Archinect - News

High Line founders release op-ed opposing final Hudson Yards development phase

2024-09-06T18:28:00-04:00

Related and Wynn’s new proposal would sweep away the years of civic engagement that led to a 2009 rezoning of the proposed development site. We have just one chance to get this right. Related and Wynn’s new plan fails the test of sensible and authentic urban design and must be fought with the same spirit that brought the High Line to life 25 years ago.

Leading with the claim that Related "wants to undo the agreement and rezone the site again", two founders of The High Line (Joshua David and Robert Hammond) say they are opposing the next phase of Hudson Yards’ redevelopment. The $12 billion plan, the details for which became a bit clearer on August 30th, would establish a hotel, casino, and office components with a 5.6-acre park over what is now the undeveloped Western Rail Yards at Eleventh Avenue and 33rd Street.

The agreement they're referring to pertains to the aesthetic agreement of any new developments with the existing character of the High Line. To that score, the authors say, "principal changes include much taller and wider buildings at an overwhelming scale, less accessible green space, more office space (in a city that has a glut), and less housing in a city that has a desperate shortage."

Related unveils plans for next phase of Hudson Yards

2024-08-30T11:30:00-04:00

Renderings of the next phase of Hudson Yards have been made public by Related Companies along with a construction price tag of $12 billion. Hudson Yards West will be built on top of the site’s still-undeveloped western rail yards and cultivate a 5.6-acre park called Hudson Green designed by HOLLANDER and Sasaki.

Related's CEO Jeff T. Blau says it will "be an oasis that becomes the new calling card of the neighborhood."

Rendering Courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts

Once in place, the project will yield a total of 1,500 new apartment units (Related has promised that 324 will be affordable) with an anchoring 80-story Wynn Resorts hotel and casino tower at Eleventh Avenue and 33rd Street. An architect for either of these components has yet to be named.

Rendering Courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is responsible for the total 13-acre master plan, which includes another 2-million-square-foot office component and public K-8 school. This...

This is what Hudson Yards West will look like, according to developers

2024-03-15T13:25:00-04:00

Details of the planned Wynn New York City resort scheme from Related Companies and the Oxford Properties Group have been released, along with new renderings and further details about the final Phase 2 building segment at Hudson Yards.

The three-tower scheme chosen from the set of alternative proposals that was released in February calls for a 1,189-foot hotel with 1,750 rooms to be placed at the northernmost edge of the site opposite a 1,366-foot office building and across a plaza area from the x-shape third residential tower, which stands at 1,172-feet will include 1,507 units. A 5.6-acre park will complete the master plan, along with a 750-seat public school and 12,250 square feet of ground-level retail.

Rendering courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts

Included in this proposal are plans for a gaming component that could potentially earn one of three coveted casino licenses up-for-grabs in the Downstate region (which includes New York City) for $500 million apiece in 2025...

Plans revealed for Hudson Yards Phase Two with several towers and a potential casino

2024-02-26T12:03:00-05:00

The next chapter in New York’s Hudson Yards has been revealed, with developers filing a bid for a potential mixed-use casino complex. Related Companies and Wynn Resorts submitted plans as part of an environmental impact process last week with the New York City Department of City Planning, which includes two scenarios for the plot directly west of The Vessel.

The proposed site is currently occupied by the West Side Yard and would see the Hudson Yards development expand west, separated from the Hudson River only by 12th Avenue. The plot would also be wrapped on three sides by the High Line, which already borders the south side of the existing Hudson Yards development.

In 2020, Related Companies offered an indicative insight into the architectural intent for the site when it published renderings to assuage concerns that a 700-foot wall would separate the development from The High Line.

Hudson Yards Phase Two proposed plan. Massing and plan credit: Related/NYC Planning

Both scenarios sub...

Renderings show proposed new White Sox stadium in Chicago's South Loop

2024-02-08T18:57:00-05:00

The Chicago White Sox professional baseball franchise may be moving out of the neighborhood that's been synonymous with its existence for more than a century if a proposal for a new stadium at The 78 advances to approval in the coming months.

