NEW YORK | 175 Park Avenue (Grand Hyatt) | 1,575 FT | 86 FLOORS

[chris08876]

Excellent!

[chris08876]

At least these folks were fair compared to CB-5.

CB-5 was nothing but negativity. Glad the LPC has some brains and eyes.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by chris08876

At least these folks were fair compared to CB-5.

CB-5 was nothing but negativity. Glad the LPC has some brains and eyes.

They were more grounded in reality. It's like I've been saying, the height of the building itself won't really matter from the street level, which is what they were evaluating. You can see how much taller the building is on the skyline from a distance. But you can't seriously say a 1,600 ft buildng is out of scale with Grand Central, and a 500 ft building is not. They would both obviously dwarf the terminal. But that wasn't the issue. It's even further ridiculous when you consider One Vanderbilt as the elephant in the room. And for all the talk of height, the Met Life would still be the largest building in the area, at over 3 msf.

[giantSwan]

this is my favorite skyscraper in years...can't build fast enough

[Busy Bee]

But what about the children???

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

But what about the children???

[NYguy]

This was the moronic CB5’s recommendation to the LPC, which overwhelmingly approved of the design.


https://www.cb5.org/cb5m/resolutions.../resolution_1/

WHEREAS, Although the tapered base allows for greater exposure and public viewing of Grand Central Terminal there are too many features of the tower proposal that detract from the Landmark, including exterior stairways at the main entrance of the proposed tower that not only disrupt the street-wall of a main thoroughfare with a very large opening, but also draw the eye away from Landmark; and

WHEREAS, The glass-clad quadruple height lobby destroys the grade-level symmetry of the building and the streetscape by introducing a large off-center escalator that, although interior, is very visible and gives the proposed building a suburban feel that conflicts with the elegant Beaux-Arts Terminal; and

WHEREAS, Other detractions include an anticipated ‘glowing lantern’ effect of the lower floor’s glass atrium lighting up and out-shining Grand Central Terminal, and also abundant exterior lighting on the proposed public plaza and stairways; and

WHEREAS, The non-contextual use of futuristic metal columns and glass for the tower design is overpowering, with any proposed incorporation of limestone either at minimal usage on the exterior portions or hidden within the glass atrium of the proposed development’s lobby; therefore be it

RESOLVED, Community Board 5 recommends denial of a LPC Report stating a harmonious relationship between the proposed building and the Grand Central Terminal.

[chris08876]

I'd be curious what design CB5 would like to see. Like if they designed their own tower, what it would look like in order to be harmonious. An invisible tower perhaps? One that doesn't exist.

Considering the developer/designer took great effort to incorporate elements of the tower to work with Grand Central. Hell, they even throw in some nice additions to the transit tunnels/station.

Like if the current, existing Grand Hyatt on this parcel is harmonious. Its laughable.

They are fine with the Grand Hyatt but not this. Can't take them seriously. I mean I really like Filet Mignon but if it was covered in NY rat turds, I wouldn't eat it. And that's what the existing Grand Hyatt is with respect to Grand Central, a rat turd.

WHEREAS, The glass-clad quadruple height lobby destroys the grade-level symmetry of the building and the streetscape by introducing a large off-center escalator that, although interior, is very visible and gives the proposed building a suburban feel that conflicts with the elegant Beaux-Arts Terminal; and

Suburban feel?

WHEREAS, Other detractions include an anticipated ‘glowing lantern’ effect of the lower floor’s glass atrium lighting up and out-shining Grand Central Terminal, and also abundant exterior lighting on the proposed public plaza and stairways; and

Lights! Who would of thought!!! So people don't trip and crack their skulls.

[NYguy]

^ Nothing about what they said regarding the base makes sense.



https://urbanize.city/nyc/post/landm...-central-tower

Landmarks comes out in favor of 175 Park Avenue, the 1,600-ft Grand Central tower





FEBRUARY 23, 2021
DIANE PHAM

Earlier this month, RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone revealed plans for a new 1,646-foot, office-and-hotel tower at 175 Park Avenue. The supertall, intended to replace the foreboding Grand Hyatt Hotel, successfully passed Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) muster this afternoon, garnering two important advisory reports: the first, a favorable judgment concerning the "harmonious relationship" of the supertall to Grand Central Terminal; and the second, a motion supporting alterations to the terminal viaduct and 42nd Street passage.

Although the LPC has no formal jurisdiction over the project under current zoning, their reports will be evaluated by the City Planning and Public Design commissions which do have authority over the design.

At the public hearing held via Zoom, representatives from the development and architecture team took the board and public through the design, offering up a number of new insights as well as a bounty of new renderings and diagrams concerning the proposed project.

Numerous local organizations came out to support the project, including the New York Building Congress, Grand Central Partnership (BID), Riders Alliance, Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects, architect Anabelle Seldorf, and the Design Trust for Public Space, which called the design “responsive to the original intent of the station.”

