cool pic of the traditional downtown brooklyn area showing 280 cadman is t/o and finishing up on the far right --- 409'/36 fl

 

 

cool idea alert!

 

a call to turn broadway into a park.

 

including tearing out the pavement.

 

from columbus circle to union square.

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-broadway-great-green-way-20201003-zccvrclnmza6bao73jynegjmnq-story.html

^in that scenario I would maintain two lanes down the middle for bike travel (full 12’ or 14’ wide lane in each direction).  It could be the backbone of the bike transportation network. And then augment the sidewalk on either side with the leftover space for street trees & landscaping, outdoor dining, outdoor vendors etc. 

On 4/30/2020 at 4:47 PM, mrnyc said:

amazing blue angels flyover shot

 

 

 

This pic really does show just how little of even the central area of NYC is taken up by skyscrapers. I cannot wait to see 9 Dekalb be a part of this. It will be my 2nd favorite in the city after the Chrysler Building I think. 

On 6/24/2020 at 8:08 AM, jmicha said:

Being only 31, I do wish I could have at the very least seen some of the pre-boom era NYC. I recently watched the classic Scorsese film After Hours and a lot of it takes place on the corner by the only bougie brunch place I'm okay with going to haha. It's so interesting to see SoHo when it was still a thriving artist community and still had the layers of grime on it from the post-war fallout of the city.

 

Alas, nothing I can do about when I was born haha. All I can hope for is that with a seeming leveling off of population and housing prices the last few years, some of the culture that left when they got priced out. But that's very much to be seen if that'll play out or not.

I can't believe you mentioned that movie-I loved it! and visited NYC only a couple of years after that and it was great-the crime rate was bad but I never felt any danger and would wander about lower Manhattan late at night and never had a problem.  I think it was a lot grittier then of course. I remember I stayed for several months, half at a friends place just off Washington Square and the rest at the Washington Square Hotel(50 bucks a night and I remember being appalled at how 700 square feet just off of Washington Square was just under $1,000 dollars a month-so expensive! lol.)

Edited October 3, 20204 yr by Toddguy

2 hours ago, Toddguy said:

This pic really does show just how little of even the central area of NYC is taken up by skyscrapers. I cannot wait to see 9 Dekalb be a part of this. It will be my 2nd favorite in the city after the Chrysler Building I think. 

I can't believe you mentioned that movie-I loved it! and visited NYC only a couple of years after that and it was great-the crime rate was bad but I never felt any danger and would wander about lower Manhattan late at night and never had a problem.  I think it was a lot grittier then of course. I remember I stayed for several months, half at a friends place just off Washington Square and the rest at the Washington Square Hotel(50 bucks a night and I remember being appalled at how 700 square feet just off of Washington Square was just under $1,000 dollars a month-so expensive! lol.)

I have a love for super gritty/grimy 70s and 80s movies in NYC haha. Another of my favorites is The Warriors. The first time my younger brother came to visit we were walking around the UWS and he was saying how gorgeous the buildings were. Which sparked my memory of the scenes filmed running from Broadway and 72nd over to Riverside and how grimy it was. Such a stark contrast only a handful of decades can really make.

14 minutes ago, jmicha said:

I have a love for super gritty/grimy 70s and 80s movies in NYC haha. Another of my favorites is The Warriors. The first time my younger brother came to visit we were walking around the UWS and he was saying how gorgeous the buildings were. Which sparked my memory of the scenes filmed running from Broadway and 72nd over to Riverside and how grimy it was. Such a stark contrast only a handful of decades can really make.

When I was there Times Square was still very nasty and had all the XXX stuff right up there close. I was shocked at how XXX material was just right there, anyone could walk in stores and see that stuff. I also remember being in the East Village and a vehicle pulled up and just started unloading gay sex magazines on to the street to sell. These were hard core XXX mags with nothing blocking the covers and they were just stacked out there on tables for anyone to look at. I was shook really. Plus all the drug dealers that would always approach me when I was out(everytime I walked to Christopher Street they would approach me). But I just politely declined and they were all cool and "well ok you have a good night" and all. Coming from Cbus at the time it was a bit of a shock. There were lots of homeless people sleeping on the subway grates(it was winter!)and I had never seen anything like it and I would wake them up and give them five or ten bucks. They just took the money, thanked me and went back to sleep. I never had a single problem with anyone in two months in that city and remember thinking the people were more friendly in NYC than in two other cities I had just visited and stayed in-Chicago and Toronto. I was only going to stay a month but liked it so much I spent two months there.