According to the Sun-Times, Related Midwest is pushing for a “massive financing package” from the Illinois General Assembly to fund the project by the end of spring. If approved, the $9 billion South Loop ballpark project would be joined by 1,000 units of affordable housing in the “village” portion of the larger 62-acre site. The team’s current digs on the Southside would be transformed into a soccer stadium with another 1,300-unit housing component. An architect for the project is expected to be named later.

Image courtesy Related Midwest

Related says the project will create about 10,000 new construction jobs and add over $4 billion worth of economic benefits. The White Sox's current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field expires at the end of the 2029...

Chicago issues caisson permit for 400 Lake Shore Drive

2023-12-14T12:41:00-05:00

An important milestone has been reached in the construction of 400 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. According to Urbanize Chicago, a caisson permit has been issued, and below-grade work is scheduled to kick off early next year.

The blog reports that once that work is done, "above-grade work will start in Q1 2025 and continue through Q2 2027. Landscaping and the final completion of the tower is expected for Q3 2027."

The project had previously set a date for around December 1st for its construction to start. SOM's chairman emeritus David Childs is the designer of the two-tower scheme, which quotes the masonry and terra cotta traditions that are synonymous with the Windy City.

Previously on Archinect: Chicago's 400 Lake Shore Drive developers finally set a construction start date

The project will culminate in a total of 1,100 residential units. The first phase of its development calls for the construction of the 3.44-acre DuSable Park and the 72-story Tower One, which stands as a half-size...

Chicago's 400 Lake Shore Drive developers finally set a construction start date

2023-10-19T12:25:00-04:00

In 45 days, the construction team will be on site to begin site clearing and mobilization. Crews will begin below-grade work, including caissons, sheeting, and the cofferdam. Work below-grade is expected to begin in Q1 of 2024 and run through Q2 2025. Once underground work is done, crews will transition to vertical construction, including concrete pours, the building enclosure, and interiors. Above-grade work will start in Q1 2025 and continue through Q2 2027.

Developers Related Midwest had initially promised a start of the project by the end of last year. Construction now will begin with the 72-story Tower One and work towards an eventual 2027 completion, ending a saga that began with the cancellation of Santiago Calatrava’s ambitious 150-floor Chicago Spire proposal in 2008.

Writing after the revised SOM plan’s approval in 2020, critic Blair Kamin said it offered a “watering-down of the project’s previously arresting skyline presence and a weakening of its contribution to a network of public spaces that was envisioned in the 1980s.”

Undulating balconies define Pininfarina’s 45-story tower in Fort Lauderdale

2023-10-13T11:19:00-04:00

Pininfarina has designed a 45-story oceanside tower in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Developed by Related Group with CFE Architects as the architect of record, the Andare Residences condominium tower contains 163 residential units.

Image credit: Related Group / Pininfarina

The 540-foot-tall tower was inspired by the area’s maritime context, with a flowing, wave-like facade characterized by undulating wraparound balconies. At the base of the tower, meanwhile, a 36-foot arch marks the entrance to the scheme of the pedestrian thoroughfare.

Image credit: Related Group / Pininfarina

At ground level, the tower’s double-height lobby contains floor-to-ceiling windows and displays both artistic and biophilic elements. Above, the residences range from 1,800 to 4,300 square feet, designed with open-concept living areas, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and wraparound balconies.

Image credit: Related Group / Pininfarina

"The unparalleled location of this property, in ...

Final design for Discovery Partners Institute headquarters presented to Chicago Plan Commission

2023-06-05T19:25:00-04:00

The Chicago Plan Commission was presented the final design for the Discovery Partners Institute’s new headquarters at the 78 as the development looks to get final site plan approval.

