NEW YORK | Waterline Square | 478 + 429 + 397 + 245 FT | 38 + 36 + 34 + 25 FLOORS

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-es...-early-dissent

Extell Steaming Ahead on Giant 'Riverside Center' Amid Early Dissent

by Eliot Brown
October 31, 2008

Gary Barnett and his Extell Development Co. are plowing forward with their plans for five new glass towers at the base of the Riverside South mega-development on the Upper West Side, and the company now says it plans to kick off early public review in December.

The plan, presented at an Upper West Side community meeting last night by Mr. Barnett himself, calls for four residential towers and one mixed-use tower totaling 3.1 million square feet on an eight-acre site between 59th and 61st streets along the West Side Highway.

Already, if last night's meeting is any guide, there are many unpleased Upper West Side residents. While the elected officials seem mostly concerned about density, the level of affordable housing and the inclusion of a school, many in attendance were a bit more eager to see the plan ditched entirely.

A sampling of the dissidents' denigrations: "The developer is putting lipstick on a pig;" the plan is "a crushing, greedy project;" residents were "aghast" when the plans were revealed; a woman declared, "I just don't see why we should be seeing any new units on the Upper West Side," at all; and one group said Extell should scale back their plans by 700,000 square feet, and they would still make between $2.2 billion and $3.8 billion in profit.

Mr. Barnett, the former diamond trader who rocketed into the top ranks of the city's development scene this (now) past boom cycle, sat slouched in a chair in the corner of the St. Jude Children's Hospital conference room as he watched each speaker give their two cents, staying mum after his opening remarks. Joining him was a healthy parade of consultants, including his two land-use lawyer teams (Kramer Levin AND Bryan Cave), two other lobbyists (George Arzt and Brenda Levin), and a set of architects.

Extell has been meeting from time to time with the community, and recently backed off its proposal to build a big box store, perhaps a Costco, at the site, after it became a bit of a controversy magnet.

Some details of Extell's Christian de Portzamparc-designed project, being called "Riverside Center" [ Much more on the project here, a feature we did in September on the history and new plans]:

-Five proposed glass towers including a 53-story residential tower on the northwest corner; a 42-story residential tower on the northeast corner; a 39-story mixed-use tower on the southeast corner; a 35-story residential tower on the south; and a 50-story tower on the southwest corner.

-3.2 acres of open space on the 8.2-acre site

-Office, retail and hotel totaling about 400,000 square feet, including a possible cinema

-The street grid would be restored to part of the superblock, and 60th Street would run about halfway through from the east. It would continue along to the development's western edge, not as a street, but as a "scrim of water," lined by trees.

-Everything to be built by 2018

-1,800 parking spaces

-Extell may want an auto showroom of 168,000 square feet

The displeasure on the part of some stems from the history surrounding the site, which is part of the larger 75-acre Riverside South development originally started by Donald Trump. Back in 1992, after a long battle, the site was rezoned with the consent of many of the local elected officials at the time, with a "restrictive declaration" that clearly spelled out a plan for all of Riverside South. At the parcel in question, Mr. Trump envisioned a 150-story world headquarters for NBC (these days NBC's aims are a bit more modest ... they've considered taking a few floors in 7 World Trade Center or Worldwide Plaza).

With no market for them, Mr. Barnett doesn't want to build television studios, so instead he wants to change the restrictive declaration and build a residential complex. But while you're fiddling with one thing, why not change a whole bunch of stuff, right? Accordingly, Extell wants to boost the density by about 700,000 square feet and add parking. Notably, Rob Pirani, a planner at the Regional Plan Association, said the group was against changing the restrictive declaration, as was the Riverside South Planning Corporation, which brokered the final compromise plan in the Trump days.

The project is still in its very early stages of review. In December, Extell expects to start the "scoping," a seemingly inane step that allows lengthy public comment on what the draft environmental impact statement should contain. That clears the way for the project, some months later, to go through the city's seven-month approval process for a rezoning, which will be the last major hurdle.

[NYC2ATX]

i'm surprised they are still proposing such massive projects in the current market. i'll be nice and take it as a sign of optimism, but we shall see.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

i'm surprised they are still proposing such massive projects in the current market. i'll be nice and take it as a sign of optimism, but we shall see.

Well, this isn't a new proposal, and it has a 2018 completion date. It'll be built out like everything else in the area, a tower at a time.