 

Of course I visited all the sights and the observation decks at the ESB and the WTC. I have to admit I hated the WTC and that sterile Austin J. Tobin plaza filled with trash swirling about in the winds. Loved MOMA and Metropolitan Museum of Art and all the cool ethnic restaurants all over.  And I really loved that the bars and clubs stayed open till at least 4am-why was that no a thing here? lol.

 

Edited October 3, 20204 yr by Toddguy

^ yeah the old mean ny'er thing is quite a hoax, with one expection, which is what i think gives it the reputation of not being a nice place the most. for typical nice examples, if you are lost nyer's just love to help you. in fact its outright sport to give the best advice for lost people and they will even argue about it with each other. also, if you drop something, my goodness, nyer's will be bonking their heads reaching down to pick it up for you. i have so many awesome stories about things like that i have witnessed and experienced. however, the one big exception is if you stop dead in your damn tracks on the sidewalk, or like on steps or at an intersection, without stepping aside first? well in that case you will be cursed back to the huckleberry cornfield where you came from lol. 

 

my spouse has a caveat though -- she says ohioans always hold the doors open and nyer's never do. it's true lol.

yikes -- insanity on top the central park / nordstrom tower crane!

 

 

Edited October 5, 20204 yr by mrnyc

meanwhile, the 850' sutton place tower goes up on the eastside with little to no fanfare.

 

 

The amount of 750 - 900 foot towers going up in places typically reserved for low-to-mid rises is actually the more impactful development from the last decade. The supertalls on 57th get all the notoriety, but when looking at the skyline from queens, for instance, these buildings are what flesh out the skyline and spread it to new areas.

On 10/3/2020 at 11:57 AM, Toddguy said:

When I was there Times Square was still very nasty and had all the XXX stuff right up there close. 

 

Yeah it was crazy.  I was a teenager when I saw it and couldn't believe that New York allowed this right in the center of town.  It was the complete opposite of Cincinnati, where officials went to great lengths to keep strip clubs and adult book stores out of the city and county.  

 

I had a photography teacher who snuck his camera into one of the peep show places in the 1970s.  He used high-speed film and no flash so he had to go a few times to get the development formula correct for the lighting.  The photos were super-grainy but had a pretty amazing quality to them.  He printed photos professionally for the big museum shows at MOMA and elsewhere and the prints were incredible.  

 

I remember him bringing those 20 year-old prints out to show the class and it seemed like ancient history even though the old Times Square still existed to some extent in the late 90s.  Also, none of the students lodged some sort of sexist complaint to the administration regarding the subject matter.  If he was still teaching he'd no doubt find his job in jeopardy.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

no, i think most, if not all cities, including ohio cities, also had plenty of peep shops and dirty movie theaters and clubs around downtown. even in lorain we had a couple newsstands and shops where they didn't care if kids looked at the dirty magazines lol. of course the internet destroyed all that as much as cracking down on it did. and of course as with everything it was all much more blown out in nyc. 

 

if you go somewhere like tokyo even prime era times square porn is nothing much really vs their porno-y area, which is even almost family friendly at least to walk through, if you can believe it.

25 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

no, i think most, if not all cities, including ohio cities, also had plenty of peep shops and dirty movie theaters and clubs around downtown. even in lorain we had a couple newsstands and shops where they didn't care if kids looked at the dirty magazines lol. of course the internet destroyed all that as much as cracking down on it did. and of course as with everything it was all much more blown out in nyc. 

 

if you go somewhere like tokyo even prime era times square porn is nothing much really vs their porno-y area, which is even almost family friendly at least to walk through, if you can believe it.