The OMA and Jacobs-designed project is proposed for a one-acre parcel anchoring the south end of the upcoming The 78 mega-development, a mixed-use innovation district set to rise along a 62-acre stretch of disused rail yards. The headquarters is expected to be the first building to begin construction at the development. Standing eight stories and spanning approximately 213,000 square feet, the scheme will feature office, classroom, lab, and event spaces for the University of Illinois System’s Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and its partners.

Previously on Archinect: OMA/Jacobs selected to design the University of Illinois' new DPI innovation hub in Chicago

The building will be composed of a series of stacked volumes enclosed with a dome-like glass and steel form. The atrium, described by OMA as an “active collision zone,” will serve as a central gathering space. The ground floor is designed to be open to the public, with a café, auditorium, and multipurpose rooms. The new headquar...

Miami's historic Deauville Beach Resort is demolished as a Frank Gehry-designed replacement fails to start

2022-11-15T18:15:00-05:00

The 17-story tower of the historic Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach was successfully imploded just after 8 a.m. Sunday. The oceanfront building at 6701 Collins Ave. crumbled to the ground in a matter of seconds after a series of thundering booms, marking the end of the road for a hotel that famously hosted the Beatles in 1964 and fell into disrepair in recent years.

The demolition brought to a close a tumultuous saga that saw local preservationists and the city government sue its owner Alex Meruelo over what they said was a wanton disregard for local heritage standards and other code violations more or less continuously issued since an electrical fire seriously damaged the Melvin Grossman-designed MiMo-style structure in July of 2017.

Previously on Archinect: Frank Gehry's Equinox Towers scheme is one step closer to reality in Miami Beach

Taking its place might be Frank Gehry’s proposed Equinox Towers scheme that is still awaiting approval before construction can begin on what has been labeled as a “passion project” for megadeveloper and Miami Beach native Stephen Ross. The plan was rejected by voters last week, leaving a void likely to be filled with a similar condominium design needed as a stopgap to the expected exodus brought about by the onset of new Surfside-inspired safety laws.

Today we lost the North Beach landmark Deauville Hotel due ...

Related Companies expands into Austin with a pair of new office projects from Gensler and KPF

2022-09-19T12:39:00-04:00

The ever-changing skyline of Texas’ eccentric state capital is getting another pair of new additions after Hudson Yards developer Related Companies announced plans this month for two new separate Austin office buildings designed by Gensler and KPF.

Related says both projects will be located in South Austin and are slated to be completed in 2024 and 2025 respectively. The larger 15-story One Ladybird Lake tower is designed by KPF for a 3.3-acre plot located along the waterfront at the city’s Lady Bird Lake reservoir. Its total 475,000-square-foot construction will include a mixed program of ground-level retail spaces topped by office amenities with four wraparound terraces, a bar, green spaces, and an activated rooftop area created by the local landscaping concern TBG.

One Ladybird Lake by KPF. Image courtesy Related Companies

This is to be joined by a shorter 5-story development located half a mile to the south on 901 South Co...

Some of NYC’s biggest high-rollers want a casino in Coney Island, but local residents aren’t buying in

2022-08-04T10:00:00-04:00

If real estate developers get their way, Coney Island may soon be losing its seasonal vibe. The New York Post is reporting that several of the city's leading corporate entities, including Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross' Related Companies, Vornado, and S.L. Green, have expressed interest in two of the state's three new available casino licenses as part of an expansion endorsed by Governor Kathy Hochul.

Looking to Atlantic City as a model, Thor Equities owner Joe Sitt is pitching a gaming destination in his native Coney Island as a potential commercial booster. Hudson Yards, Times Square, and Queens’ Willets Point neighborhood have also been floated. In total, the projects could bring in at least $1.5 billion in license revenue for the state. The year-round operation of the casinos could engender even greater profits dependent on an agreed-upon tax rate between the state and potential developers.

Other than money, the subway system seems to be the main determining factor in the m...

