http://www.pbase.com/image/77838628.jpg


50 West Street
New York, New York

Client: 50 West Street Equities
Architect: Murphy/Jahn Architects

Located at 50 West Street between Joseph P. Ward and Rector Streets in lower Manhattan, this new 69-story, 700 foot tall tower is expected to contain approximately 542,000 sf. The building will provide 349 residential units, 143 hospitality guest rooms, 2 floors of parking and lobby amenity areas. The building is expected to have 10 foot floor-to-floor heights and floor plates of approximately 7,500 sf.


http://www.de-simone.com/projects/re...al/50west.html

looks like an updated taller version of the flatiron building :) very nice one from the dudes who got us the beautiful messeturm in frankfurt.

location
http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77833800/original.jpg

This would compliment the future WTC towers

i like it, downtown could do with a bit of modern now like this. it has looked pretty much the same since the 80s (excluding the wtc) hopefully it can look great once the new wtc and the other projects are built. (btw im not getting at ny, i love it its beautiful)

Looks very cool.When will it started?

hopefully as soon as possible :D

Is it that difficult to follow the naming convention?

i had and have no problem with it :)

http://downtownexpress.com/de_211/developerplansto.html

http://downtownexpress.com/de_211/time.gif
http://downtownexpress.com/de_211/ward.gif

This narrow walkway on Ward St. would be widened into a landscaped plaza under the plan.

Developer plans to knock down West St. ‘copper top’ to build 63 stories

By Skye H. McFarlane


The developer has called it a “shot in the arm for the neighborhood.” More than one Financial District resident has called it a “dangerous precedent.” The chair of Community Board 1 has called it a “huge decision.”

On June 6, Downtowners will get a chance to decide for themselves how to describe the 63-story, mixed-use development proposed for 50 West St. The developer, Time Equities, will make a full presentation on the project before C.B. 1’s Financial District, Battery Park City and Quality of Life Committees.

In addition to informing the public, the Wednesday meeting will be one of only two opportunities that the board will have to formulate an official position on the development. The other will be next month’s full board meeting. Because 50 West St. has applied for several zoning tweaks, as well as the purchase of air rights from the city, the project must undergo the city’s complex Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). By city law, the community board has until July 2 to submit its opinion on the project.

“We’ll meet as long as we need to meet Wednesday to answer everyone’s questions on this,” said Julie Menin, the chair of C.B. 1. “We are going to speak with a very loud voice on this.”

However, Menin isn’t sure just yet what that voice will say. No matter what the community board says, there will be a significant development at 50 West St. Under the area’s commercial zoning, Time Equities can build a 30 to 40 story building on the site’s current footprint. The company has already submitted preliminary applications for the demolition of the 1912 “copper top” 13-story building that currently occupies the space, just north of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The development will contain hotel rooms, luxury condominium units and ground floor retail, all to be designed by well-known architect Helmut Jahn.

If the developer’s ULURP application is approved, the building could gain an additional 180,000 square feet of space, putting it at 63 stories under the current plans. The ULURP would also clear the way for a public plaza on the site, with landscaping and outdoor seating for a proposed café and restaurant. The plaza would be created by enlarging the narrow Ward St. walkway near the garage that leads from West to Washington Sts.

Menin, City Councilmember Alan Gerson and representatives from the community board and the local schools have been meeting with Time Equities to discuss potential “community benefits” that the developer might be willing to offer. Community benefit negotiations are common in cases of large-scale developments, especially those that require zoning variances or regulatory approvals. Previous negotiations with Downtown developers have yielded three schools, two community centers and funding for youth programs.

Gerson, Menin and Phillip Gesue, Time Equities director of acquisition and development, all declined to comment specifically on what community amenities have been discussed. However, both Gerson and Menin stressed that the developers will have to make accommodations for the additional children they would be bringing into the area’s overcrowded schools, as well as address the dearth of affordable housing Downtown. Others with knowledge of the negotiations were more specific, saying that Time Equities has offered to purchase laptops and other technology for P.S./ I.S. 89 in Battery Park City, and to beautify a small local park on Trinity Place.