Tokyo has so many areas that are "seedy" in nature in terms of their use, but walking through is perfectly fine. We walked through this small road that had all these little restaurants and shops but also clearly love hotels above that were explicit in their use, but the vibe was perfectly fine. Nothing felt dangerous or like you shouldn't be there. It was so different than what I'm used to where those things are pushed to being out of sight and as invisible as possible.

yeah, you would never want to be around those old seedy porno areas in the states, because we shame it. the japanese just shrug. a stark example of the difference in cultures. and japan wins this one.

another handsome new arched building seems to have finished up this summer at 180 e88st.

 

its by ddg, uses grey kolumba masonry bricks -- and its the tallest bldg on the ues above e72nd st.

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/06/awaiting-completion-of-arched-loggias-for-180-east-88th-street-in-upper-east-side.html

http://ddgpartners.com/projects/180-east-88th/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^looks like a combination of the grain pattern you see on prewar multi-floor concrete warehouses from the wood forms + that textured concrete from the 1970s.  

1 hour ago, jmecklenborg said:

^looks like a combination of the grain pattern you see on prewar multi-floor concrete warehouses from the wood forms + that textured concrete from the 1970s.  

 

 

its a thing for ddg -- and actually this is where it comes from:

 

https://en.petersen-tegl.dk

 

https://www.world-architects.com/en/architecture-news/products/petersens-kolumba-brick

 

https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/perfect-imperfections-kolumba-bricks/

 

 

the bluestone brick facade is in full effect on another chichi ddg building at 41 bond in noho:

 

http://ddgpartners.com/projects/41-bond/

 

 

 

DDG does some of the best work in the city. I applied to work there when moving to NYC in 2016 but wasn't proficient in the design software they use so that was an unfortunate "no." Turns out though during the interview I learned I know two people who work there from grad school.

 

My personal favorite of theirs is 325 West Broadway. Such an amazing reinterpretation of the cast iron facades of SoHo.

 

4 hours ago, mrnyc said:

no, i think most, if not all cities, including ohio cities, also had plenty of peep shops and dirty movie theaters and clubs around downtown. even in lorain we had a couple newsstands and shops where they didn't care if kids looked at the dirty magazines lol. of course the internet destroyed all that as much as cracking down on it did. and of course as with everything it was all much more blown out in nyc. 

 

if you go somewhere like tokyo even prime era times square porn is nothing much really vs their porno-y area, which is even almost family friendly at least to walk through, if you can believe it.

I had never seen anything like this anywhere in the US and I was in my mid twenties. I had earlier in the 80's seen this in Canada though. I stopped at a convenience store in a small town on the way to Toronto and they had Time, People, and other magazines lined up and Playboy and Hustler were right there too for any kid to look at and not covered up in any way lol. I had never seen this before and I was kind of shocked. Times Square was just as bad-you could just look into a place from the sidewalk and see XXX stuff on display-you did not even have to go in to see it.  The thing with the porn mags in the East Village...just plopping stacks of them on tables along the sidewalk with the XXX covers on them showing and everything...I was like "no way would this fly back home-somebody would be getting arrested!".

 

Of course I also thought that tourists with kids would probably not be letting them just roam on their own around the east Village or Times Square back in 1989-1990.  I never did see many kids around, and certainly not any unsupervised kids that I can remember.

1 hour ago, mrnyc said:

 

its a thing for ddg -- and actually this is where it comes from:

 

^Actually what I really meant was the material in the (old) Whitney Museum.  

 

One thing I don't see people comment on is the smell of different building materials in an interior.  I don't have a particularly acute sense of smell but I know that there is a completely different feel to a sheetrock interior (i.e. DAAP at the University of Cincinnati or virtually any newer chain hotel) versus a concrete interior (i.e. a parking garage or the CAC in Cincinnati) versus brick versus wood.  

 

A big problem for public buildings that are cleaned nightly is that the floor cleaner tends to dominate the smell of the building.  When you walk into a brand-new building you get a really positive feeling from the fresh smells.  I assume that the brick is still putting off a smell decades later but it can't compete with decades of degreaser.  

