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  #81  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2014, 7:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Eveningsong View Post
What is so special about the interior? I can't find one thing that "wows" me.
Is it the chandeliers? The high ceilings? Maybe it's just the facade that is unique.
it's the atmosphere to the place,really comfortable
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  #82  
Old Posted Mar 26, 2014, 9:37 PM
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Rizzoli Bookstore denied landmark status
LeFrak, Vornado to demolish building along with two neighboring structures
Julie Strickland March 26, 2014 05:20PM


27-31 West 57th Street

Quote:
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has turned down an Upper West Side bookstore’s bid to shield itself from the wrecking ball with historic status.

The LeFrak family and Vornado Realty Trust, who collectively own the 31 West 57th Street building Rizzoli Bookstore has anchored for 29 years, plan to tear it down along with two neighboring structures. Announcement of the demolition plan sparked outrage in the community, but the LPC determined Wednesday that the building “does not meet the criteria for individual landmark designation.”

The news follows a Monday letter from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer urging the LPC to hold a public hearing and consider landmarking the site’s interior and exterior. Her office filed a formal request to grant the building landmark status on March 21.
...
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  #83  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 1:20 AM
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the LPC determined Wednesday that the building “does not meet the criteria for individual landmark designation.”

I don't know what they were expecting. They have previously gotten this message, but I guess it didn't sink in.


Quote:
The bookstore’s management had requested that the city evaluate the property to determine if it qualifies for landmark protection. In a letter obtained by International Business Times, Marry Beth Betts, a commission researcher, said a senior staff committee carefully reviewed the building but declined to recommend it for further consideration as an individual New York City Landmark.

The bookstore had apparently argued for landmark status on the grounds that the building, not far from Steinway Hall, was once the location of a piano showroom, and is therefore a historic remnant of the city’s influential piano industry. The commission, however, pointed out that it has already commemorated that industry through the designation of Steinway Hall and its first-floor reception room, among other locations.

“The committee recommends that these sites, in comparison to 31 W. 57th Street, provide a better representation of the piano’s industry’s historic significance to New York City,” Betts wrote.


This Gale Brewer is already on my nerves...


http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2014...rom-demolition

Quote:
The decision came a day after Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer wrote a letter urging the commission to hold a public hearing as soon as possible to consider landmarking the building's interior and exterior in the hopes of protecting it from the wrecking ball. Brewer's office had filed a formal request to have the building landmarked on March 21.

....While the Lefrak family and Vornado have not said what they plan to do with the land if the bookstore is demolished, many believe they will build another 57th Street skyscraper, like One57.

"The addition of another individual landmark would firmly establish for the future Piano Row's place in New York City history, while the loss of this fabric for another tower will degrade what is so wonderful about West 57th Street," Brewer wrote.
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  #84  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 1:31 AM
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The Landmarks Preservation Commission has turned down an Upper West Side bookstore....
Heh The real deal is something else. (not in a good way)

Uh oh. Someone on curbed called her a "Queen Bee NIMBY"
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  #85  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 1:44 AM
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Originally Posted by NYguy View Post
They have previously gotten this message, but I guess it didn't sink in.
You're right-- it probably didn't register.

She's a busy-body. For those who need a visual:

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  #86  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 2:02 AM
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Originally Posted by tubeworm View Post
You're right-- it probably didn't register.

She's a busy-body. For those who need a visual:

Oh dear...
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  #87  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 2:10 AM
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Let's not talk about Gale Brewer; her politics are even more disturbing than her looks. In any case, while the building is nice, I agree it doesn't merit landmarks protection.

I am eager to see what Vornado comes up for this site. With 111 W. 57 down the street, and all the other competitor towers, if they want to attract the global superrich, they better come up with a design (and height) that stuns.
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  #88  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 2:16 AM
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Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
Let's not talk about Gale Brewer; her politics are even more disturbing than her looks. In any case, while the building is nice, I agree it doesn't merit landmarks protection.

