NEW YORK | 50 West 66 Street | 775 FT | 70 FLOORS

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

This tower will be 775 ft., with 127 units. Could mods change?

Source-
https://www.archdaily.com/884425/sno...pper-west-side

Great. So this one will be the tallest on the Upper West Side.

The skyscraper will reach a top height of 775 feet (236 metres) and will contain 127 units. Construction is expected to begin in Spring 2018.

https://www.6sqft.com/renderings-of-...bronze-facade/

Additional model/render







Larger look at the earlier render...



https://www.6sqft.com/renderings-of-...bronze-facade/

50 West 66th Street sits within the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, so it will need to get approvals from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Extell has not yet made any filings with the Department of Buildings, but they hope to begin construction during the first half of 2018. If completed, the tower will take the record of tallest building on the Upper West Side from the 668-foot tall tower proposed for 200 Amsterdam Avenue.

[Prezrezc]

Is this stretch of Manhattan fertile ground for vertical construction?

Or are we venturing into another part of NIMBYana?

I ask because this seems to have come out of the blue like 111 did (at least for me)...but this time without any perceptible NIMBY objection that I could fathom.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Prezrezc

Is this stretch of Manhattan fertile ground for vertical construction?

Or are we venturing into another part of NIMBYana?

I ask because this seems to have come out of the blue like 111 did (at least for me)...but this time without any perceptible NIMBY objection that I could fathom.

There are special districts in the city where there are no height limits (see Midtown). This isn't one of them. But that doesn't mean taller buildings can't get built. That means the city would have to approve taller buildings, which wouldn't go down without some NIMBY fight.


https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/z...manhattan.page

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/2017/11/27/e...r-rights-deal/

Extell triples height of controversial UWS tower with $202M air rights deal
50 West 66th Street will be the area's tallest building at 775 feet


By Will Parker
November 27, 2017

In June, City Council member Helen Rosenthal, State Senator Brad Hoylman and State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried issued a missive to Extell Development, declaring they knew something wasn’t right with the 25-story building the company had filed plans for at 36-40 West 66th Street.

Community members had become suspicious of the developer’s intentions and rumors swirled that air rights were in play, which “led to the belief that plans for a much larger building may be in the works,” the elected officials wrote.

It looks like they were right — Extell closed on $202 million in air rights purchases on Monday, $147 million of which were bought from the Jewish Guild for the Blind at 15 West 65th Street, records filed with the city show.

Another $55 million were purchased from Disney.

The Real Deal previously reported that Disney and the Jewish Guild for the Blind had nearly 201,000 square feet in available development rights at their 65th and 66th street properties. Extell’s development partner, Megalith Capital, bought three commercial buildings from Disney on 66th Street in 2014.

Architecture firm Snohetta debuted the latest renderings for Extell’s 127-unit condominium project in Wallpaper magazine on Monday, and also revealed the project would stand at 775 feet — nearly three times more than the 262 feet Extell first proposed in 2015. It will be the tallest building on the Upper West Side.

The condo tower will carry the address of 50 West 66th Street, and sits adjacent to four lots that stretch from 36-44 West 66th Street.

Extell’s plans for the site came as no surprise to Council member Rosenthal’s legislative and land use policy director, Sean Fitzgerald. However, he said that there were remaining questions about how rights from the Jewish Guild for the Blind, which come from an R-8 zoning district, could be applied to Extell’s development site, which is under R-10 equivalent zoning.

“We’ve been waiting to see what actually gets filed,” Fitzgerald said.

The developer does not yet appear to have updated its building permits, records with the Department of Building show.

In a statement, Extell’s president, Gary Barnett, said that “Snohetta’s vision for this tower will create an elegant new addition to the Upper West Side,” but would not comment on whether the transfer of air rights to the site would require any kind of city approval process.

Megalith Capital began assembling the site in 2014 and joined Extell when it purchased a synagogue at 44 West 66th Street for $45 million the same year. Hong Kong investment company Meridian Capital Limited bought a stake in the development this September.

[jsbrook]

Wow, I really like these renders! Very sharp and unique-looking toward.

[chris08876]

Taller than 200 Amsterdam Avenue, which will be the 2nd tallest or is the 2nd tallest in the pipeline for the UWS. But I suspect just as in the UES, the community groups will have a fit and do everything they can to make up rules and skirt the process.

[antinimby]

In June, City Council member Helen Rosenthal, State Senator Brad Hoylman and State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried issued a missive to Extell Development, declaring they knew something wasn’t right with the 25-story building the company had filed plans for at 36-40 West 66th Street.

Community members had become suspicious of the developer’s intentions and rumors swirled that air rights were in play, which “led to the belief that plans for a much larger building may be in the works,” the elected officials wrote.