The project is still in its very early stages of review. In December, Extell expects to start the "scoping," a seemingly inane step that allows lengthy public comment on what the draft environmental impact statement should contain. That clears the way for the project, some months later, to go through the city's seven-month approval process for a rezoning, which will be the last major hurdle.

It won't be starting anytime soon.

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-es...verside-center

Now Showing! Extell’s Portzamparc-Designed Riverside Center



by Eliot Brown
November 25, 2008

Long in the planning stages, Gary Barnett and his Extell Development Co. have finally let loose images of Riverside Center, their planned 3.3 million-square-foot mostly residential complex at the base of the West Side development once known as Trump City. The Department of City Planning put on its Web site today an environmental review document for the project, a draft scope, which outlined the specifics of what Extell wants to put on the site, currently a series of parking lots.

The plan calls for five buildings, designed by Pritzker-winning Christian de Portzamparc, each a skinny tower that would run east-west on the two-block superblock.

In all, the complex would have 2.75 million square feet of residential, 209,000 square feet of retail, and 239,000 square feet of hotel space, along with a few other uses.

The plan will ultimately need approval of the City Council and City Planning Commission, and there certainly is some strong resistance so far among West Side residents and elected officials. Extell is reopening a development agreement from the 1990s crafted after a multi-year battle between the site owner at the time, Donald Trump, and a set of civic groups and elected officials.

Mr. Barnett says the zoning, which was intended for a 150-story NBC world headquarters tower, is no longer relevant, and thus he wants to change it to residential. However, he also wants to increase the amount of density he can build on the site by about 700,000 square feet, an ambitious request that will likely be strongly contested.

In any event, the scoping document is an early first step in the public approval process. A hearing on the document is slated for Jan. 8. The formal seven-month approval process typically begins several months after that.


More images from the scope:

The view from the Hudson



Looking from Jersey



Looking from overhead:

[NYC4Life]

Proposals for that parcel of land goes back at least 2 decades.

[NYC4Life]

Updated On 11/03/08 at 11:09AM

Trump accuses Extell, others of fraud


Donald Trump

By Adam Pincus

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is accusing the Extell Development Company and the private equity firm the Carlyle Group of orchestrating an unlawful purchase of his 77-acre site on the Upper West Side.

Trump filed papers in Manhattan State Supreme Court last week, and in vaguely-worded language he accuses Extell and Carlyle of being involved in the wiring of money to illegally influence his partner the Cheng Group in the sale of the Upper West Side parcel in 2005.

The court documents -- which were filed October 28 just days before Extell revealed updated plans for the site, dubbed Riverside South -- accuse Extell, Carlyle and others of setting up a $16.5 million payment to influence the $1.76 billion purchase of the property.

While the court papers do not identify who sent the money or who received it, they suggest the money was used to illegally influence the Cheng Group in connection with the sale.

This is Trump's third legal challenge to the $1.76 billion purchase by Extell and the Carlyle Group of the former Penn Central rail yards. The parcel extends from 59th Street to 72nd Street east of the West Side Highway.

In August 2005, before the November 3 sale was finalized, Trump sued for $1 billion in a 20-count complaint, claiming the Cheng Group -- which owned a controlling 70 percent interest in the 77-acre parcel while Trump owned 30 percent -- sold the property for approximately $1 billion less than what it could have obtained. Trump filed a similar complaint in federal court in 2005, but withdrew it the same year.

Most of the 2005 complaint was thrown out, allowing the sale to progress. Of the 20 counts, just one is still pending. The remaining item would give Trump the right to review Cheng Group records related to the sale.

Trump's latest filings -- which are referred to as a summons and notice on court papers -- says Extell and Carlyle conspired against him through a wire transfer in late 2005. But the papers do not specify who made the transfer and who received it. They simply say the transfer was in the amount of "$16.5 million to the BNP Paribas Bank of London for the purpose of obtaining an unlawful advantage with respect to the purchase" of the Riverside South property.

The court papers further accuse the defendants of causing fiduciary fraud and interfering in contracts, which is known as tortious interference. The documents were filed a week before the three-year statute of limitations for a breach of fiduciary duty claim expires. It was likely done to preserve the right to pursue a legal claim, said Terrence Oved of Oved and Oved, who is not involved in the case.

The Trump Organization and the Carlyle Group declined to comment. Extell did not respond to a request for comment, and the Cheng Group could not be reached for comment.

Extell presented plans Thursday night for four residential and one mixed-use building on an eight-acre site between 59th and 61st streets, the Observer reported.