I am eager to see what Vornado comes up for this site. With 111 W. 57 down the street, and all the other competitor towers, if they want to attract the global superrich, they better come up with a design (and height) that stuns.
I'm assuming they will stick with a Robert AM Stern designed tower.
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  #89  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2014, 2:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Eveningsong View Post
I'm assuming they will stick with a Robert AM Stern designed tower.
Maybe. I could see another prewar-style tower in this location.

If I were Vornado/Lefrak I think I would consider glass, though. You will be directly competing with at least two other Stern buildings. I would go with something modernist, like maybe a Richard Meier, with clean lines and global appeal (the Stern buildings tend to attract New Yorkers moreso than the global superrich).

Can you imagine a Richard Meier supertall in this location? Now that would be fantastic.
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  #90  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2014, 12:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
If I were Vornado/Lefrak I think I would consider glass, though. You will be directly competing with at least two other Stern buildings. I would go with something modernist, like maybe a Richard Meier, with clean lines and global appeal (the Stern buildings tend to attract New Yorkers moreso than the global superrich).

Can you imagine a Richard Meier supertall in this location? Now that would be fantastic.

We have enough Stern going up in the area. I want more variety, something New York, but different enough from the other towers going up to distinguish itself.
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  #91  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2014, 1:12 AM
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^I agree, we need something like Tower Verre.
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  #92  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2014, 2:36 AM
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Originally Posted by ILNY View Post
^I agree, we need something like Tower Verre.
Yes, please.

A Torre Verre-quality design, in this trophy location (57th and 5th) would break all sales records. This has a better location than every other proposed tower.
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  #93  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2014, 7:02 PM
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http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/03/...ndmark-status/

Rizzoli Bookstore to continue fight for landmark status
Despite being rejected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission this week






March 29, 2014
Christopher Cameron


Quote:
Those hoping to save the much loved and elegant Rizzoli Bookstore remain positive despite being denied landmark status.

Landmarks Preservation Commission’s rejected the bookstore’s request for historic status this week. Currently, LeFrak and Vornado Realty Trust plan to demolish the building, located at 31 West 57th Street, to make way for a high-rise condo.

But members of the Save Rizzoli Committee haven’t lost hope. A committee member has written to Curbed saying:

“[This] is not final, nor a significant departure from their previous stance. The Commission has reversed their positions on whether to landmark buildings in the past, and with the entire Commissioners terms set to expire soon, there is still hope a public hearing can be calendared. The recent support of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has been encouraging.”
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  #94  
Old Posted Mar 30, 2014, 3:57 AM
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Aw im sad to hear that rizzolis would be moved because of this. I always liked wandering into that store and always got that grand and sophisticated NY feel while browsing the books.
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  #95  
Old Posted Mar 31, 2014, 2:33 AM
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We should take the Rizzoli Library

And push it somewhere else!
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  #96  
Old Posted Mar 31, 2014, 11:23 AM
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Originally Posted by lakegz View Post
Aw im sad to hear that rizzolis would be moved because of this. I always liked wandering into that store and always got that grand and sophisticated NY feel while browsing the books.

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do that at the new location, unless you only wander 57th Street. In that case, it's not about the bookstore at all.
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  #97  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2014, 11:10 PM
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Rizzoli is officially closing and vacating the building on Friday, April 11, per the NY Times.

I think this project will be sneaking up on people, and soon. Hopefully Vornado/Lefrak come up with a spectacular design worthy of the location.
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  #98  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2014, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
Rizzoli is officially closing and vacating the building on Friday, April 11, per the NY Times.

I think this project will be sneaking up on people, and soon. Hopefully Vornado/Lefrak come up with a spectacular design worthy of the location.

Yeah, it's sneaking up on all of us.



http://www.ibtimes.com/save-rizzoli-...dmarks-1567229

Save Rizzoli Bookstore Effort Heats Up: 57th Street Building Defaced, Critics Say, As NYC Landmarks Process Called ‘Slow And Opaque’
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is calling for reforms to preservation process








A Wikimedia photo of 29 W. 57th Street taken in 2011 (left) contrasts a photo of the same building taken on Tuesday (right).