Some community members have complained about the “closed door” negotiations for community amenities. Gerson responded that the talks were only preliminary, to let the developers know what concerns they would have to address in their presentation. Menin and Gesue both stressed that it was not possible to have full-blown public presentation until the 50 West ULURP application was officially submitted to the board. That happened on May 2 and since then, Menin said, a number of board members have taken the time to review the proposal.

Though it is not contained in the ULURP plans, Menin said that she expected Time Equities to include the possibility of a pedestrian bridge in its presentation to the board. Residents of south Battery Park City have long wished for a bridge to connect them to the Rector St. subways without the hassle and danger of navigating the at-grade traffic near the Battery Tunnel. Financial constraints and logistical questions over where and how to construct the bridge have long stalled the project. Gesue said that Time Equities is “absolutely” supportive of having a pedestrian bridge in the neighborhood. He added that the 50 West project could help the community by getting involved in any number of urban planning efforts.

In general, though, Gesue believes that the 50 West project is its own community benefit. With Jahn’s name and talent attached, he said, the building will be an “architectural landmark.” Gesue declined to release any renderings before the presentation. The building is also aiming for a gold rating from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. The current plans call for a clear glass building surrounding an exposed concrete skeleton. The building would be narrower at the bottom, to allow room for the public plaza, and wider on the upper floors — what architects call a cantilever.

The public plaza, Gesue said, will give Battery Park City residents a clean, attractive walkway to the Financial District. With a better access path, the merchants in the Greenwich South area will benefit from an increase in foot traffic. In general, he believes that the development will bring tourists, shops and street life to an area that is better known for commuter traffic and parking garages. Gesue admitted, however, that those neighborhood qualities will make the new 50 West St. property a challenge to market.

“This is why we need all the help we can get,” Gesue said. “We’re taking what is not a great area and we are making it better. This will be a real shot in the arm for the neighborhood, but that’s a challenge and a risk for us. That’s why we need the community’s help and not resistance.”

Some community members are already resistant, fearing that the rumored laptops, park improvements and pedestrian bridge will not compensate for the stress that the building’s increased population will put on the neighborhood’s schools and parks. While new laptops will become obsolete in five years, C.B. 1 member Catherine McVay Hughes said, the community will be stuck with 20 extra stories forever. Hughes also worried that the developer’s plan to build green would be presented as a “community amenity” at the meeting.

“A green building is great,” Hughes said. “But any smart developer these days who wants to attract luxury condo owners would want to make their building green. So it’s not a community amenity.”

Other community members are vowing to oppose the project, no matter what community amenities Time Equities offers. The height of the building would be out-of-context with the neighborhood, they say, (most nearby buildings are in the 20- to 30-story range) and the purchase of air rights from over the Battery Tunnel would set a bad precedent in an area that will likely see more large development in the coming years.

“I think it’s time to save the community contextually,” said C.B. 1 member and Battery Park City resident Tom Goodkind. “I don’t think community boards were meant to negotiate money out of realtors.”

Menin also believes that the process of community boards negotiating with developers needs to be reformed. She said that instead of having communities beg and plead every time a new development comes along, the city should institute a formal process whereby large projects must be analyzed to find out exactly what impact they will have on community infrastructure. Developers would then have a legal mandate to mitigate that impact.

While Gerson also supports a more regulated process at the city level, he said Wednesday that he was “guardedly optimistic” that the community and Time Equities could reach an amenable agreement under the current system. Though she is waiting to see the final presentation and hear the community’s reaction, Menin was a bit more guarded than optimistic.

“It’s a huge decision,” she said. “It may be that the impact is simply too great. At a certain point, we would have to say, ‘No, this is not acceptable.’”

The opinions of the community board, the Borough President’s office and the City Planning department all carry weight in the ULURP process, but because the 50 West application involves a change to the city map, the final approval or disapproval will be made by the City Council. The June 6 public meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Assembly Hearing Room on the 19th floor of 250 Broadway.

from good to better nice for NY a lovely city

That building should be preserved rather than demolished.

It's too bad that nice building is being demolished, But i like what's going over it. Very nice!

Thats a shame they are tearing that very nice building down. I would perfer if they somehow integrated the building into the base of the new building, that way you get the best of both world.