Extell’s plans for the site came as no surprise to Council member Rosenthal’s legislative and land use policy director, Sean Fitzgerald. However, he said that there were remaining questions about how rights from the Jewish Guild for the Blind, which come from an R-8 zoning district, could be applied to Extell’s development site, which is under R-10 equivalent zoning.

“We’ve been waiting to see what actually gets filed,” Fitzgerald said.

So all these NY politicians, instead of solving the city’s many issues, are now anti-development watchdogs and building size monitors.

[antinimby]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Taller than 200 Amsterdam Avenue, which will be the 2nd tallest or is the 2nd tallest in the pipeline for the UWS. But I suspect just as in the UES, the community groups will have a fit and do everything they can to make up rules and skirt the process.

And just like on the east side (Sutton Place), if they can’t stop it, they will whine to their elected NIMBY officials who will then pressure City Planning to put in even stricter zoning (as if the zoning in NYC isn’t crazy strict enough already).

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by antinimby

So all these NY politicians, instead of solving the city’s many issues, are now anti-development watchdogs and building size monitors.

They've been fiercly NIMBY for 50 years now. Hardly newsworthy that anti-everything UWS cranks would be anti-development.

Good thing Extell is smart and doesn't deal with projects that need "community" review. The "community" can do nothing to stop an as-of-right project, and has zero input on air rights.

[antinimby]

So these pols think they somehow are helping the city of NY by making sure buildings stay short and also put a self-imposed limit supply of housing, which is in desperate short supply (evidenced by the crazy high COL).

These people are retarded.

[NYguy]

They're just grandstanding because they know the people that vote are the cranky NIMBYs. Most people don't care about these things, and unfortunately, most people don't vote. The city council people are the worst. A single council member can stop a project in his (or her) district that has to go through review because all of the other council members will back them. You back me, I'll back you when its your turn, etc. But it sounds like this will be a discretionary approval by City Planning, meaning no public review. We'll see.

[artspook]

some of the sort of tall ones on the (not so) upper west side . .
(taken from diagram)
this one, 50 W 66th St . . . . . . . 775 ft.
time warner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 ft.
Hawthorne Park . . . . . . . . . . . .640 ft.
Central Park Place . . . . . . . . . . 628 ft.
(green-grey aluminum tower)
Hearst Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 ft.
3 Lincoln Center Condos. . . . . . .594 ft.
Trump International Hotel . . . . . 583 ft.
Millennium Apt. Tower . . . . . . . 545 ft.
Trump Place - 220 Riverside . . . 541 ft.
(with the glass drum on top)
someone want to help me out here . .
I'm sure I've missed a few . .

[McSky]

No way it's 775 feet in that second rendering, as Time Warner towers are 750 feet, and they are clearly taller than this proposed building.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by McSky

No way it's 775 feet in that second rendering, as Time Warner towers are 750 feet, and they are clearly taller than this proposed building.

Don't trust renderings, which aren't intended to be exactly realistic. They're supposed to tell a story, not provide a facsimile of future reality.

[mrnyc]

yeah and in this case the renders tell an epic whale of a tale -- look at how they angled the view and not so subtlely emphasized all the other talls

[McSky]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Don't trust renderings, which aren't intended to be exactly realistic. They're supposed to tell a story, not provide a facsimile of future reality.

Yes, but there's no reason to downsize a tower in a rendering (almost never done) unless they are trying to de-emphasize the impact this will have in the neighborhood.

That tower is so much smaller in the rendering that I would wait for confirmation of 775 feet before accepting the figure.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by McSky

Yes, but there's no reason to downsize a tower in a rendering (almost never done) unless they are trying to de-emphasize the impact this will have in the neighborhood.

But that's exactly what they're doing. That's the whole point. They've even had a (false) rendering on the development site for the last two years, which was very smart and strategic.

At least in NYC, most renderings seek to deemphasize tower size, because they don't want to rile up the NIMBY crowd.

[chris08876]

Extell always impresses.






As such, for the ceremonial sacrifice on this blessing, someone must climb to the ESB and jump, for thy blood feeds thy Barnetts Holiness.

Jesus might of turned fish into big macs, but Barnett turns low rises into skyscrapers. And if we conduct enough ceremonial sacrifices, we get super talls.

[NYguy]

^ If only Barnett had worked some of this design over at Central Park Tower. But yeah, he's been a bane to the upper west side NIMBYs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/ny...ty/17tall.html

Originally Posted by Crawford

But that's exactly what they're doing. That's the whole point. They've even had a (false) rendering on the development site for the last two years, which was very smart and strategic.

At least in NYC, most renderings seek to deemphasize tower size, because they don't want to rile up the NIMBY crowd.

Yes. And the towers-on-the-park NIMBY crowd won't be pleased, even with a shorter tower. Central Park has long been ringed by towers, and is such that you wouldn't even know it most of the time when you are in it. I love that it's ringed by buildings, it helps me to find my way when I'm lost there. But wait, the NIMBYs will be screaming soon enough.

[tdawg]

This design is stunning.