By Christopher Zara
on April 03 2014


Quote:
All hope is not lost in the effort to save New York City’s beloved Rizzoli Bookstore and surrounding buildings from demolition, even as the fight between developers and preservationists on Manhattan’s rapidly changing 57th Street is getting dirtier -- literally.

Sources say Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO), which co-owns the three properties at the center of the dispute, deployed contractors to deface the exterior of the buildings in a premeditated effort to derail the landmark-evaluation process. “Preemptive demolition,” as the tactic is known, is not an uncommon strategy for property owners, which have been known to purposely disfigure a building’s distinctive features after catching wind of an effort to designate a property for landmark protection. In this case, the tactic was alleged in detail on the Save Rizzoli blog. The blog’s anonymous author noted that the gold caryatids and ornamentation at 29 West 57th St., a 90-year-old former piano showroom known as Chickering Hall, had been torn off the building’s exterior.

A source familiar with the situation confirmed that workers showed up at the property several days after the campaign to save the buildings began. The workers said they were there to conduct repairs, the source said, but proceeded to fill in some of the distinctive grooves and other building characteristics with cement. The top of Checkering Hall, which once displayed a stunning replica of the Legion d’Honneur medal won by the firm’s pianos at the 1867 Paris Exposition, has been reduced to an eyesore of faded concrete.

The source, who asked not to be identified, said the property owners have been bullying tenants, including Rizzoli, telling them not to speak out on the ongoing preservation fight. Tenants contacted for this article did not respond to a request for comment. Vornado, along with co-owner The LeFrak Organization, are presumed to be planning a luxury condo tower for the site.

Asked to comment on the alleged preemptive demolition, a spokesperson for Vornado said simply that the property owners respect the city’s landmarks process. “As two of New York’s largest property owners, Vornado and LeFrak each has a successful history of working collaboratively with the city and value New York’s heritage,” the spokesman said. “Vornado and LeFrak each own numerous landmarked properties and are fully respectful of the landmarks process.”

As International Business Times first reported in January, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has already determined that the Rizzoli building at 31 West 57th Street “lacks the architectural significance necessary to meet the criteria for designation as an individual landmark.” News of that determination sparked a worldwide effort to save the buildings from demolition and preserve what’s left of a street that has fallen prey to rapid development.

While the alterations at Chickering Hall have possibly sealed that building’s fate, all hope is not lost for the adjacent Rizzoli building. Last week, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer wrote a personal appeal to Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the LPC, urging the commission to hold an immediate public hearing on the matter.

Brewer’s office also sent a request to have the property evaluated as an “interior landmark,” a designation less likely to be affected by alterations to the outside of the building.

Damaris Olivo, a spokeswoman for the LPC, said in a phone call Tuesday that the new request is currently under review from the commission’s research department, and that a decision will likely be reached in the next few weeks.


“It’s not over,” Olivo said. “It’s moving along.”

In recent years, West 57th Street has emerged as a kind of Ground Zero for the growing tensions between developers and preservationists. Dubbed by some as the new Billionaire’s Row, the crosstown thoroughfare is now home to the largest residential skyscraper in the city, One57, a 90-story tower of luxury condos due to open this year. And an even taller tower, one that will eclipse the Empire State Building, was recently green lighted for 215 West 57th Street. That project, too, is being fought by preservationists.

But the fight over Rizzoli is as much about legacy as it is about what New York preservation will look like in the post-Michael Bloomberg era. Tierney, a Bloomberg appointee, has not moved fast enough on the issue according to those leading the effort, including Manhattan Community Board Five. Following IBTimes’ report in January, the board’s members wrote Tierney to say they were “very disturbed” to learn that the building is facing demolition, particularly as a request for evaluation was submitted as early as 2007.

As for Mayor Bill de Blasio, few New Yorkers know where he stands on the issue of preservation. Three months into the job, he has yet to name Tierney’s successor, although a decision is expected soon. De Blasio’s office has not responded to numerous requests for comment on the Rizzoli effort, and some involved in the campaign say he has ignored their letters requesting action.