The City Club of New York, Victorian Society, Society for the Architecture of the City, and Municipal Arts Society (MAS) were among the groups against the project. MAS called the amalgamation of columns at the tower’s base a “busy distraction” and “super-human in scale,” adding that the building would ultimately “overwhelm” Grand Central Terminal and the neighborhood’s classic towers. More than one organization called the design "more appropriate for Dubai."

After hearing over an hour of public testimony, nearly all commissioners of the LPC came out in support of the "harmonious relationship" between the new tower and Grand Central—though it is worth noting that the interpretation focused primarily on the plinth.

Commissioner Michael Devonshire started his comments expressing his "fundamental near-hatred of the monumental towers being built across the city" but followed up by saying "there is absolutely no dissonant note between Grand Central Station and this new building [175 Park] ... I relish the fact you can actually see through to Grand Central Terminal."

Commissioner Everardo Jefferson called it a "wonderful project" but noted that it's the contrast—not the harmony—of the modern building that makes Grand Central really shine.

Commissioner Michael Goldblum, however, called it a "failure" with a "dissonant relationship" between Grand Central comparing the design of the tower to "Constantine's head in Rome." Goldblum demanded that the whole building be considered, not just the base, which he also deemed problematic and antithetical to Grand Central's Beaux-Arts design. "It's as disharmonious as can be," he concluded.

Ultimately, the LPC approved changes to the terminal viaduct and 42nd Street passage and moved to approve a favorable report for the tower itself.

175 Park Avenue is anticipated to enter the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) this spring. RXR and TF Cornerstone hope to commence demolition of the Hyatt Hotel in 2022. Construction on the new tower is expected to be completed by 2030.

[citybooster]

What do they have there now? A glass atrocity with no rhyme, reason... certainly NO harmony whatsoever. Yes, the design is radically different from what New York has seen but so what? Something bold, soaring, respectful and yes, harmonious but yet a wonderful contrast. Well thankfully the LPC has a lot more sense than the the idiotic community board and those few groups who were negative about the tower. Ten years from now, people will be thrilled by this new wonder.

[Raysiri]

Wow, look at this: “ Earlier this month, RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone revealed plans for a new 1,646-foot, office-and-hotel tower at 175 Park Avenue. The supertall, intended to replace the foreboding Grand Hyatt Hotel, successfully passed Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) muster this afternoon, ...”



That is amazing! It would be a landmark when it is built! So cooooooool.

[JMKeynes]

So does this now have all the required permissions such that it can be built precisely as shown, or do they have to go before more panels/boards, etc.?

[TonyNYC]

Originally Posted by citybooster

What do they have there now? A glass atrocity with no rhyme, reason... certainly NO harmony whatsoever. Yes, the design is radically different from what New York has seen but so what? Something bold, soaring, respectful and yes, harmonious but yet a wonderful contrast. Well thankfully the LPC has a lot more sense than the the idiotic community board and those few groups who were negative about the tower. Ten years from now, people will be thrilled by this new wonder.

Hell Yeah!! This tower is gonna be EPIC!!

I'm not opposed to tearing down the Hotel Penn, but not for Foster's building.. it's damn ugly!

Build something that will THRILL us all over at 15 Penn too!

[citybooster]

Originally Posted by TonyNYC

Hell Yeah!! This tower is gonna be EPIC!!

I'm not opposed to tearing down the Hotel Penn, but not for Foster's building.. it's damn ugly!

Build something that will THRILL us all over at 15 Penn too!

Vornado really takes it slow, which is good. Because they better think twice, three, four... ten times before they put up something like that Silicon Valley tech geek shrine to atrocity. After all, they might love working in it but we have no choice but to see it every day. The Hotel Penn now is just too run down to give a rat's tail about, but where we get daring architectural proposals like 270 and 350 and 175 Park Avenue... we get a tech geek's typical stack. And not very creatively done, either. If it were a boutique 400-700 ft office tower anywhere else, it wouldn't be too bad, it might even be okay... but this is going to be one of the most prominent towers in midtown... just very depressing that this is the best they could come up with after the old Pelli design was discarded. Yeah, that was boring and predictable for Pelli, but this tower redesign screams "trendy" rather than "timeless" or "classic". Vornado ought to aim for better as the centerpiece tower to this plan.

[JMKeynes]

I'd love to see Morgan Stanley anchor this.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

So does this now have all the required permissions such that it can be built precisely as shown, or do they have to go before more panels/boards, etc.?

This is just a step towards the approvals process, which will begin in a month or so.

[JMKeynes]

Originally Posted by NYguy

This is just a step towards the approvals process, which will begin in a month or so.

[NYguy]

LPC Grand Central/175 Park hearing...


• Video Link

[chris08876]

No credit source as I had to use magic to get past some capitalistic paywall that prevents the masses from reading about key NYC information. The masses should not have to pay $10 a month to read such info!!!

[JMKeynes]