many cities have these ugly old "ma bell era" telephone switching tower buildings or something like them. i have no idea why they are even needed since nobody has land lines anymore, maybe someone can explain that?

 

anyway this major eyesore in downtown manhattan next to the brooklyn bridge is getting a remake and a re-cladding. i couldnt be happier about that, it's interesting what they are doing with it -- via curbed blog:

 

375 Pearl Street: From Verizon Blues to Water Views

 

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, by Joey

 

The redesign of the old Verizon switching station at 375 Pearl Street—the nearly windowless white building near the base of the Brooklyn Bridge that has been reviled since its completion in the mid-'70s—gets the full reveal in Steve Cuozzo's column in the Post today. Taconic Investment Partners bought the building from Verizon for peanuts, with an eye on converting the 32-story blight into an iconic downtown office building. The new World Trade Center towers will be some tough competition, but this one is actually built already, and good lord those views. At left is the "before" image, and after the jump is what's to come. Richard Cook of Cook + Fox designed the glass makeover, which will reveal X-shaped concrete supports under the building's skin. It's not the first glass curtain wall transformation we've seen lately, but given what stands here now, it's definitely more welcome. Other details of the $350 million renovation include a double-height lobby, outdoor plaza and the conversion of air-conditioning shafts to office space. Sounds roomy!

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/05/13/375_pearl_street_from_verizon_blues_to_water_views.php

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/06/24/curbedwire_sexy_verizon_building_big_bowery_bucks.php

 

 

Hah. I have a picture of that the new york skyline with that building in it when it still had the bell symbol (bell in a circle). and it is an ugly building.

 

I know that Cincinnati has those C.O.s throughout the city, and while they are MUCH more aesthetically pleasing than that one in New York, they do, in fact, still serve a purpose. For a city like New York, the island of manhattan alone has more phone land lines than most of southwest Ohio. Most businesses, bank, ATMs, and other publics still use landlines. Cells can't replace those. Also, I'm sure that Verizon building also operates as a NOC (National Operating Center). A NOC is the central unit for a telecommunications network, and provide service for all cell calls, land line usage, data transfer, and other telecom uses in the area.

 

But, I think what they are doing with the building is awesome.

Wow, that 375 Pearl project is wild- I hope it happens.

 

I wonder if the giant windowless hulk in TriBeCa is next:

 

 

(from: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/tribeca/tribeca.html)

Wasn't that building recently voted one of the building that people wish developers didn't build/The ugliest building in NYC?

Where did the switching tower relocate to?

Don't forget that cell phones are only wireless between your phone and the tower.  Once it gets there, it's carried by wired connections the rest of the way, and they still have to be switched somewhere.

Wasn't that building recently voted one of the building that people wish developers didn't build/The ugliest building in NYC?

 

I don't know if it was a vote, but they had that article in AMNY last week.

How 'bout this beauty?

South Bend, Indiana

Wasn't that building recently voted one of the building that people wish developers didn't build/The ugliest building in NYC?

 

I don't know if it was a vote, but they had that article in AMNY last week.

 

OK, maybe thats where I picked up the blurb.

I can't wait to see that building re-clad. While I'm not in love with the new look, either, it'll look 100 times better than it does now.

Wasn't that building recently voted one of the building that people wish developers didn't build/The ugliest building in NYC?

 

I don't know if it was a vote, but they had that article in AMNY last week.

 

OK, maybe thats where I picked up the blurb.

 

Yeah, they also did the piece about the famous NY buildings being owned by foreigners that week.

thanks for 'splainin the need for these butt ugly towers guys.

How 'bout this beauty?

South Bend, Indiana

 

I think it's actually kind of cool.  It would be better reclad in glass with balconies and storefront retail, however.

i just had a morbid thought -- by recladding it like that are they encircling a terrorist target with a human shield?  :-o

Will it still be a switching tower, too?

If Verizon sold the building... It probably no longer operates as a NOC. With NOCs, there are huge security concerns that require the company to occupy the entire building. Most likely, Verizon didn't need as much space, so they moved the switch to another location. That's the only plausible explanation I can think of.

looks like it's switching tower days are over & that it was bought for it's bones only. from steve couzzo in the nypost (i love that first quote  :laugh: )

 

 

"It was considered a blight since it opened in 1975, when former New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger called it "disturbing."

 

But redevelopment will make it one of the area's distinctive towers, visible from afar thanks to its location amid low-rise neighbors.

 

Splendid harbor and skyline views are one reason why Taconic co-CEO Paul Pariser and CB Richard Ellis' Bob "Mr. Big" Alexander, the leader of a CBRE leasing team, are confident the transformed tower will draw tenants.

 

What Taconic actually bought was a condominium - 1.15 million square feet of the building's total 1.3 million.

 

While Verizon is keeping floors 8-10, Taconic has all the floors above and below them, each with 42,000 square feet, generating rare contiguous blocks of 924,000 and 210,000 square feet.

 

The tower boasts minimum 14-foot slab-to-slab floor heights, with several floors of 23-foot heights - ensuring room for modern fiber optics.

 

Alexander says 375 Pearl will likely appeal to advertising, publishing and other media firms as well as be well suited for government-related uses.

 

Pariser needs to sign a "big gorilla company" as an anchor tenant before starting any construction on the redesign.

 

But unlike at most buildings of its size, 375 Pearl can get going with a relatively small commitment of 250,000-300,000 square feet.

 

Alexander said, "Our target rents are in the mid-$60s, very competitive for new construction downtown."

 

By comparison, the top floors of 7 World Trade Center are asking in the $70s a foot.

Interesting reskinning.  It is amazing how each city has its own version of these switching tower buildings.  I've also heard them referred to as "telco hotels". 

 

Here's downtown Columbus' version:

 

 

Hey, at least its got some windows.  There used to be another three stories of huge metal framing on the roof that was packed with telecom equipment.  All this stuff got removed a few years ago.

Looking at other teleco buildings, cleveland didn't seem to fair terribly

The New York project will be a vast improvement.  That had to be one of the ugliest buildings in Manhattan.

Columbus' building isn't much better and certainly scores in the top five homliest buildings in Ohio, especially given its size and the fact that you just can't help seeing it.  It used to be shorter; you can see the line in the bricks from the extension they threw up in the late 60s early 70s.  At least they didn't paint it purple or green (yet).

Looking at other teleco buildings, cleveland didn't seem to fair terribly

 

Yeah, totally true about the old Ohio Bell building, but there is that heinous windowless brick box just to its west, so Cleveland didn't escape completely.

The building's ugliness is magnified by its location.