[babybackribs2314]

I go to Fordham LC, and I can definitely speak for the area--it's nice, but you wouldn't want to go west of 10th at night. The Amsterdam Projects really are a blight on the entire neighborhood--not really a problem to others, but they make the immediate surrounding area kind of terrible. "Lincoln Square" (that's what they're calling the lower UWS these days, right?) is one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the entire city, but without those projects I'm guessing it would be #1.

[babybackribs2314]

By the way--do you know what's getting built next to 3 Lincoln Center Condominium? I can't find a thread for it or info anywhere--guessing it's a condo tower, but not sure how tall it's going to be (right now it's in the 15-20 story range).

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by babybackribs2314

By the way--do you know what's getting built next to 3 Lincoln Center Condominium? I can't find a thread for it or info anywhere--guessing it's a condo tower, but not sure how tall it's going to be (right now it's in the 15-20 story range).

I'm assuming you're right. There are so many residential towers going up around the city, I know relatively little of what's going on.

[Scruffy]

WHOA! thats far bigger than i thought. im afraid its going to be chopped down to nothing like Solow's Con Ed side on the East Side

[scalziand]

Originally Posted by Scruffy

WHOA! thats far bigger than i thought. im afraid its going to be chopped down to nothing like Solow's Con Ed side on the East Side

I doubt that, this is already at the scale of the 'nothing' that Con ed got chopped down to. Besides, this is clearly of a similar scale as the neighboiring buildings which were constructed (fairly) recently.

[NYguy]

More renderings from curbed.com

[NYguy]

An example of the elevated highway in "the way"...although waterfront access could be worse...

dpriddy

[Roaming]

One day a car will probably crash up there and end up at the bottom in the park. Then maybe they will get rid of that elevated highway after that happens.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by J. Will

There's nothing here that really shows what it's going to look like from the street at most vantage points.

I don't know, I've seen enough. At any rate, that's not the greatest concern among the NIMBY's. The new school, and more affordable housing are the biggest issues here. But as always, you can find more in depth details on any development moving through the city's 7 month approval process on the City Planning website (throught the nyc.gov portal)...
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/env...e_center.shtml

Jump to page 38 here for more renderings...
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/env_...e/08_dseis.pdf

Originally Posted by NYguy

More renderings from curbed.com

[NYguy]

http://www.riversidecenternyc.com/

[NYguy]

http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3947

Trump It's Not
Portzamparc tackles Riverside South, though alternative plans put up tough defense

10.21.2009


Riverside South, like so many of Donald Trump’s projects, is not particularly known for its architecture. Beginning in 1997—after decades of plans, deals, and legal wrangling—the first of nearly a dozen faux-Park Avenue towers began to rise above the West Side Highway. In 2005, Extell Development bought the final undeveloped parcels at the southern tip of the project. But instead of more bland luxury, Extell announced last fall that Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Christian de Portzamparc would be designing the project, which was unveiled earlier this year as Riverside Center, a soaring, crystalline complex spanning four city blocks.

And yet Portzamparc’s plan is already facing skepticism from locals, and not only because it is 800,000 square feet larger than previously allowed. Ever since NBC abandoned Trump’s plans to build new studios on the southern most plots, planners and community groups have been devising alternatives. While Extell is in no way required to embrace these plans, it must now contend with them, as was the case during a September 30 roundtable at the Center for Architecture.

While the half-dozen medium- and high-rise towers crafted in Portzamparc’s sculpted style are the most notable piece of the plan, the architect insists the most important part is what happens at the street. Working with landscape designer Signe Nielsen, Portzamparc has broken the predominating superblock and carved it into quarters. The idea is to incorporate the project with the city’s street grid and create view corridors through the project to the river.

The designers draw 60th Street into the project, heightening access and street activity. But the street terminates halfway through the site, where it is met by a 1.5-acre park. This is partly practical—the grade change is 28 feet, rather steep for a roadway—but also a public gesture. To create visual continuity with the street, a shallow reflecting pool runs the length of the park. “It was a way not to create an enclave and also to flow with the Manhattan grid, which allows a variety of architecture,” Portzamparc said. He added that the open space, which reaches 3.2 acres when plazas surrounding the buildings are included, is larger than that at Lincoln Center.

The buildings themselves will contain some 3.1 million square feet of development, and though their exact configuration remains to be determined, Extell has been promoting a school, grocery store, and movie theater as lacking public amenities that could find a home in the base of the towers. Above them would be a mix of luxury apartments, hotel rooms, and possibly affordable housing. “We see it as an exclamation point to the rest of Riverside South,” Nielsen said.