Yes, it's a shame, but it's always the same: money :S

They will demolish an old nice building full of character to build a tower wich is not that nice.

Developement junkies will tell that this is justified.

<< Development Junkie. It is justified. Do it. Thanks. Hhahahahahahahahahahaha@ Nimbz. You lose.

This is a moment I should silent for.
It's like a recall of when Penn Station was tornned down....:(

i may be one of few, but i like the design and it will bring downtown into the future.

any pictures of the building that currently occupies the spot?

Its on the first page, the green copper topped building thats 13 floors or so.

nice looking tower...glass and shape..will help lower Man. transfor along with the GS building and WTC complex...the new Man. for the 21st century:)

^^ Not to mention 111 Washington and another tall one next door to 50 West.. oh and 123 Albany somewheres around 650 ft I think. Yep yep it's a new era and certain folks are going to have to accept that and adjust. Theres more than enough preserved, landmarked, historic architecture THAT we can spare. Sad that this little one's gotta go I guess but it's worth it to see the city grow. There really is not too much more land to develop in Manhattan and it's going to have to happen sooner or later. I'd rather be a development junkie than be anti- development. This being skyscrapercity and all.

i like the way the developer worded it as a "shot in the arm" for downtown.

So a typical NYC building will be demolished to be replaced bij a glas tower which could stand anywhere else in the world today.

cool tower

http://www.pbase.com/image/77838628.jpg

any updates with this one

it is not UC, so why updates?

63-story mixed-use tower planned for 50 West Street


http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1181249742_west50as.jpg


07-JUN-07

Time Equities, a real estate company headed by Francis Greenburger, made a presentation last night to the Financial District, Battery Park City and Quality of Life committees of Community Board 1 of its plans to erect a 63-story hotel and residential condominium development at 50 West Street across from Battery Park City.

The slim tower has been designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects of Chicago, who designed CitySpire, Park Avenue Tower and 425 Lexington Avenue in New York and the great State of Illinois Center in Chicago, and Gruzen Samton LLC.

The curved south side of the tower would have a plaza that would provide an alternate and more attractive pedestrian walkway from Battery Park City to Greenwich Street than the existing walkway through the Battery Tunnel Garage.

The proposed building would house a 155-room hotel on floors 1 though 13, 48 "full-service residential units" on floors 14 through 18 and 259 residential condominium apartments on floors 20 through 63. It would have an illuminated top, but no garage.

The ground floor of the tower, which would be designed to achieve a Gold LEED rating, would contain a "light-art gallery showcasing some of the most innovate light installation artists in the world, a caf¿/bar, a restaurant and a "gourmet" corner store grocery.

The project requires text changes to allow a plaza at the site and to permit the transfer of development rights above the Battery Tunnel garage to be used "only in the at-grade area north of J. P. Ward Street, and by special permit only."

In addition, the project requires the demapping of a 8-inch strip between J. P. Ward Street and the applicant's site and a demapping for "a plane above J. P. Ward and the portion of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach located 37.2 feet above the area between West, Washington, Morris and J. P. Ward Streets.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach has about 2.7 million square feet of unused air rights and the 50 West Street project plans to acquire about 183,000 square feet of those air rights.

The project's site is just to the north of the 8-acre Greenwich Street South project that would deck over the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, create a new park and a new, automated, green-roofed bus garage and five residential towers, a plan that was initiated by Mayor Bloomberg in 2002 and which the chairman of the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority, Jim Gill, said last year he would like to take charge of.

An urban design study for that project was prepared in 2005 envisioned a new, curved pedestrian bridge over West Street to connect the southern part of Battery Park City to Greenwich Green, a new park between Morris and Edgar Streets between West and Greenwich Streets.

Members of the community board indicated they wanted any income from the sale of air rights to the project to be used for projects in Lower Manhattan, indicating that they were concerned about schools, a new pedestrian bridge over West Street, and the area's need for more cultural institutions and affordable housing.

Philip Gesue, director of development and acquisitions for Time Equities, told the meeting that it was considering giving a local school 159 laptop computers with four-year maintenance contracts, to help address the area's school needs. Mr. Gesue said that a bridge from Battery Park City over West Street to his company's site would be difficult to accommodate because of the small size of the site.