Frank Gehry's Equinox Towers scheme is one step closer to reality in Miami Beach

2022-07-22T13:08:00-04:00

A Gehry Partners proposal to redevelop Miami’s historic Deauville Beach Resort into a luxury hotel and condominium dubbed Equinox Towers is gaining traction after officials there agreed to move the plan to public vote on Wednesday.

The firm’s initial concept model of the project revealed to the Miami Beach City Commission during the hearing indicated a 125-unit condo design to stand beside a taller sculptural hotel with 175 rooms, potentially bringing another big-name architectural design to an undiscovered portion of the city’s gilded 35-mile-long coast.

The architect is developing the newly-named plan alongside Related Companies CEO and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who told the Miami Herald the idea of having a second Gehry project in the neighborhood where he grew up “held a special place in his heart,” adding that it will “rebuild and lift a whole community.”

The Deauville Beach Resort as it appeared in 2016. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons user VM (CC BY-SA 4.0)

There h...

SOM-designed towers planned atop Chicago Spire site finally set to begin construction this year

2022-04-11T17:19:00-04:00

Fifteen years ago, a world renowned architect planned to bring the Spire to Chicago a giant luxury condo building with sky high prices. Years later, all that's there is hole in the ground, at a prime spot by the river and the lake. Now, a new project may actually come to life there.

Construction is set to start later this year at 400 Lake Shore Drive after more than a decade as an empty plot. The site was originally reserved for the Chicago Spire, a 2,000-foot tall, twisted tower designed by Santiago Calatrava. The project, however, was canceled following the onset of the 2008 recession. Left as a mere hole in the ground, the site was acquired in 2014 by developer Related Midwest with a proposal to build two sister luxury apartment towers.

Previously on Archinect: 1,100-unit SOM towers in Chicago head toward construction

The SOM-designed project received city approval in 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Now, its groundbreaking is planned for the end of 2022. The towers will be built alongside a fellow long-awaited endeavor, DuSable Park, a 3.44-acre reimagined space set to be completed in 2025.

The Grand LA launches new Gehry-designed luxury tower in Downtown LA

2021-12-01T17:48:00-05:00

As part of the architect’s “long-lived dream of revitalizing Downtown LA’s Grand Avenue corridor,” Frank Gehry and Related Companies have announced the next iteration of their co-design for a one-of-a-kind luxury residential complex beset amongst the city’s civic and cultural core.

Billed as a “paradigm-shifting residential center” to pair The Grand LA, a massive new shopping center that is coming to Downtown at a time when the area is still struggling to emerge from the ill-effects of the pandemic economically, the new tower features 549 high-end residencies spread throughout 45 stories at the corner of Grand Avenue and South Olive Street across from Gehry’s Pritzker-winning masterpiece Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Image: Related – CORE

A total of 20% of units qualify in the much-needed area of affordable housing, the development attaches to the rest of the program of retail and office space that was also designed by Gehry.

The structure topped out back in March and is now set to hea...

New photos of Thomas Heatherwick's now completed Lantern House

2021-09-20T18:35:00-04:00

Photographer Colin Miller has new images of the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Lantern House condominium building sitting along the High Line in New York’s tony Chelsea neighborhood.

The recently completed development was a bit overshadowed by Heatherwick Studio’s recent additions to the city, which includes the controversial Vessel at Hudson Yards and nearby Little Island floating park.

Now, as tenants officially begin moving into the designer’s first completed residential development, admire the sculptural form and unique modular bay window facade thanks to Miller‘s photos of the latest high-profile Heatherwick addition to the visual landscape of New York City.

Watch Frank Gehry's megaproject The Grand top out in Los Angeles

2021-03-11T18:10:00-05:00

Two years after The Grand, the Gehry-designed $1-billion mixed-use development, broke ground in Downtown Los Angeles, construction reached a major milestone this week with the enormous structure officially topping out.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Grand (@thegrandla)

A time-lapse video posted on the project's Instagram account documents the construction progress since late 2018 when the parking structure originally occupying the site vis-à-vis the Walt Disney Concert Hall was demolished, followed by a massive 15-hour foundation concrete pour in July 2019 and subsequent vertical construction of the structure that includes a 39-story residential tower and a 20-story hotel.

