permits filed earlier this month call for a four-story, 9,000 square-foot retail building designed by TPG Architecture. Demolition permits were filed back in December and the doomed three-story structure is already shrouded in construction netting and scaffolding. The site also shares its Seventh Avenue block-front with Witkoff’s upcoming 40-story Marriott Edition Hotel that will flash one of the largest LED displays in the city.


According to a recent Real Deal article, SL Green Realty paid a staggering $1,462 per buildable square foot for the lot. The $41.1 million cost for the relatively small build-out is said to be justified because of the signage SLG plans to erect can fetch upwards of $1000 a square foot.

Since before World War I, the confluence of streets has been home to an innovative array of oversized electric billboards when companies discovered that the square’s angled frontage could serve as a gallery for large, electric advertisements for national brands. Often called “spectaculars,” the signs of neon tubes, arrays of incandescent lightbulbs, and more recently light-emitting diodes have emblazoned the “crossroads of the world.”





Building permits however, do not reflect the larger site assemblage first mentioned by the New York Post last summer calling for 25,000 square feet of space. Images shown on 719 Seventh’s website show a downsized plan featuring only 25-feet of frontage on the avenue, 8,000 square feet of leasable retail, and 5,500 square feet of high-resolution digital LED signage. There has been no indication SLG has acquired the adjacent properties which could increase the project’s presence on the avenue to 100 feet.

Nevertheless, the deal marks TPG’s second collaboration with the REIT after successfully opening a three-story, 17,000 square-foot American Eagle Outfitters store at 1551 Broadway in 2009. Similar to their new proposal, the retail base is super-sized by a dramatic 250-foot, three-tier LED spectacular angled towards the heart of the square. In stark contrast to this project, SL Green is beginning work on the tallest commercial building in Midtown at One Vanderbilt.

[Busy Bee]

^yeah but it's 2015! Where are our holograms? I was promised holograms!

[antinimby]

Four stories!? Where did the air rights go?

[chris08876]

Project: 260 West 153rd Street

Prolific affordable housing developer L+M Development Partners have released a rendering for their newest project at 260 West 153rd Street in Harlem, a seven-story building with rents aimed at low-income families.

Designed by Curtis+Ginsberg Architects, the development will fill a long-vacant lot between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Macombs Place, a block from the Harlem River.

It’ll house 51 apartments split across 41,442 square feet of residential space, for an average unit size of about 812 square feet. There will also be 8,000 square feet of parking, which is mentioned in this press release about the project but not listed on the permits. The ground floor will include 14,331 square feet of community space, which will become a day care center and offices for Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement.

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http://www.yimbynews.com/2015/04/rev...in-harlem.html

[chris08876]

Project: 207 West 115th Street (Recently Completed)

The city has opened applications for a number of affordable rentals recently, and now there's one more to add to the pile: 207 West 115th, a brand-new Harlem luxury development just blocks from Central Park and Morningside Park with 10 subsidized rentals available. Applications opened yesterday, and will be accepted through April 28th, per the listing on NYC housing connect.

There are nine one-bedrooms available for $675/month each, as well as one two-bedroom for $755/month. (By comparison, the cheapest market-rate one-bedrooms in the building are asking $2,600/month, according to StreetEasy.) Depending on apartment and family size, household income requirements range from $30,755 to $51, 780, and as always with this kind of development, preference for half of the affordable apartments will be given to current neighborhood residents, in this case Central Harlem's Community Board 10.

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http://www.brickunderground.com/blog...rentals_harlem

[chris08876]

Construction Update: Jerome L. Greene Science Center

With exterior work wrapping up on the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, much of the progress since the last update is focused on the Lenfest Center for the Arts, the smaller, adjacent building. Also designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the Center for the Arts houses galleries, performance spaces, a screening room, and offices into an eight-story structure. Currently, the steel superstructure has topped out and installation of the exterior wall is underway. The structure looks to be clad in a unitized panel system of white metal and glass similar in appearance to RPBW's almost completed Whitney Museum at the High Line.

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http://fieldcondition.com/blog/2015/...anville-campus

[chris08876]

Project: 325 Lafayette Avenue

This eight-story, 113-apartment building will rise on the site of a Clinton Hill Key Foods, because the neighborhood's apartment-to-grocery-store ratio is not quite skewed enough already. ">YIMBY spotted the rendering for 325 Lafayette Avenue, which is being developed jointly by Slate Property Groupand the site's current owner, Dan's Supreme Supermarkets. Slate announced earlier that it would bring a grocery store back to the site, but is now being noncommittal about what will occupy the building's 15,000-square-foot commercial space.

The apartment building between Classon Avenue and St. James Place is designed by Aufgang Architects, and will have 55 underground parking spots and a community space. As an 80/20 building, 57 apartments will be priced below market rate.

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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/0...s_revealed.php

[chris08876]

Project: 1320-1328 Fulton Street

Here’s a status update on the big new development planned for 1320-1328 Fulton Street, right off Marcy Avenue. Excavation work is underway, although there hasn’t been much progress since Brownstoner checked last November. This’ll be a 10-story, 57-unit apartment building designed by Curtis + Ginsberg Architects. There’s also going to be commercial space in the cellar and on the first two floors, as well as some below-ground parking.

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http://thebedstuyblog.com/2015/04/13...t-development/

[chris08876]

Project: 146-150 Wooster Street

Tuesday’s presentation was made by Daniel Schillberg, managing director of architecture and design for developer KUB Capital. Schillberg designed the building with help from HTO-Architect.

The building will have two approximately 3,000-square-foot retail spaces on the ground floor. The rear will have a light well to protect neighboring 152 Wooster Street. KUB will be applying for several variances, including one for setback requirements.

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http://www.yimbynews.com/2015/04/lan...er-street.html

[chris08876]

Project: 236 17th Street

The architect is Design Studio Associates, and permits list the developer as Nick Malafis of North South Slope LLC, though on-site signage indicates it is actually Prospect Construction Corp. 236 17th Street will total 19,993 square feet, which will be divided between 17 residences for an average unit size of almost 1,200 square feet, likely indicating condos.

The Schedule A shows seven parking spaces on the sub-level and five on the first floor, with three units per floor from levels two through six, and two residences splitting the penthouse floor.

While the overall design is an upgrade compared to the currently vacant lot, the building lacks ground-floor retail space. Onerous parking requirements are the cause, forcing the developer to dedicate the lower levels of the project to twelve spaces, exactly the number required by the zoning code.

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http://www.yimbynews.com/2015/04/rev...-brooklyn.html

[chris08876]

Construction Update: 860 Washington

Superstructure has reached the final floor, marking the topping off, at 860 Washington in the Meatpacking District. Designed by James Carpenter, the ten-story, 113,848-square-foot structure flanks the High Line park's eastern edge at West 13th Street. When completed, the low rise tower will bring eight floors of office space and two floors of retail at the base. Given the all-glass composition of the exterior wall on all but the northern facade, building occupants will have dramatic views of the High Line and the surrounding Meatpacking neighborhood. The building is targeting LEED silver and is projected to open in the third quarter of 2015.

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http://fieldcondition.com/blog/2015/4/16/860-washington

[chris08876]

Updated Rendering: 490 Myrtle

Original Post: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...8&postcount=78


Credit: DNAinfo/Janet Upadhye