Julie Menin, chair of the community board, said that board needed more time to study what amenities it might seek from the development and scheduled another meeting for June 18, the day before it must make recommendations for the project's Uniform Land Use Review (ULURP) applications.

The redevelopment of the 50 West site would involve the demolition of the 12-story, 1912 building once known as the Crystal Building that has a 3-story-high mansard roof.


Copyright © 1994-2007 CITY REALTY.COM INC.

Here is the early rendering in a bigger size...

http://www.pbase.com/image/77838587/original.jpg

Looks great.

I say it should be built :cheers2:

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_215/cb1oksluxury.html
Volume 20 Issue 6 | June 22 - 28, 2007

C.B. 1 OKs luxury tower on West with conditions

By Skye H. McFarlane

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_215/sky.gif

The 50 West St. tower can rise to 63 stories, so long as a good chunk of the windfall lands squarely within Community Board 1 and the Greenwich South neighborhood, the board said Tuesday night.

Board 1 essentially yellow-lighted the proposed hotel and condominium. The board voted to approve the glassy tower’s two land-use actions, but only if the developer and the city fulfill a laundry list of 13 wide-ranging conditions.

To mitigate the impact of 150 hotel rooms and 300 apartments filled with new, wealthy residents, the community is insisting that the developer, Time Equities, fulfill its promises to provide a public art gallery within the building, as well as a laptop program for I.S. 89.

In addition, the community stressed in its five-page resolution that Time Equities must build affordable housing Downtown, overhaul two small neighborhood parks and facilitate the construction of a pedestrian bridge over West St. The developer must also conduct its demolition and construction work using the safest, greenest and least disruptive techniques available.

The board’s most stringent requirement, however, addresses the city. Because one of the land-use actions would allow Time Equities to purchase 180,000 square feet of air rights from over the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the city would stand to receive a significant profit from the development. The community is determined that 100 percent of the proceeds — likely in the tens of millions of dollars — be spent on projects within Lower Manhattan.

Chief among the community’s priorities for the money are the creation of affordable housing, the development of green space and sports fields, and the implementation of the Downtown Alliance streetscape program along Washington St. The board also asked the city to eliminate an extra 190,000 square feet of air rights that would be created by the land-use action, so that no future developer could ever apply to purchase them.

“These can’t just be pie-in-the-sky dreams,” said C.B. 1 Chairperson Julie Menin of the board’s conditions. “We really need concrete guarantees that we are going to get these things.”

Menin favored rejecting the project unless the conditions were met, but she couldn’t convince enough of her fellow board members to go along. She yielded when the language was change from “support” to “conditionally support.” The advisory resolution passed 34 to 5 with three abstensions.

Legally, the board’s opinion must be considered as a part of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. However, the borough president’s office and the Department of City Planning also get to review the proposal. Because the application includes de-mapping a city street, the City Council will have the final say on the plan, even though C.B. 1 voted yes. Under most ULURPs, City Planning has the final say when the community board votes yes. If the Council approves the plan, Time Equities will purchase the air rights and create a pedestrian plaza along Ward St., the dark, narrow alley that separates the Battery Tunnel from 50 West St. to the north.

By rights, the developer can already take down the 13-story building on the site (known as the “copper-top” because the roof is painted green to look like copper patina). Current zoning, which caps bulk but not height, would then allow a 30- to 40-story building. By adding the 40-foot wide plaza — which would contain trees, cobblestone pavers and an outdoor café — the developer would earn the right to build another five to seven stories. That, combined with the air rights purchase, would put the building at a little over 500,000 square feet (63 stories under the current design).

There was much debate among board members over how to evaluate the proposed building. Many board members liked the building’s curving, near-transparent façade, designed by noted architect Helmut Jahn. They universally approved of Time Equities plan to seek a Gold rating from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. The building would also bring in customers to bolster the local retail scene.

To offset some of the building’s impact on the overcrowded local schools, Time Equities has proposed to provide laptops for all of the children in I.S. 89, along with maintenance and insurance for four years. The laptops would allow I.S. 89 to give its computer room to P.S. 89, which would convert the space into two regular classrooms to help alleviate acute class-size problems.

