NEW YORK | 159 Broadway | 277 FT | 26 FLOORS

[NYguy]

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/26767

Meet Williamsburgh Savings Bank’s Lofty New Neighbor


Chad Oppenheim's design for Williamsburghotel. (Courtesy Oppenheim)


November 1, 2011
Branden Klayko

Miami-based Oppenheim Architecture+Design has won an international design competition for a hotel in Brooklyn at the Williamsburg Bridge. The proposed 86,000 square foot, 440-foot-tall tower is comprised of three 16-foot deep vertical slabs and joins a recently announced 40-story rental tower designed by FX Fowle nearby on the waterfront as the latest high-rise planned for the neighborhood.

Oppenheim declined to name the competition sponsor, citing a confidential development team, but the site adjacent to the landmarked, 1870s-era Williamsburgh Savings Bank is currently under renovation by a group intending to build a hotel and event space on the corner of Broadway and Driggs Avenue.

Chad Oppenheim, principal at Oppenheim A+D, was intrigued by the style, soul, and grit of the rapidly transforming Williamsburg neighborhood. Dubbed the Williamsburghotel, the tower mixes height and materiality to form a relationship with the surrounding neighborhood: the lowest slab with the existing area, the middle form with domed bank, and the tallest tower with the bridge. Oppenheim compared the set-backs of the three forms to traditional skyscrapers in New York on “an extreme scale.” The hotel’s crystalline facade is formed by structural diagonal steel designed to resist lateral loading. In addition to green roofs topping the two lower slabs, Oppenheim hopes to achieve LEED Platinum certification with geothermal, wind, and solar power.

[NYguy]

Vague renderings, but we'll see...

[babybackribs2314]

This proposal is fantastic. We really need some 500-700' buildings in WBurg, though; there needs to be variety, otherwise we're going to have a relatively mundane skyline of 300-400' towers.

I suppose the likeliest place to see those would be downtown Brooklyn, where there have already been proposals for towers upwards of both ranges...

Regardless, the infill along the East River over the next decade is going to create a solid skyline all along the waterfront--the look will be drastically different in 2020, with towers from Williamsburg all the way to LIC.

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

Wow that was from out of the blue, this proposal is fantastic. the facade scheme is truly visionary. Frank Ghery's words on bringing the bay window back to NYC resonate as i look at the window pattern. Not to mention that its unbelievably slim. Bravo Williamsburg!

[NYguy]

Yeah, I would like to see more details. It's very slim, but the relatively small size (86,000 sq ft) is made up for in height.

[patriotizzy]

Really love the facade. Same goes with the size of the building. Skinny and tall is always nice to see.

[colemonkee]

Man, this thing is wahfaire theen. Interesting choice to produce rainy day renders. I don't think I've seen that yet.

[scalziand]

Love the pyramidal windows.

[JayPro]

Up, up, up I say!

The architectural rationale for the three different slabs is genius. I agree on the awesome facade work as well.

[Roadcruiser1]

The side views of this building somehow reminds me of the AT&T raising the bar thing.

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2011/11/another-huge-tower-for-the-williamsburg-waterfront/

Another Huge Tower for the Williamsburg Waterfront



By Matt Chaban 11/02 5:58pm

[size=3]It looks like there was a project or two we left off our round-up of Brooklyn’s waterfront development this morning. The Architects Newspaper got wind of two unusual projects in Williamsburg, one a counter-cultural proposal for the Domino Sugar refinery site, the other an almost impossible 40-story hotel next to the landmarked Williamsburg Saving Bank on Broadway. Looks like there really is no stopping the neighborhood.

[NYguy]

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/45/dtg_hotelproposal_2011_11_11_bk.html

Faulty tower! Critics don’t like the look of this modern hotel

By Aaron Short
November 7, 2011

...The tallest segment of the glass-walled structure would be as high as the highest point of the Williamsburg Bridge. Guests would get cinematic views of the Manhattan skyline and all three East River bridges — though it’s not likely that residents will permit it.

“Clearly, it would overwhelm the bank and block the view of the bank from the approach of the bridge, said Community Board 1 Land Use Chairwoman Heather Roslund, who is also an architect. “As a long-time resident, seeing the dome of the bank is part of the symbolic urban fabric that is Williamsburg.”