Rendering of the completed The Grand project. Image courtesy of Related-CORE.

Massive NYC development grinds to a halt

2021-02-08T16:38:00-05:00

Even more perilous, the promised second phase of Hudson Yards — eight additional buildings, including a school, more luxury condos and office space — appears on indefinite hold as the developer, the Related Companies, seeks federal financing for a nearly 10-acre platform on which it will be built. Related, which had said the entire project would be finished in 2024, no longer offers an estimated completion date.

The New York Times is reporting on the uncertain future of the $25 billion Hudson Yards mega-development in Manhattan’s Far West Side.

The starchitect-studded development is reeling from ongoing effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic, as luxury condos remain unsold and commercial tenants go under. Additionally, tourist attractions remain closed and the development's centerpiece—Heatherwick Studio's Vessel—has been closed following its third suicide in less than a year.

The situation enveloping Hudson Yards is representative of the state of speculative real estate across the country, though the Manhattan project is perhaps the nation's largest single site. Developers, architects and the entire real estate vertical are rethinking the needs of cities in which dramatically more people are working from home, demand for office space is shrinking, and delivery services are bringing more food and products directly to our doorsteps.

Frank Gehry's Los Angeles megaproject reaches the halfway mark

2020-08-31T13:34:00-04:00

Work on the Grand, a long-anticipated mixed-use complex designed by architect Frank Gehry has reached the halfway mark as construction carries on unobtrusively through the pandemic. The towering collection of apartments, stores, restaurants, movie theaters and a luxury hotel is rising on a full city block across Grand Avenue from Gehry’s famed Walt Disney Concert Hall at a time when few are around to witness its creation.

Roger Vincent of The Los Angeles Times checks in on the construction progress for The Grand, a forthcoming $1 billion mixed-use development taking shape in Downtown Los Angeles across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The project, designed by Gehry Partners, has been in the works for nearly two decades and is finally coming to fruition now, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Vincent reports that the construction site, which employs roughly 400 workers who are practicing social distancing, is among the largest in Southern California at the moment.

Twin towered development by SOM slated for failed Spire site advances in Chicago

2020-05-22T13:14:00-04:00

A long simmering SOM-designed skyscraper pair slated for the former Chicago Spire site has taken a step forward in Chicago, where the city's planning commission has given the green light for the project to proceed.

Now that the project has been approved by the Chicago Planning Commission, it must be approved by the Chicago City Council's Zoning Committee and by the Chicago City Council itself before the project can break ground.

Writing in The Chicago Tribune, critic Blair Kamin reports that the 1,100-unit development will bring housing, pedestrian connections, and needed funding for a new park adjacent to the site. The project is being developed by Related Midwest.

Made up of towers that will rise 875- and 765-feet respectively, the spires feature stepped crowns that gradually grow thinner in profile as they rise. The project, designed by David Childs of SOM, is set to be developed in phases, with the northern tower set to be completed in 2024, assuming the project team can coord...

Over 1,100 foot-high observation deck to open in Hudson Yards, will be highest in Western Hemisphere

2020-03-10T11:46:00-04:00

The KPF-designed 30 Hudson Yards has long been deemed the tallest building of the Hudson Yards development, and due to open this month is the anticipated observation deck Edge, which, floating right at 1,131 feet high, will be the tallest observation deck in the Western Hemisphere. Located on the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards, it will take visitors a 52 second elevator ride to reach the platform's 7,500 square foot viewing area.

Nine-foot tall glass walls of angled glass allow viewers to "lean out over Manhattan." The sky deck also includes a glass floor to further exaggerate the intensity of the observation experience as the deck extends almost 80 feet from the face of the tower.

Hudson Yards repackages rendering to assuage park wall worries

2020-01-15T14:57:00-05:00

Following reports that plans for the western Hudson Yards site would include a massive 700-foot-long wall separating the development from the High Line, Related Companies, the developer behind the $25 billion mega-development, has published a rendering in an attempt to contradict those previous reports.