Brewer, long a champion of pro-preservationist causes, is planning to visit Rizzoli Bookstore at 12:00 p.m. on Friday to call for “reforms to the slow and opaque landmarks process.” She is asking that those who support the effort join her.

Sit down lady!
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  #99  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2014, 5:18 PM
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Tis a shame what we have to lose in order to gain. Aside from the ornamentation, I think 29 would have been worth keeping to provide some buffer space between the new tower and the Solow building.
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  #100  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2014, 8:24 PM
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http://www.contractmagazine.com/cont...in-10572.shtml

Rizzoli Bookstore in New York to Close April 11


04 April, 2014
By Cody Calamaio


Quote:
Rizzoli bookstore in New York City announced that it will be closing its 57th Street store to the public on April 11.

Designed by architect Hugh Hardy, the space has been praised for its vaulted interior, but has been facing potential demolition, as Contract Editor in Chief John Czarnecki discussed in a blog post this week.

"We have truly appreciated the outpouring of support from so many of you as we enter the transition from the Rizzoli Bookstore's longtime home on W. 57th Street to our next chapter," the company posted on its Facebook page on Friday. "We have been scouting out new locations in Manhattan, and are delighted to report that we have seen several very promising spaces." Rizzoli will be hosting a moving sale through April 11, with all books 40 percent off.

I hope all of the bookstore supporters will continue to support the store in their new home. That would be true support.




http://gothamist.com/2014/04/04/ever..._off_-_bre.php

"Everybody Has Been Bought Off": Brewer, Neighbors Protest Imminent Rizzoli Bookstore Demolition





Ben MIller
Apr 4, 2014


Quote:
A coalition of preservationists and community leaders held a rally and press conference today in front of the soon-to-be-demolished Rizzoli Bookstore, which has already been defaced, at least on the outside, by the developers who hope to tear it down and put up more glassy condos. While the speakers, including Historic Districts Council Executive Director Simeon Bankoff, and members of Community Board 5, rallied for changes to future landmarks protection regulations, they admitted it is probably too late to save the bookstore's building and its two neighbors. This was not to the liking of some of the crowd, as rumors circulated about last-ditch lawsuits and an attempt to landmark the bookstore's interior.

Considering the buildings were first recommended for landmarking in 2007, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who led the proceedings, said it's "quite shocking" that there's been no hearing by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Without action to protect landmarks and small business, she warned, "we will live in a uniform and sterile environment, an environment with no character, with no outlets for smaller retail stores and places of arts, letters, and culture." Why the future tense, Madam President?

Asked why the LPC declined to grant the famed bookstore landmark status, Director of Communications Damaris Olivo said "the Commission has already commemorated the importance of the piano industry to New York City through the designation of Steinway Hall, the Aeolian Building, and the Sohmer & Company Piano Factory Building in Queens," and that those sites provided "a better representation of the piano industry's historic significance to New York City." (The Rizzoli building was once a piano showroom.)

Left unaddressed in Olivo's response were the questions of the architectural, historic, and cultural significance of the building as it relates to 57th Street's history as a cultural center in New York (including Carnegie Hall a block away, which was itself almost demolished).

Brewer also called for reforms that would require the LPC to follow a "transparent and consistent" time frame in responding to requests for landmark designation. Any demolition permits for a building older than 50 years would trigger an automatic period of public comment; the LPC would be required to consider the comments and issue a decision within a consistent time frame.

Additionally, Brewer asked that "building owners and managers consider the special needs of bookstores and other small cultural businesses" when planning and leasing space.
Asked how that might work, she mentioned using zoning restrictions and landmark designations as a way to instigate informal negotiations about what kind of space developers would make available.

Neighbor Isabel Madden, who said she's lived in the neighborhood for 37 years, appreciated Brewer's proposals but said it was not too late to write off the building, which will be demolished by the developer Vornado. "As long as it is here, doing nothing is not an option...This neighborhood has been taken over by Vornado and Extell, it's a disgrace. Everybody has been bought off."

The good thing is that Brewer's proposals will go nowhere.
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