NEW YORK | 53W53 (Tower Verre) | 1,050 FT / 320 M | 73 FLOORS - Page 73

NYguy · #**1441** Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 5:16 AM**

This is the site accross the street from MOMA..we'll keep an eye on it in case something interesting develops (don't want to create a thread until we know what it is)...

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20.../?ref=nyregion
Stalled Plan for Donnell Library Site May Be Moving Again

By KATE TAYLOR
March 16, 2011

Quote:

The plan for the West 53rd Street site of the Donnell Library, shuttered since 2008, may be morphing once again, from a library-cum-hotel into a library-cum-hotel-cum-condominium.

In case you missed it, in 2007 the New York Public Library sold the building, a Modernist hulk across from the Museum of Modern Art known for its holdings in movies, music and children’s books, to Orient-Express Hotels for $59 million. Orient-Express planned to build an 11-story hotel that would connect internally to another of its properties, the “21” Club on 52nd Street. As part of the arrangement, the library would get space for a branch on the ground floor and underground. The building was to be completed in early 2011.

Then the recession hit, and Orient-Express tried to back out of the deal. After some negotiating, the company committed to pay the library the full purchase price, but over a longer period of time. In the years since, Orient-Express has not demolished the building or announced any development plans.

Now, the company is in talks to sell the development contract to Tribeca Associates, the developer of the Smyth Hotel and Artisan Lofts in TriBeCa, and Starwood Hotels, Crain’s New York Business reported Wednesday.

According to Crain’s, the companies plan to build a $400 million building that would include both hotel rooms and condominium units. Bill Brodsky, a partner at Tribeca Associates, declined to comment, saying it was premature.

NYguy · #**1442** Posted **Mar 21, 2011, 2:15 PM**

Better days ahead...

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/artic...rce=feedburner
The return of skyscraping starchitecture?

March 18, 2011

Quote:

Watch out, New York by Gehry. According to new development marketing guru Kelly Kennedy Mack, the city is about to see a flurry of new, starchitect-designed skyscrapers. In a new video segment by the Corcoran Group, Mack said she believes that because lenders are becoming more willing to finance large projects, the city's new development sector is about to see a shift back to 60-, 70-, and even 80-story buildings, after a few years of smaller, boutique new developments dominating the market. That shift is likely to "completely transform neighborhoods and really make a huge impact on the Midtown skyline," Mack said.

• Video Link

Rey88 · #**1443** Posted **Mar 21, 2011, 5:21 PM**

...the city's new development sector is about to see a shift back to 60-, 70-, and even 80-story buildings, after a few years of smaller, boutique... well I hope for a 100+ story tower too.

NYguy · #**1444** Posted **Mar 22, 2011, 1:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rey88

well I hope for a 100+ story tower too.

Stories are overrated (just check with the wtc)

RobertWalpole · #**1445** Posted **Mar 23, 2011, 1:55 AM**

I wonder how tall this will be. I assume at least 30 stories in light of the $400m price tag.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...er=rss&emc=rss

March 22, 2011, 12:16 pm
Two New Buyers Take Over Donnell Library Site
By KATE TAYLOR

Ángel Franco/The New York Times

The shuttered Donnell Library.The deal to create a hotel-slash-condominium-slash-library on the site of the former Donnell Library on West 53rd Street has been finalized, and clarified. Orient-Express Hotels, which originally agreed to buy the site from the New York Public Library in 2007 for $59 million, then saw its plan to build a hotel there derailed by the recession, has unloaded its contract to two other developers.

The new buyers are Tribeca Associates and Starwood Capital (not Starwood Hotels, as initially reported). They plan to construct a $400 million building that will include both hotel rooms and condominium units — and, as envisioned under the original deal, a new library.

A press release sent out Monday by Orient-Express said that Tribeca Associates and Starwood Capital would reimburse the company for the payments it had already made to the library and would assume responsibility for all future payments.

A spokeswoman for the library, Angela Montefinise, said that the new buyers were “moving forward on the terms of the existing contract” with Orient-Express, including the construction timetable—which stipulated that the developer would hand over a space to the library by June 30, 2014.

RobertWalpole · #**1446** Posted **Apr 20, 2011, 4:32 PM**

The attached article from 20 April 2011 re: The Drake also discusses the rumoured imminent construction of Torre Verre.

http://www.observer.com/2011/real-es...t-start?page=1

aquablue · #**1447** Posted **Apr 20, 2011, 7:04 PM**

Really? Wow, well I thought it was dead!