(3/4) Our plan has always been to build an open space along the lines of this years-old rendering and we are working to manage the technical challenges to achieve this. There has never been a wall along the High Line and there will never be a wall. pic.twitter.com/KNy9mBEJml
— Hudson Yards NYC (@_HudsonYardsNYC) January 15, 2020

Writing via official Hudson Yards Twitter account, project backers state: "We have always shared the vision that the Western Yard should include a great public open space. We don’t yet have a final design but have always understood clearly that our open space needs to work well with the High Line and the Hudson River."

View of the previously released designs...

700-foot wall could turn Hudson Yards into a real gated community

2020-01-10T16:28:00-05:00

Writing in The New York Times, architecture critic Michael Kimmelman sounds off against recently revealed intentions by Related Companies, the developer of Hudson Yards, that could wall off a semi-public park slated for the western end of the mega-project's second phase site.

The plan for the so-called Western Yard development was originally approved containing a green space that dipped down to meet the city's Hudson River edge, but is now potentially being changed to create a "man-made promontory" that could limit visual connections between the High Line and the park, potentially cementing the district's already strong reputation for existing as a "quasi-gated community" in the heart of Manhattan.

Describing rumors of the changing design, Kimmelman writes, "The developer has recently been talking about elevating the yard’s deck several stories to fit a parking garage underneath," adding, "the site would no longer decline toward the river but rise up, as it moved east to west, cre...

New renderings of Thomas Heatherwick's High Line condo towers, Lantern House

2019-10-08T13:46:00-04:00

The Related Companies has released new renderings and a new name for Thomas Heatherwick’s High Line project at 515 West 18th Street: Lantern House. The pair of residential structures is located along Tenth Avenue between West 18th Street and West 19th Street and flanks both sides of the High Line [...]. The development is Heatherwick’s first residential project in New York City and in the United States. SLCE Architects is the architect of record.

Thomas Heatherwick is expanding his foothold in New York City: after creating quite a stir with the Vessel at Hudson Yards and the under-construction floating Pier 55 park, the London-based studio is teaming up with developers Related Companies again for the practice's first residential project on this side of the Atlantic, called Lantern House.

Prices for the 181 residences will start at $1.7 million for a one-bedroom unit, reports NY YIMBY.

Rendering courtesy of Related Companies

Frank Gehry's The Grand: tower complex construction goes vertical

2019-08-28T14:32:00-04:00

Six months after breaking ground across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, construction has gone vertical for The Grand. Over the past two months, a pair of tower cranes has been raised above the project site, which spans the full city blocked bounded1st Street, 2nd Street, Olive Street, and Grand Avenue.

It has been exactly two months since the Gehry-designed The Grand development in Downtown Los Angeles completed a massive 15-hour foundation concrete pour for the project’s 39-story residential tower, and now, two tower cranes are driving the construction upwards, reports Urbanize LA.

Related Companies, the developer behind the $1-billion mixed-use project, hopes to have The Grand completed in late 2021.

Rendering of the completed The Grand development vis-à-vis Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall. Image courtesy of Related-CORE.

What about the developers who love—and love to donate to—Donald Trump?

2019-08-12T17:02:00-04:00

The billionaire real estate developer whose support for President Trump sparked calls for a consumer boycott is also behind one of the flashiest redevelopment projects coming to downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times points out that Stephen M. Ross, the controversial real estate developer and investor behind Related Companies, luxury gyms Equinox and SoulCycle, and other business interests, is also a driving force behind The Grand, a Frank Gehry-designed mega-project slated for Downtown Los Angeles.

Ross's business interests have recently taken a hit as news of the developer's plans to host a $250,000-a-seat fundraiser for President Donald Trump came to light just days after a white suprematist gunman evoked the president's own words before killing 22 people in El Paso, Texas. Nearly all of the victims in the shooting were either Mexican Americans or Mexican nationals, according to The Los Angeles Times, and the tragedy is widely seen as a direct and racially motivated attack on those communities, as a result.