The property’s owner, Juan Figueroa, said he hopes to build a hotel in the lot next to the historic bank building, which he is currently restoring into a banquet hall, but he doesn’t have the funds to move forward on any plan, let alone his architect’s dream project. “Our architect did a design on spec — we don’t have that kind of money,” said Figueroa. “I don’t know why he put it out there. He’s crazy to put it out there like that.”

Figueroa believes it is unlikely that the design will ultimately be used, but its height is not unthinkable. The property is zoned for commercial use and does not have the same height and affordable housing restrictions that limit the neighborhood’s tallest structures along the edge of the East River.

[Rizzo]

Yeah, this thread should die out quickly. It's just a design competition, not a proposal.

[NYguy]

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2012/01/...per-tall-williamsburg-hotel/?stream=true

Developer Still Planning Super-Tall Williamsburg Hotel



By Gabby
Jan 9 2012

Back in early November there were reports about how the firm Oppenheim Architecture+Design had won some sort of design competition for a skyscraper hotel next to the landmark Williamsburgh Savings Bank.

Juan Figueroa, who owns the site and is currently developing the former bank into a gallery and event space, quickly denied the reports, saying there was no way to finance the project.

Permits that were recently filed with the city indicate, however, that Figueroa is at least trying to get the official OK for a tower in the spot, whether or not he’s planning on building it anytime soon. Figueroa filed an application to build a 420-foot-tall hotel with 36 stories and more than 200 rooms. The original news about the hotel was that it would be 440 feet tall and, in fact, Oppenheim isn’t named on the application: A firm called Diego Aguilera Architects that’s based in Rego Park is referred to as the applicant of record.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQu...passjobnumber=320371156&passdocnumber=01

[Dylan Leblanc]

supertall??!!

it's too bad the view to the domed building from the bridge will be blocked.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Dylan Leblanc

supertall??!!

I looked at that also. I guess its supertall in relation to the surrounding area. But I wonder if the application is an attempt to get financing or make the property more attractive to a potential buyer.

[NYC2ATX]

I am OBSESSED. OBSESSED. ..with the design released in November. I hope that's what is built if this is built, or if not, it's either similar or different but just as edgy. This could be Billyburg's Trump Soho, only better.

[Dylan Leblanc]

it seems too thin at the top to be realistic

[NYguy]

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/04/04/b...-to-historic-williamsburg-bank-building/

Boutique hotel planned for site adjacent to historic Williamsburgh Savings building





April 04, 2013
By Guelda Voien

A 250-room hotel will go up next to the historic Williamsburgh Savings Bank building in Brooklyn, a spokesperson for the developer, Juan Figueroa, confirmed to The Real Deal today.

The hotel is still in the early planning stages but should rise 40 stories on a site adjacent to the old bank building, at 175 Broadway, which has undergone an extensive renovation and will open later this year as an event space.

“It is going to be the hottest hotel in Brooklyn – no question in my mind,” said Edward Eschmann, a director in CBRE’s evaluation group, who is familiar with the project.

The boutique hotel will probably be ready for business by early 2015, both Eschmann and the developer’s spokesperson said; Figueroa, though doesn’t have financing yet for the project, Eschmann told TRD.

Previous reports had speculated that Figueroa would convert the bank itself into lodging; the next-door space, empty but part of the same plot, will let the developer build a much taller hotel. Proximity to the Williamsburg Bridge and Peter Luger Steakhouse should help boost the hotel’s profile. The domed bank is one block south of the bridge, at Driggs Avenue.

Figueroa bought the building from HSBC in 2010 for $4.5 million; the makeover – estimated at about $3 million, according to reports – is nearly complete, Figueroa’s representative said. The developer expects to begin scheduling weddings, other celebrations and conference as soon as September, although everything is contingent on the careful restoration work going as planned.

“[Figueroa] is piece-by-piece hiring each person who is the best in their field,” to reproduce each element of the building, which is 137 years old, his spokesperson said.

[NYRebel]

I sort of forgot about this hotel and location.

This will be nice along with the Domino Project close by!

Pretty soon Brooklyn is going to need some more transit options over there. Preferably a new train line, I despise the bus.