RobertWalpole · #**1448** Posted **Apr 20, 2011, 7:08 PM**

Hardly! That will be a blockbuster project yielding at least $4k/sf.

NYguy · #**1449** Posted **Apr 20, 2011, 7:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquablue

Really? Wow, well I thought it was dead!

Nothng is ever dead until it's canceled. There was not a whole lot of new construction going on for obvious reasons the last few years. But we have been thawing, and the damn will burst.

Quote:

http://www.observer.com/2011/real-es...t-start?page=1

Stirrings at the Drake site mark one of the earliest signs of a new development boom in Manhattan as a whole. Construction has started on Extell's 70-story hotel/condo development on 57th Street. Boston Properties is on the cusp of signing the major office lease it needs to move forward with a $1 billion office tower at Eighth Avenue and 55th Street. Durst is expected to break ground by the end of the year on a $350 million apartment tower just south of Herald Square. Most recently, Texas-based Hines Interests is rumored to be moving forward with construction of a glass needle for the MoMA at 53 West 53rd Street.

Possibly, we could see a final design if they want to move forward. I think everyone wants in on the action Barnett will get with Carnegie 57.

RobertWalpole · #**1450** Posted **May 11, 2011, 11:18 AM**

Absent a devastating terror attack that destabilizes NY's economy, I expect Torre Verre to break ground within a year. There is massive demand for ultra, high-end condos.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/ny...1&ref=nyregion

MoMA to Buy Building Used by Museum of Folk Art
By KATE TAYLOR
Published: May 10, 2011

The Museum of Modern Art is buying the building of the struggling American Folk Art Museum on West 53rd Street, officials said Tuesday.

The folk art museum will continue to operate in its much smaller Lincoln Square branch.

The building to be bought is between MoMA and a vacant lot that MoMA sold in 2007 to the developer Hines. The 2007 sale came with an agreement that Hines would construct a building on the lot connecting internally to MoMA on the north side of the block and provide additional gallery space.

Although there are no current plans for Hines to develop, MoMA ultimately planned to expand in that direction, MoMA’s director, Glenn Lowry, said. He said owning the folk museum’s building would allow it to connect its galleries on both sides of the block.

The folk art museum’s building was designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and opened in 2001. It was not clear whether it would be torn down. The folk art museum took on $32 million of debt to construct the 53rd Street building. But attendance never met expectations, and after sustaining investment losses in the financial crisis, the museum defaulted on its debt.

Neither museum would say what MoMA was paying for the building, but the folk art museum’s chairman, Laura Parsons, said it was enough to retire the museum’s debt.

The folk art museum pays $1 a year in rent for its Lincoln Square space, which is only 5,000 square feet, one-sixth the size of the building it is selling.

Ms. Parsons said the folk art museum might put on shows in other locations in the city or put parts of its collection on tour.

Ms. Parsons said she could not say how many of the museum’s staff members would be laid off. She said there was no deadline for vacating the building and that, for now, it would stay open.

NYguy · #**1451** Posted **May 12, 2011, 1:17 PM**

http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=5362

MoMA Nabs Folk Art Museum Building
Future of acclaimed Williams Tsien building uncertain

5.11.2011
Alan G. Brake

Quote:

Officials from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Folk Art Museum announced the sale of the Folk Art building to the Modern on Wednesday. Completed in 2001, the Todd Williams Bille Tsien-designed Folk Art Museum was widely heralded at the time of its opening. The institution has struggled financially since then, however, including debts to pay for the highly-wrought, brooding building, known for its folded white bronze façade and spiraling sequence of intimate galleries.

The Modern, thus far, has declined to say what its intentions are for the building.

Adjacent to the Modern, but surrounded by an empty lot that MoMA has long intended to develop, the comparatively tiny 39,000-square-foot Folk Art Museum building represents both an architectural asset for the museum, and a major development opportunity. MoMA, working with Hines, has been pushing to develop the surrounding land into a large gallery and condominium tower designed by Jean Nouvel, which would have wrapped around the Williams and Tsien building. The Department of City Planning has asked Hines and MoMA to scale down the height of the tower, so there may be a financial incentive to remove the Folk Art Building.

“I hope that they don’t see our building as an impediment,” Todd Williams told AN.