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Toddguy said:

Canada

 

^Oh yes...Canada.  I remember the chaperones making an effort to shoo us away from adult materials when we took a school trip to Toronto.  A few years I was in downtown Baltimore and was impressed to see that the old-school stuff had been confined to a single outrageous block.  I reminded me of Boston's old "combat zone".

 

I'm about as square as they come but I kind of liked that this stuff existed only because it pissed a lot of people off.  

 

 

 

 

 

On 10/5/2020 at 4:23 PM, jmecklenborg said:

 

^Actually what I really meant was the material in the (old) Whitney Museum.  

 

One thing I don't see people comment on is the smell of different building materials in an interior.  I don't have a particularly acute sense of smell but I know that there is a completely different feel to a sheetrock interior (i.e. DAAP at the University of Cincinnati or virtually any newer chain hotel) versus a concrete interior (i.e. a parking garage or the CAC in Cincinnati) versus brick versus wood.  

 

A big problem for public buildings that are cleaned nightly is that the floor cleaner tends to dominate the smell of the building.  When you walk into a brand-new building you get a really positive feeling from the fresh smells.  I assume that the brick is still putting off a smell decades later but it can't compete with decades of degreaser.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

those were renders, this is an actual photo from 2019, i dk if there are more recent?? i was working right by it occasionally just before the covid, but now that gig is out the window, so i dk what it looks like now. its diagonal from my place and across manhattan that might as well mean its on mars. 

 

 

aay, how about this? 

 

liberty towers, mixed use housing on deck near the minor league ballpark and ferry station on staten island.

 

its just south of the site fka the ny wheel site.

 

 

BY: VANESSA LONDONO 8:00 AM ON OCTOBER 17, 2020

A massive mixed-use housing development may be coming to the St. George neighborhood in Staten Island. The project, which comprises residential and commercial use, affordable housing, open space, and accessory parking, will have two sites: 170-208 Richmond Terrace and 8-26 Stuyvesant Place. Developer Madison Realty Capital under the Richmond SI Owner LLC is seeking approval for zoning map amendments, zoning text amendments, and special permits in order to begin work on the four-building, 911,752-square-foot complex near the St. George waterfront and the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The site includes 224 Richmond Terrace, a 60,000-square-foot, 40-unit condominium property that Madison Realty Capital acquired in 2012.

 

more:

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/10/major-mixed-use-and-affordable-housing-development-liberty-towers-revealed-for-st-george-staten-island.html

 

 

 

something b.i.g. for southern midtown.

 

551' / 34 fl

 

 

Excavation Progresses Steadily For BIG’s Office Skyscraper At 3 West 29th Street In NoMad

 

the chase tower and two more for around grand central.

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/10/exclusive-renderings-revealed-for-kpfs-supertall-343-madison-avenue-in-midtown-east.html

 

 

Rendering depicts three future towers that will change the Midtown skyline. JPMorgan Chase’s 270 Park Avenue on the left, 343 Madison Avenue in the middle, and 520 5th Avenue on the far right. Image courtesy of YIMBY Forumer rgarri4

Looks like my office will be sandwiched between One Vanderbilt and 343 Madison Ave. I'm still surprised Millstein bothered to renovate my building when it can absolutely be a tower of similar scale. I doubt it'll even be around in 15-20 years at this rate.

well you never know, chase had recently reno’d their bldg and now look what they are doing - ha. its crazy how money gets thrown around.

 

with the rezoning many of those older midtown office bldgs are marked for eventual teardowns or at least big modernization changes. a madmen era office wont do these days.

 

you have probably heard that the grand central hyatt and now maybe even the recently closed roosevelt hotel are the next major hot properties around there that are poised for teardowns.

Yeah, at some point we're going to be the only building adjacent to Grand Central that isn't a new supertall haha.