“There are other concerns with this project, but from a youth and education standpoint, we need the school space,” said Paul Hovitz, chair of the board’s Youth and Education Committee. “If we don’t do this, we are left to depend upon the [Department of Education] to address the overcrowding and we’ve seen how well that works out.”

After the community asked repeatedly for an art space in the building, Time Equities proposed to include a public art component, possibly light installations, in the hotel portion of the project. However, board members agreed that the laptops and the public art would not be enough to offset the extra stress that the new residents would put on local parks, schools and transportation systems.

Time Equities’ refusal to voluntarily include affordable housing in any of its Downtown projects also irked many board members, especially when a representative of the developer suggested that those people who could not afford to live in the neighborhood could always move to Brooklyn. Time will get state tax abatements as of right. A new version of the 421-a program would require Downtown developers to invest in affordable housing to get the tax benefits, but the bill, expected to pass June 21, will not take effect until June 2008.
“I really feel that the city can and should do more to press the developer to create affordable housing elsewhere in the district,” said board member Barry Skolnick.

A small number of board members wanted to reject the project altogether because of its large scale and precedent-setting use of city air rights. Others, including Menin, wanted to phrase the board’s opinion as a conditional rejection. The negative language, they felt, would make a stronger statement. The board compromised on “conditionally supports.”

Board members reasoned that since City Planning worked with the developers to craft the ULURP application, it would be unlikely that the City Council would outright reject the proposal. The Economic Development Corporation, the Battery Park City Authority and State Senator Martin Connor have also spoken in favor of the project. Councilmember Alan Gerson, who was involved in the negotiations with the developer, has not yet given his full support to the building, but his aide, David Feiner, has spoken in favor of the project at two different board meetings.

Therefore, the board decided it would be better not to fight the construction of the building, which will be very large regardless of the zoning variances. Instead they will fight to ensure that both the city and the developer make significant reinvestments in the neighborhood.
“I think it’s more than likely that we’ll get this building whether we like it or not,” said Battery Park City Committee chairperson Linda Belfer at a meeting Monday night. “We might as well get something in the way of mitigation.”

Skye@DowntownExpress.com

Looks beautiful.... new improved version of flatiron building near Madison Square Park.

WOW another beauty

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_221/beepsaysstopon.html
Volume 20 Issue 12 | August. 3 - 9, 2007

Beep says stop on West St. condos

By Josh Rogers

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer rejected a $550-million hotel and condo project at 50 West St. Wednesday because it includes no money for affordable housing.

Stringer told Downtown Express that the subsidized project has little “tangible public benefit for the city” and there would have to be a substantial investment in affordable housing in order for him to change his mind. Stringer said all of the money the city collects on the project would have to stay in Downtown’s Community Board 1 area. A few hours later, he filed his official rejection, which is only advisory but is likely to have influence with the City Council’s Manhattan delegation. The project cannot proceed without City Council approval.

Under the proposed deal, Time Equities would buy 183,000 square feet of air rights from the city and knock down the green-topped, 1912 building at the southern end of West St. to build a 63-story tower with 400 condos and 183 hotel rooms. Francis Greenburger, chairperson and C.E.O. of Time Equities, said he expected to pay the city about $30 million for the air rights.

Greenburger, in a telephone interview, said he isn’t too troubled by Stringer’s rejection since it is up to the city to fulfill the borough president’s housing goal.

“It’s between him and the city… I would have preferred if he could have worked it out,” he said. Greenburger said it would be “foolish” to build affordable housing units at 50 West because it is a particularly expensive building to construct, but he does think Lower Manhattan needs more below-market housing.

He is looking to acquire a particular Downtown property soon that he said is well-suited for a “substantial affordable housing component.”

Greenburger’s director of acquisition and development, Phillip Gesue, outraged some Community Board 1 members in June when he told them they should move to Brooklyn if they couldn’t afford the rising rents Downtown. Greenburger said Wednesday that he disagreed with his employee.

“That’s not my view,” Greenburger said. “It’s desirable to have affordable housing whenever it is possible.”