MoMA issued the following statement about the acquisition: “The American Folk Art Museum recently approached The Museum of Modern Art regarding its decision to sell its building at 45 West 53rd Street, as MoMA has the right of first refusal on the property. After carefully considering this opportunity, MoMA has agreed to purchase the building and property. This mutually beneficial arrangement between the two museums will provide funding for the American Folk Art Museum at a critical time, and additional space for The Museum of Modern Art.” Barry Bergdoll, MoMA’s chief curator of architecture and design, declined to comment on the architectural merits of the Folk Art building or the Modern’s intentions for its future.

Arguably the best known of Williams and Tsien’s buildings, the richly detailed American Folk Art Museum interpreted the spirit of craft and materiality common in folk art in a contemporary architectural idiom. “It’s not a building where you can rip out the interior and keep the shell,” Williams said. “The structure and the interior are one and the same.”

The American Folk Art Museum will continue to operate out of their much smaller branch at 2 Lincoln Square across from Lincoln Center. No date has been set for it to vacate the 53rd Street property.

For Williams and Tsien, it is a remarkably swift turn of events for their acclaimed building to face an uncertain future only ten years after it opened. “I’ve got a knot in my stomach,” Williams said. “But I believe in good people, good intentions, and positive outcomes.”

I think it will be swallowed by the expansion...

Alliance · #**1452** Posted **May 12, 2011, 1:29 PM**

^^^ That would be unfortunate. The contrast between the two would be great. They're already highly contextual with each other.

RobertWalpole · #**1453** Posted **May 12, 2011, 1:35 PM**

I genuinely expect to see Torre Verre start moving forward soon. Hines will not sit by as Extell and CIM offer the only product in the $5k/ sf+ market.

NYguy · #**1454** Posted **May 12, 2011, 1:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertWalpole

I genuinely expect to see Torre Verre start moving forward soon. Hines will not sit by as Extell and CIM offer the only product in the $5k/ sf+ market.

It's almost a race to see who can get their towers up first. Gary Barnett's decision is looking good right now.

RobertWalpole · #**1455** Posted **May 12, 2011, 3:28 PM**

I agree. Hopefully, Extell will start moving soon on 225 W 57th.

Alliance · #**1456** Posted **May 12, 2011, 5:34 PM**

I think characterizing it as a race to get things built is false. Not even Carnegie Tower is financed completely and if they cant get what they need to finish the building, they'll stop. No other project has started. It seems to me that developers are simply positioning, keeping their sites and their towers in the press. If they could finance the building and land tenants, they would be doing it already. They clearly can't at this point, and I think its highly unlikely anyone will within the next couple months, let alone everyone at the same time. I cant tell which building it'll be, but another building will pop up sooner or later. Extell's certainly tried to get their foot in the door, but, for now, everyone else is just making sure they can get some photographs behind the starting line.

yankeesfan1000 · #**1457** Posted **May 12, 2011, 6:08 PM**

This, 225 W 57th, and the one on Park are all competing to not only land the same investment dollars, but also purchasing dollars. They're all aimed at the same type of high end condo market, so the ones that get built first are the most likely to succeed. At least that's how it seems to me.

And RW's comment on 225 W 57th made me think of an article maybe he posted, but when C57 was first getting off the ground wasn't Barnett in the Mid East talking to the same, or similar investors trying to get them behind 225 W 57th as well? If and when C57 sells well, I have to imagine that finding investors for another Barnett project a block away would be much easier than getting funding for this or the Park Ave tower.

Anyway, hope that didn't take this thread too far off topic.

mrnyc · #**1458** Posted **May 12, 2011, 6:17 PM**

so will the folk art museum become collateral damage or will moma find some creative use for it? seems like it will go, but we'll see.

RobertWalpole · #**1459** Posted **May 12, 2011, 11:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alliance

I think characterizing it as a race to get things built is false. Not even Carnegie Tower is financed completely and if they cant get what they need to finish the building, they'll stop. No other project has started. It seems to me that developers are simply positioning, keeping their sites and their towers in the press. If they could finance the building and land tenants, they would be doing it already. They clearly can't at this point, and I think its highly unlikely anyone will within the next couple months, let alone everyone at the same time. I cant tell which building it'll be, but another building will pop up sooner or later. Extell's certainly tried to get their foot in the door, but, for now, everyone else is just making sure they can get some photographs behind the starting line.

These are not pie in the sky projects like the Chicago Spire. There is a very strong demand in certain global financial centers, like NY and London, for very high-end residential towers and very high-end hotels. There is funding in NY for scores of projects, and C57 is funded. The apartments in C57, Torre Verre, and The Drake will easily average $5-6/sf.

Obey · #**1460** Posted **May 12, 2011, 11:48 PM**

Please come back to us Tower Verre.