Ross's political activities—and the consumer-focused business investments that fuel those activities—have come under fire as other elements of society, particularl...

A new housing type is coming to Chicago

2019-07-17T14:21:00-04:00

A new housing typology will be coming to the Chicago neighborhoods of West Humboldt Park and Bronzeville, where Perkins + Will architect Greg Tamborino will bring his independently-produced, competition-winning affordable housing designs to a pair of vacant lots.

Tamborino was recently announced as the winner of the Disruptive Design competition, a contest looking to "address the challenges associated with designing and building affordable, owner-occupied housing," according to competition organizers.

The homes feature accessible ramps leading to the first floor level, which has been designed to accommodate ADA guidelines. Image courtesy of Disruptive Design.

Tamborino's designs were selected from among 133 international competition entries, and bested proposals by competition finalists Joel Huffman and teammates Georgi Todorov and Petya Petrova.

Tamborino's designs stand out because of the home's adaptable qualities and thoughtfully composed organization, according to competition ...

Frank Gehry's The Grand: watch this time-lapse video of the massive 15-hour foundation concrete pour

2019-07-02T14:11:00-04:00

Construction is ramping up on a major mixed-use development in Downtown designed by Frank Gehry. Over the weekend, the one of two concrete pours was completed at The Grand, laying down the foundation for the project’s 39-story residential tower. When finished, the Bunker Hill tower will hold 400 housing units, 20 percent of them affordable units.

Photo: Weldon Brewster, image courtesy of Related-CORE.

Curbed Los Angeles reports that the first of two mat foundation pours for the residential tower of the enormous Gehry-designed The Grand project took "15 hours, and required about 140 workers and 1,348 trucks," installing 13,478 cubic yards of concrete, roughly 27,000 tons, altogether.

Photo: Weldon Brewster, image courtesy of Related-CORE.

"The mat foundation pour is an incredibly important construction milestone as it marks the beginning of the vertical construction," said Rick Vogel, project lead and senior vice president at Related Urban, the mixed-use arm of the developer behind the project, Related Companies.

Photo: Weldon Brewster, image courtesy of Related-CORE.

"We are honored to have celebrated the momentous event alongside The Grand’s workforce on Friday, as this is a project with an important purpose – it will further connect Grand Avenue, offer an array of unique experiences to visitors, and truly enhance the current...

Hudson Yards and Stern-designed towers dominate NYC's ultraluxury real estate sales

2019-06-11T14:03:00-04:00

Manhattan’s latest crop of new luxury developments continues to attract a steady stream of buyers. At the ultra-pricey 220 Central Park South in Midtown, the grand limestone skyscraper designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, four more units officially sold, including New York City’s most expensive closing in May: a three-bedroom aerie for nearly $26.5 million.

The NYT's Vivian Marino provides an update on the biggest recent luxury real estate transactions in New York City with notably pricey purchases at Robert A.M. Stern's 220 Central Park South and 250 West 81st Street towers and also at the newly opened Hudson Yards mammoth development.

"Philip I. Kent, the former chief executive of Turner Broadcasting System, was one of the many buyers at 15 Hudson Yards, the megaproject’s first residential tower. (Oh, and the architect who helped design that building also bought an apartment — in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)," writes Marino.

Sales of High Line condos at Zaha Hadid's 520 West 28th Street sluggish

2019-03-22T13:58:00-04:00

The high-end condo building at 520 W. 28th St. along the High Line that the company completed roughly two years ago appears so far to be a rare bust. According to property records, only 16 of the building's 39 units have sold, a roughly 40% sell through that shrinks to an even smaller percentage when measured by square footage. That's because the building's largest and most expensive apartments, including its three penthouse units, all remain unsold.

How 'bout this one? Nothing? Photo: Hufton+Crow.