Stringer said he has high regard for Greenburger and was hopeful the developer would help create more affordable housing Downtown. C.B. 1 also called for the project to have affordable housing and for the money to stay in Lower Manhattan. Nevertheless, the board gave an official yes to the proposal.

City officials declined to comment for attribution for this article. One, speaking on the condition on anonymity, said the city sees the project as an improvement to the area and has no intention of tying any more specific community benefits to it. The project is next to a dangerous pedestrian area near the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and includes improving the pedestrian access through narrow Ward St., creating a small public plaza there. Greenburger has agreed to buy laptop computers for I.S. 89 students, which will allow the school to close its computer room and free up classroom space for overcrowded P.S. 89.

The board hoped the conditional yes vote would have more influence than a rejection, but that message may have been lost in translation, at least according to the city official.

“A conditional yes is a yes,” he said.

Stringer said he thought the best way to get changes was to make it clear the current plan was unacceptable.

Julie Menin, Community Board 1’s chairperson, tried to get her fellow board members to take a harder line in June. She said Wednesday she was “quite surprised the board did not have a sense of outrage over West St.” She was surprised that few residents showed up to object to the plan and said that may have influenced board members. She said she was glad when Stringer called to tell her of his decision.

Menin did end up backing the board resolution when members agreed to change the language from “support” to “conditionally support.”

Councilmember Alan Gerson said he wants to add an affordable housing component to the proposal, but he has not made that a condition for his approval. He and his aides negotiated the I.S. 89 computer agreement before the plan was presented to the community board and one aide spoke favorably of the proposal during the early community board discussions.

Gerson said now that the plan moves to the Council, he expects negotiations with Time Equities to resume. He said he has already told executives of the need for affordable housing.

Getting the computers was only a first step, he added. “We made it clear that was a prerequisite,” Gerson said, “but we made it clear that was not enough.”

Josh@DowntownExpress.com

This looks great.

the bottom looks loke the freedom tower so I believe that this will be built!!

stylish :okay:

Demolition has startes of the structures on the site where this tower will rise.

I really like this project. Thank god it will go up.

Found a picture of the model:

http://i22.tinypic.com/2edb87p.jpg

(I'm getting red x's on the first page so I don't know if it was posted before.)

The status of the thread should be changed to site prep.

lots of condition slapped on the project. Is this typical of NYC approval process?

nice. i like it.

lots of condition slapped on the project. Is this typical of NYC approval process?

Yes. NY is an extremely difficult place to build anything. People fight each project vociferously and developers are always forced to scale back on height, etc.

scale back in height? and that in NY :lol:

^^ I would not laugh. Just about EVERY project except WTC and a few select others are always scaled back. Sometimes even 100 feet or more at a time. This is sadly very common.

I can't believe that out of all the sites they have chosen to build this project, it had to be on very nicely designed building rather than on its surrounding, which are much worse that it is.

^^ I would not laugh. Just about EVERY project except WTC and a few select others are always scaled back. Sometimes even 100 feet or more at a time. This is sadly very common.

wow, never thought that. thx for the info :)

I can't believe that out of all the sites they have chosen to build this project, it had to be on very nicely designed building rather than on its surrounding, which are much worse that it is.

Well ya, I agree, but that building is not all THAT special either apart from the roof. It's not landmarked for a reason i suppose..

I love this tower, it will refresh the area that hasn't seen anything new since Battery Park City, way to go!

Well ya, I agree, but that building is not all THAT special either apart from the roof. It's not landmarked for a reason i suppose..

i read somewhere the roof wasn't even real copper

i read somewhere the roof wasn't even real copper

shure, what did you expect? copper costs too much, in a little while they'll have to stop to use it even for making coins. Never herd of copper robberies?

then why is the roof so special? lol

We need an update for this one. I know it was recently approved by the CB, but what now?

Demolition has commenced.

so i think a mod can change the title to Demo now

cool. i hope they start construction soon after demo is complete

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_237/developerpays.html
Volume 20, Number 28 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | November 23 - 30, 2007

Developer pays $5m into housing fund to greenlight condo tower

By Josh Rogers

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_237/dev.gif

Downtowners being squeezed by rents might not have to move to Brooklyn after all. The developers who told them to do that have just agreed to pay $5 million into a Lower Manhattan affordable housing fund in exchange for city approval of their luxury condo and hotel building at 50 West St.

