Archinect - News

The Real Deal gets straight with Manhattan’s 'Leaning Tower of FiDi'

2023-03-13T11:43:00-04:00

You’ve heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but did you know New York has its very own leaning tower? Manhattan’s “Leaning Tower of FiDi,” developed by Fortis Property Group, has this dubious distinction: It is tilting by three inches to the north, and has been beset by numerous construction delays, disputes with lenders and more. How did this engineering blunder ever come to pass?

One Seaport (aka “161 Maiden Lane”) is now the subject of a contentious lawsuit between Fortis and the project’s construction engineer Pizzarotti. Pizzarotti claims the developers are at fault owing to shoddy preparatory work on its foundation, which left the tower at risk for catastrophic failures for portions of its facade, structural concrete, and even elevators.

Construction has since stalled out as various solutions are proffered. If it is ever actually completed, its 80 luxury units could be filled with tenants lured by yacht rental offers. A rather high-end incentive for the wealthy in a city where their opposites face their own daily risks caused by different forms of structural neglect and incompetence.

Anish Kapoor completes 'mini-Bean' at Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard

2023-02-06T13:51:00-05:00

After years of delays, New York City finally has a shiny silver bean of its own. A new sculpture by Anish Kapoor—modeled after his famous Cloud Gate, known as the Bean, in Chicago—was officially unveiled this week. [...] Despite its resemblance to Cloud Gate, is different in several key ways, reported Tribeca Citizen in 2018. For example, while Chicago’s Bean is bolted securely to the ground, Manhattan’s mini-Bean is more free-flowing, able to move and shift depending on the weather.

The $8 million freestanding sculpture has been teased since 2008 when renderings for Herzog & de Meuron’s domineering 56 Leonard Street tower were first revealed to the public. It has a less-expensive twin at the MFA Houston and will get an official name later in the coming months, according to Hyperallergic.

“[It’s] small change for these people,” Kapoor (who purchased a condo in the building in 2016) said, speaking of developer Alexico Group’s private financing. “They should be giving something back already, and more, honestly.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by M I C H A E L T. Y O U N G (@mchlanglo793)

Construction on Queens' tallest building, Skyline Tower, is complete

2021-07-28T19:41:00-04:00

Construction is now fully complete on Skyline Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Long Island City and all of Queens. Addressed as 23-15 44th Drive, the 68-story, 778-foot-tall edifice is designed by Hill West Architects and developed by United Construction & Development Group, FSA Capital, and Risland US Holdings LLC. Yielding 802 residences designed by Whitehall Interiors and marketed by Modern Spaces, residences range in price from $500,000 to $4 million.

Each of the units feature panoramic, 360-degree views of Manhattan and the surrounding skyline. The Hill West Architects-designed building is a sleek, monolithic structure defined by its fully-glass façade. Its base and crown are composed of metal fins that enclose the parking space and roof parapet, respectively. Amenities include a 75-foot pool, two-level spa, lounges, fitness center, business center, outdoor terrace, and children’s playroom.

Previously on Archinect: New renderings released of Long Island City’s Skyline Tower, Queens’ soon-to-be-tallest

According to The Real Deal, about 41% of the Skyline Tower’s units are in contract, with sales reaching a record billion-dollar sellout. It’s the first condo in the borough to aim for a sellout of this figure.

Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard is finally getting its Anish Kapoor sculpture installed

2019-11-06T14:29:00-05:00

Alexico Group, the development firm behind Tribeca’s 60-storey “Jenga Tower”, a Herzog & de Meuron-designed residential high-rise at 56 Leonard Street, announced that it will start installing a public sculpture by Anish Kapoor commissioned specifically for the building in the second week of November.

Kapoor's shiny 56 Leonard bladder — resembling a smaller, squashed version of his Chicago "The Bean" landmark — made quite a splash in early renderings for the Jenga-like Manhattan condo tower in 2008, but overcoming various fabrication obstacles has not been easy and thus pushed back the final completion date of the development's original vision.

"In order to make the Leonard Street sculpture installation more
expeditious, and to save costs, it was decided to build the precision
components such that they could be tightly fit together, with the seams
thereby becoming nearly invisible hair line cracks," the sculpture's fabricators, Performance Structures, Inc, explained in a statement published by Tribeca Citizen.

"Another significant difference between the Leonard Street sculpture and Cloud Gate is the suspension system. [...] The Leonard Street sculpture has a different support mechanism. Instead of a single large support frame, each slice has its individual su...

Faulty foundation blamed for leaning 60-story One Seaport tower in Manhattan

2019-04-26T14:57:00-04:00

Construction at One Seaport, aka 161 Maiden Lane, has been noticeably paused for the past several months. [...] new reports have revealed the 670-foot-tall building is actually leaning three inches to the north, leading to a series of legal disputes between Fortis Property Group, LLC, the developer, and Pizzarotti LLC, the current contractor. The project is being designed by Hill West Architects while Groves & Co is serving as the interior designer.

"It remains unclear how this will affect the plans for 80 South Street directly next door," writes Michael Young for New York YIMBY about the unclear fate of the 670-foot-tall tower which structurally topped out last September. "There is a question of whether One Seaport should remain standing or be demolished for imposing a safety concern for the surrounding area and the possible construction of the adjacent supertall."

New renderings released of Long Island City’s Skyline Tower, Queens’ soon-to-be-tallest

2019-01-02T15:00:00-05:00

Skyline Tower, the Hill West Architects-designed, 778-foot-tall tower became the first in Queens to pass $1 billion in total sell out. Plus, the property sits across from One Court Square, where Amazon is leasing one million square feet of office space before moving to its new HQ2 complex on the waterfront. Now, there are new renderings of Skyline Tower, showing off the interiors, views, and new subway entrance at the future tallest tower in Queens.