 

It would be a shame to have done all this work and then tear this office down. They did a fantastic job. They essentially gutted everything from like floor 12 down to the internal connection to GCT. And they didn't go cheap. They used SHOP architects to design it all. It was a lovely space to work in...then we all got sent home haha. Who even knows at this point if I'll ever go back there.

geez and right on time look at this -- a 100 story supertall already being teased for the roosevelt hotel site:

 

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/10/100-story-supertall-rumored-as-replacement-for-roosevelt-hotel-at-45-east-45th-street-in-midtown-east.html

A 100 story hotel is...an interesting choice. Super anecdotal, but based on conversations I've had with hotel owners who are looking to partner with us and turn them into residential...not sure more hotel is a smart investment. And 100 stories of it...Guess we'll wait and see what happens. It's too bad we'll lose a handsome building here. Maybe they'll save it and build above (as challenging and unlikely that is here).

that makes sense, until that i had also heard they might keep it as a condo/hotel conversion. seems more likely given their business, but we'll see.

This era of Midtown buildings is so attractive and unfortunately many of the remaining ones are located in rezoned areas or areas that are being eyed for rezoning. Between Midtown East, 42nd Street, the area around Penn Station, etc. a LOT of really beautiful early 20th Century architecture is on the chopping block. I get really nervous that the city is taking the "well there are so many of these, losing some won't kill the vibe" approach but in 50 years we're going to all look back and realize the city upzoned an entire era of beautiful design out of existence.

agreed, except it was very necessary as in the meantime many fall further underused and neglected for newer, more modern office space.

 

i dk what can be done except the city just has to remain vigilant site by site. 

 

of course the reality is redevlopment works both ways, ie., while yes the chase park ave tower is a great loss, one vanderbilt is a great gain built on the bones of an old nothing special building.

 

chase could have found another site, but unfortunately the city cannot say no to such an important local business as chase and they do own their building outright, so it would have been very tough to do anything.

 

what did mark twain say? nyc will be a great city someday if they ever finish it. ha.

Yeah there for sure has to be room for new construction. I personally think landmarking of significant buildings rather than entire districts is a good way for certain structures to be saved. For instance, I don't necessarily think arbitrarily saying "this entire neighborhood is an historic district" is wise, but rather picking out significant structures ends up with a nicer mix in the end.

 

I know as an architect I'm in he minority with this opinion, but I also feel that landmarking facades and redeveloping new structures while retaining the historic facade for buildings that have significant street presence but don't necessarily have a significant interior or rather, have an interior that doesn't serve much of a modern purpose, is another route that should be pursued. The Roosevelt could make a really cool base for a new structure in a similar way the Steinway served as a great base for 111 W57th.

crazy scene of supertall 111 w57st construction crane spinning around in the bad weather and bashing into the building, raining debris down on the streets. thanks to covid, a generally empty midtown and bad weather, but still it's a miracle people did not get killed!

 

of course the nyfd finally got a crane operator up there to stop it thankfully:

 

 

https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/crane-loose-atop-midtown-high-rise

via the daily mail -- good lord!

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm, honestly it doesn't look like the crane was actually the cause. It's not in a position where it runs into anything (which makes sense) and the pieces appear to come from a spot that the crane couldn't reach even if it was lowered. It looks like debris from the crown which still has ongoing construction on it.

 

Cranes spinning in the wind is a fairly common occurrence. I'm curious if this was actually unintentional. Sometimes it's better than trying to resist a heavy wind load. WTC 3 was notorious for its spinning crane every time the wind picked up. I personally saw it many times. You just don't "park" it in order to avoid the wind placing too much load on it.

 

I feel like people need to await further info before blaming the crane here. It doesn't look to me like that was actually the issue.

they said on the news the crane was the cause. there was something hanging off of it repeatedly bashing into the building as it was spinning around.

no not the election headache ball, the crane lol:

 

From a NYT article:

"A preliminary Buildings Department investigation determined that a so-called headache ball at the end of a hoist cable had hit the building’s upper floors, causing “large sections of glass and aluminum debris” to fall off and onto the street, Mr. Rudansky said."

 

 

umm, interesting!