The City Council approved the $600 million project last Thursday, giving Time Equities Inc. the go-ahead to build a 63-story tower next to the Battery Tunnel Garage. The first 14 floors of the building designed by Helmut Jahn will have a 155-room, four star hotel and restaurant, and the other floors will have 290 condos. Time hopes to demolish the green-roofed building at 50 West and begin constructing the tower next year. The building is slated to open in 2010.

The firm has agreed to put $5 million into a special fund to preserve affordable housing south of Houston St. and the city will add nearly $2 million. Time had fought with community leaders and local politicians this year over including affordable housing money in the project. At a meeting to try and persuade Community Board 1 to back the condo plan, Phillip Gesue, Time’s director of acquisition and development, suggested that board members should move to Brooklyn if they no longer could afford Lower Manhattan.

Francis Greenburger, the firm’s chairperson and C.E.O., subsequently disavowed Gesue’s comment in an August interview with Downtown Express, saying in general, affordable housing was desirable, but Greenburger was not willing then to link it to his West St. project.

Councilmember Alan Gerson, who negotiated the agreement with Greenburger and the Bloomberg administration, said the housing fund is the first step to keeping places like Battery Park City’s Gateway Plaza affordable.

“Now we have a new entity that can receive funds from any number of sources that we can use to preserve affordable housing at Gateway -- which was on my mind through this process -- and other places,” Gerson said.

Under a special agreement, Gateway’s owner, the Lefrak Organization, is obligated to stay in rent stabilization until 2009. Gerson said $6.7 million from Time Equities and the city will not be enough to keep Gateway from going market rate, but he’s hopeful the fund will get other contributions.

Even without additional money, the fund will still do a lot more than what could have been hoped for at the beginning of negotiations, Gerson said. Greenburger had made it clear from the outset that his building was too expensive an undertaking to be able to include any below market units, but even if he didn’t take that stance, 20 percent is the traditional amount of affordable apartments set aside in luxury projects. The new fund will preserve many more than 58 apartments – 20 percent of the Time project – Gerson said, although the exact number won’t be clear until the city’s Housing Preservation and Development gets the money, sets up the fund and decides how to spend it.

The city sale of air rights to Time is expected to be finalized soon, after which Time is obligated to pay the first $2.5 million into the housing fund, Gerson said. The second half of the money will be due after the firm gets the certificate of occupancy for the condo.

Gerson said he thinks it’s the first affordable housing fund, financed by a private developer and its important to keep economic diversity Downtown. “Do we want to be in a city that’s economically segregated,” he asked, adding it would be terrible if “the rescue workers who saved Lower Manhattan…could not afford to live in this community.”

City officials and Time executives declined to comment on the agreement for this article. They issued prepared statements in a City Council press release praising the project.

Under a previously announced agreement, Time will buy laptop computers for I.S. 89 in Battery Park City. The middle school gave up its computer lab this year to make more room for P.S. 89 and was hoping to have the laptops in September.

Not having the laptops “ has been a real serious problem this year,” said Michele Herman, the P.T.A.’s secretary. She said teachers planned the curriculum around having the new laptops in their rooms and have had to adjust. Gerson said he’s trying to expedite the computer purchases and hopes the school can get them by next month. Under the agreement, Time will also pay for a full-time staff member to provide computer support for the school.

Gerson said the city was going to put $2 million in the affordable housing fund, but when it looked like a support center for Downtown science teachers was going to be cut, he convinced the city to shift $300,000 to save the program on Henry St.

Greenburger will buy 183,000 square feet of air rights from the city under the deal. In August, he said he expected to pay about $30 million. Gerson said the figure increased a little to about $33 million, but Janel Patterson, a spokesperson for the Economic Development Corp., said the final price has not been decided.

The city will demap Ward St., a narrow and little-known street and Time will convert it into a public plaza to improve pedestrian access in the area now known as Greenwich Street South. The long-term plan is to improve access through the Greenwich area which includes the West Side Highway and the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. The city hopes to someday add two small parks and more residential buildings to the area just south of the World Trade Center site.

