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The City Council voted to close a zoning loophole that has allowed developers to boost building heights with excessive mechanical spaces—but it’s only the first step in addressing the issue, say lawmakers. — Curbed NY
The zoning amendment will limit the city's notoriously over-sized mechanical spaces to 25-feet in height before additional space begins to eat into a project's allowable buildable area. New York City lawmakers are pushing to close other loopholes, as well, including rules impacting the use... View full entry
The developers of the New York Wheel killed plans to build a 630-foot observation wheel on Staten Island in October, amid skyrocketing costs and lengthy delays in getting the project completed.
But, NY1 learned Tuesday that plans are in the works to bring the project back to life.
— NY1
Archinect has been covering the tumultuous history of what was once promoted as "the tallest observation wheel in the Western Hemisphere" with spectacular views from Staten Island's North Shore. View this post on Instagram At 630 ft and the tallest in the Western Hemisphere, here's how we stack up... View full entry
The new L-shaped residential building at 121 East 22nd Street represents Rem Koolhaas's architecture firm OMA‘s first ground-up Manhattan project; developers Toll Brothers City Living have released new photos of the eye-catching structure on the border between the Gramercy and Madison Square... View full entry
A judge temporarily stopped the city’s plan to open a homeless shelter in a former hotel near Billionaires’ Row, which a group of residents have been trying to derail citing fire safety concerns in the property. [...]
The stay is the latest in a nearly two year battle between locals and the city over the shelter at the Park Savoy Hotel—which backs against the One57 luxury tower that has $100 million condos [...].
— Commercial Observer
"Neighbors have fiercely opposed the shelter, citing possible increased criminal activity and fire safety concerns," reports Curbed NY. "But, as [Judge Alexander] Tisch noted in his April ruling, the FDNY approved the building’s Fire Protection Plan. Further, a source familiar with the plan said... View full entry
The skylight that crowns the spiky, $3.9 billion World Trade Center Oculus has sprung a leak.
A rubber seal that runs along the spine of the retractable skyline is believed to have ripped during its opening and closing on the 2018 anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
— Curbed NY
"Some $30,000 by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was spent this winter to repair the tear using black strips of Flex Tape, but the skylight at the massive transportation hub and shopping mall leaked again on May 5," Curbed summarizes the WSJ's account. The Santiago... View full entry
In 2016 the Brooklyn-based firm Hou de Sousa submitted a winning proposal for the Folly Competition held by the Architectural League of New York and Socrates Sculpture Park. The goal of the project was to create a newly designed open-air education facility that would act as a permanent replacement... View full entry
The City Council approved JP Morgan Chase’s plans Wednesday for a soaring 70-story tower to replace the Union Carbide Building in East Midtown. [...] The new tower will consolidate all of JPMorgan Chase’s employees in one building and will come with a 10,000 square-foot privately owned public space after Community Board 5 and elected officials pushed for more square footage. — Curbed NY
Despite environmental concerns, demolition of the historic 270 Park Avenue tower in East Midtown, New York has already started to make way for JPMorgan Chase's new 70-story headquarters, which Foster + Partners was selected to design. Construction of the new tower is currently scheduled to begin... View full entry
Last year, residents of Atlantic Plaza Towers, a rent-stabilized apartment building in Brooklyn, found out that their landlord was planning to replace the key fob entry system with facial recognition technology. [...]
But some residents were immediately alarmed by the prospect: They felt the landlord’s promise of added security was murky at best, and didn’t outweigh their concerns about having to surrender sensitive biometric information to enter their own homes.
— CityLab
"Housing complexes of low-income residents may be one early testing ground for residential applications of facial recognition technology," writes Tanvi Misra for CityLab. "But they’re not the only ones. Amazon’s doorbell company, Ring, is coming out with a video doorbell that incorporates... View full entry
Today Sotheby's unveils its redesigned and newly-expanded gallery located in their global headquarters in New York. In collaboration with Sotheby's by Shohei Shigematsu and OMA, the redesign features updated exhibition spaces that provide optimal spatial layouts for their vast art collections... View full entry
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.
— New York YIMBY
"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... View full entry
Topping out at 720 feet this week, Extell Development Company's Brooklyn Point is on its way to becoming the NYC borough's tallest building. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox with custom interiors by Katherine Newman, the 68-story tower will be located at 138 Willoughby Street and within City... View full entry
The crowded field of competitors who’ve proposed solutions for the ailing Brooklyn-Queens Expressway has gotten another entrant: Bjarke Ingels Group, which has unveiled a proposal that it calls “BQP.”
The “P” stands for park, and in BIG’s plan, green space takes center stage. [...] the vehicles that use the BQE would be moved to a roadway that would be covered and topped with as much as 10 acres of new parkland.
— Curbed NY
"Though a cost and time estimate for BIG’s plan has not yet been made public, the firm claims it will be less expensive, and less time-consuming, than what the DOT has proposed," reports Curbed NY (click here for their detailed explainer of what the massive Brooklyn-Queens... View full entry
More than a decade after New York came close to enacting the country’s first-ever congestion pricing program, it’s finally becoming a reality.
A tolling structure for Manhattan’s central business district (CBD)—roughly defined as the area below 60th Street in the borough—passed as part of the FY2020 budget, as both a means for reducing the traffic that clogs city streets, and introducing a new stream of revenue for the perpetually cash-strapped MTA.
— Curbed NY
"New York’s congestion pricing move may also lead other cities to implement their own traffic surcharges—Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle are among the municipalities that have been considering it," writes Curbed. View full entry
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.
— Crain's New York Business
How 'bout this one? Nothing? Photo: Hufton+Crow. View full entry
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a $10 billion plan to push out the lower Manhattan coastline as much as 500 feet, or two city blocks, to protect from flooding that’s expected to become more frequent as global temperatures rise. [...]
Portions of the extended land would be at 20 feet above sea level. The city can’t build flood protection on the existing land because it’s too crowded with utilities, sewers and subway lines, he said.
— Bloomberg
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has unveiled the city's comprehensive plan to increase resilience in Lower Manhattan, a low-lying, highly critical area that has proven to be vulnerable to storm surges and flooding. The newly published Lower Manhattan Climate Resilience Study recommends extending the... View full entry