 

permits filed for a 4 story building at 167 malcolm x blvd in bed-stuy bklyn

 

 

everybody is lamenting the loss of a great midtown modernist bldg on park ave for the new chase tower, but good news on that front is nearby another office tower of that mad men era, 299 park ave, was just renovated by fischer groupr and rockwell group, who do great local restoration and design work:

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/fisher-brothers-completes-20m-renovation-project-at-299-park-avenue-in-manhattans-midtown-east.html

 

 

Edited November 6, 20204 yr by mrnyc

lots of jersey city, nj development news  -- these are just a few recent:

 

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/excavation-set-to-begin-at-144-first-street-in-jersey-city.html

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/the-charlottes-facade-rising-quickly-at-25-christopher-columbus-drive-in-jersey-city.html

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/mgm-marin-boulevard-tops-out-at-331-marin-boulevard-in-jersey-city.html

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/vantages-second-tower-at-33-park-view-avenue-nears-completion-in-jersey-city.html

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/new-design-revealed-for-kushner-companies-two-towered-1-journal-square-in-jersey-city.html

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/11/construction-tops-out-at-88-regent-street-in-jersey-city.html

 

after years of lying dormant 251 west 14st is back in play. 

lots of steel being lifted there all day today.

 

 

 

 

current render

 

 

 

 

old render

 

 

Edited November 10, 20204 yr by mrnyc

guess what today is?

 

today is the big day for the soon to be amazing neo-gothic 9 dekalb tower in downtown brooklyn.

 

whoot!

 

 

per jds:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

render

 

Edited November 10, 20204 yr by mrnyc

 

i saw the facade panels for 9 dekalb yesterday 👍

 

 

 

 

a couple college oriented developments in downtown brooklyn

 

 

brooklyn law school's one boerum place 

as seen from the fulton mall

300' / 21 floors / 160k mixed use

 

 

 

 

liu's the willoughby

34 stories / 600k sq ft / residential

 

 

 

 

render for that one -- it overlooks the rec field

 

Thanks for this! Recently my experience in downtown Brooklyn has been Hoyt Street to Target back to Hoyt Street so it's good to see the 9 DeKalb and others update.

via the nydailynews -- if you can believe it --- more storm related problems at 111w57st -- this time falling broken glass -- jinkees!

 

 

Debris falls under same Midtown building where spinning crane caused havoc

 

By JOHN ANNESE
NOV 15, 2020

 

...

 

Falling glass cascaded onto the ground Sunday night under the same Midtown skyscraper where a spinning crane sent debris plummeting to the pavement last month, officials said.

Chunks of thick glass fell to the ground at W. 57th St. and Sixth Ave. at about 8:55 p.m., as powerful winds tore through the city.

Firefighters secured 111 W. 57th St., an 85-story luxury apartment tower, an FDNY spokesman said, as police shut down Sixth Ave. from 56th to 58th Sts., and 57th St. from Fifth to Seventh Aves.

On Oct. 29, strong winds from the remnants of Hurricane Zeta caused a crane attached to the building to “weathervane,” or spin in circles. The crane’s ball-and-hook at the end of the hoist cable also swung wildly, smashing into the building and knocking off metal debris.

 

...

 

The city hit the crane company, U.S. Crane and Rigging, with a $10,000 violation, public records show.

The Billionaire’s Row building, which is believed to be the world’s most slender skyscraper, is to be the second-tallest residential building in the city and the western hemisphere. The tallest residential building in the city is Central Park Tower, further west on W. 57th St.

 

 

 

 

 

 

on a more positive note ...

 

on the brooklyn waterfront, one of the domino sugar plant bldgs is about done, one south street on the left, and its a pretty sexy looking building. 

 

two more larger towers to go, plus redevelopment of the old sugar plant.

 

https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/07/one-south-first-reaches-full-completion-in-williamsburg-brooklyn.html

 

 

 

 

That building has come out wonderfully. It's very attractive and anchors the southern part of Domino Park nicely. Crazy that the upcoming towers in the rest of Domino Park and the neighboring twin towers by BIG (assuming they actually come to fruition) will be substantially taller than it. It feels huge for the area.