Like Portzamparc, his interlocutors focused considerably more attention on the ground than the towers above them. The Riverside South Planning Corporation, a non-profit that oversees the original master plan for development, also advocates the continuation of 60th Street, but it proposes a wall of towers on the north side with the creation of a public park on the block to the south. Not only are they skeptical of how public the park at the center of a major development would be, but Paul Elston, president of the corporation, said it would be less stifling on McKim, Mead & White’s old IRC power station on 59th Street. The corporation has proposed transforming the Con Ed-owned building into a cultural institution akin to the Tate Modern.

The Coalition for a Livable West Side proposed an approach similar to that at Gramercy Park. A public park would be created first running north-south in the middle of the site, with four development plots surrounding it—two east of the park, two west. Finally, Paul Wellen, one of the architects of the original plan, abandoned the corporation’s plan for something he said was more reasonable. He proposed leaving Portzamparc’s plan intact, except eliminate a mid-size tower at the middle of the complex, thus reducing its overall balk and opening up the IRT station.

Nielsen said these approaches were unfeasible, however, because they ignore issues such as creating a certain critically New York density and that 59th Street is a major Department of Sanitation route, to which the park should not be exposed. “These were things we were aware of, but we could not consider them,” Portzamparc said.

What shape the project takes will begin to be decided this winter, when the developer said it would initiate the public review process—it needs a special waver to deviate from the original plans for a studio, as well as to seek greater density. While the local community board has yet to take a position on the project, Page Cowley, an architect and co-chair of the board’s land-use committee, said the considerable community outreach undertaken by the developer has been heartening.

As for the designs, Cowley said that while they are impressive, many questions remain. “Schools, parks, and cars are probably bigger concerns than the architecture here,” Cowley said. “Because it’s bound to put a strain on other resources in the neighborhood.”


The Riverside South Planning Corporation prefers building north of 60th Street and creating the park to its south.


Part of the rationale for the north-south approach is that it gives the adjacent McKim, Mead & White-designed IRT powerstation on the south side of 59th Street.


The Coalition for a Livable West Side looks to Gramercy Park for a model. By wrapping 60th Street around the park, the complex becomes most pedestrian friendly.
It also allows for the construction of the park first, around which the towers can rise.


Paul Wellen, who helped design the original Riverside South plan in the 1980s, argued that radical approaches would never succeed with the developer,
so he simply proposed removing one of the towers, helping to open up the project to the surroundings and the IRT station

[NYC2ATX]

Originally Posted by NYguy

The Coalition for a Livable West Side looks to Gramercy Park for a model. By wrapping 60th Street around the park, the complex becomes most pedestrian friendly.
It also allows for the construction of the park first, around which the towers can rise.

This is my favorite alternative. I might even prefer it to the Portzamparc plan, perhaps because, even though the rendering provided may be a rough draft of sorts, the buildings are a little odd and out-of-place-looking. This is so much more like New York, and who doesn't love a new formal park placed ever so nicely in the midst of this redeveloped area. It will create a nice niche within the neighborhood. This is my vote.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

This is my favorite alternative. I might even prefer it to the Portzamparc plan, perhaps because, even though the rendering provided may be a rough draft of sorts, the buildings are a little odd and out-of-place-looking.

Just imagine the Portzamparc buildings arranged in that formation.

I understand your thinking. But what I don't like about that plan is that it's basically an alternative, or "outside' plan - meaning they have no connection to the development whatsover. I don't like the idea that these outside groups think they can just come in and throw whatever they think is "livable" on the table, regardless of whatever the plan looks like. We see it happen all the time, whether it be Atlantic Yards, the Con Ed site, or even the Hudson Yards, these groups always come out with the "livable" alternative. If this were a bidding war for the site, that would be fine.

This site plan is different, for sure.





But judging from the rest of Riverside South, people aren't always thrilled when towers are made to fit in. How interesting are the buildings being completed there now? I think that's one of the reasons Extell is trying for something a little different. It's still a work in progress, but I think if done right, it could be another unique slice of the west side, like Lincoln Center.

[thelanetrain17]

quick question, why wont they build all those towers taller? more rooms more vacancy, isnt that what NYC is trying to improve on more places to live? and another thing, they need some big tall buildings on the upper west side its about time NYC does, but i know, NIMBYs haha