Gerson said the city is starting to move on the Greenwich plans. “I have their commitment that the next step is to fix up the streetscape and these two parks,” he said.

Josh@DowntownExpress.com

fantastic, finally it is approved :). can a mod change the title?

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_239/editorial.html
Volume 20, Number 30 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | December 7 - 13, 2007

Affordable housing lessons at 50 West

The deal to create a new Lower Manhattan affordable housing fund of nearly $7 million, announced two weeks ago, is most welcome news. It is an uphill battle to preserve, let alone build, below market apartments anywhere in Manhattan so every little bit helps. The fund, which came out of negotiations on the condo and hotel to be built at 50 West, has the potential to grow if the city presses Downtown developers to kick in more when public land is involved or when developers are asking for special benefits.“The constant haggling for repairs, having a hostile relationship with your landlord — as a rent-regulated tenant, this becomes your lifestyle,” she said.


When families get displaced because of rising rents, their loss and struggle is clear, particularly Downtown where many lived through the hardship of 9/11 and its aftermath only to be forced out when things began to get better. But Lower Manhattan will also lose something very important if it becomes a place only for celebrities and the well-to-do. It is not easy to build affordable housing on some of the world’s most valuable real estate, but when possible, it should be done, and every effort must be made to preserve affordable apartments, because that is much more cost effective than building new ones.

The 50 West deal was negotiated by Councilmember Alan Gerson, who got more out of Time Equities, the developer, and the city than could have been expected, especially since he didn’t insist on tying affordable housing money to the project at first. Borough President Scott Stringer’s strong no vote probably raised people’s eyebrows and got the city’s attention.

The Bloomberg administration has made commendable progress on affordable housing across the city, but the city originally saw 50 West as a benefit in itself because it would result in important pedestrian improvements in the area and was not willing to include any affordable housing money. The city has now agreed to put in nearly $2 million into the fund and Time will contribute $5 million, in order to complete the purchase of city-owned air rights needed to build the $600-million project.

These are tough battles that will have to be fought again and again, and we think the lesson learned at 50 West is that politicians and community leaders must be willing to take tough stands that will not make them popular behind the closed doors where the powers-that-be meet. But behind the doors where people struggle to pay the rent, that is precisely what is needed.

I forgot the latest news about this baby, but it's all green and I think it's u/c or will be soon. I forgot the exact height but think it was a tad over 700'.

2 weeks ago by scruffy, SSP:

i never realized how skinny this tower is going to be

this is the entire site as of 2 weeks ago. hardly seems like there is enough room for a 700 footer. keep in mind they are also including a small pedestrian plaza

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC00196.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC00197.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC00199.jpg

Love it, great building for a great city in a great location.

It is a small building site for a 200m+ building.

Found a picture of the model:

http://i22.tinypic.com/2edb87p.jpg

(I'm getting red x's on the first page so I don't know if it was posted before.)

^^this project is really nice and the render are really good^^

can a mod please add 213m to the title?

Today by Scruffy, SSP:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC02099.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC02100.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC02101.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC02104.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/saya/DSC02107.jpg

ZZ-II

thank you for all the updates, in all the threads.I had forgotten that many of these buildings even existed....

ZZ-II, it's best to PM the Mods to change the title, probably best to PM Cul or WJfox as there are way more projects to look out for here than in the Supertalls section.

Some guy created a thread for this one in the supertall section (and got it locked, ofcourse) but it had this rendering:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/50_West_Street.jpg

Anyone know if they are done with the prep work yet and on to foundation perhaps?

^^ Yes, I remember that render! Glad to find it here in Highrises. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/Yay.gif

@Cmack: as far as i know they're still prepairing the site

Is this approved then? I read back that it was.

yes, it is approved

This building is officially UC (already in june). A moderator please take care of changing the title.


Other interesting renders can be found on jetsongreen.com


source: http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/developer-breaks-ground-green-hotel-eats-organic-breakfast



Developer Breaks Ground On Green Hotel, Eats Organic Breakfast
BY DANA RUBINSTEIN | JUNE 27, 2008 | TAGS: REAL ESTATETIME EQUITIES

Quinn and Company.
Rendering of 50 West Street.
Developers broke ground on the silver-skinned, 65-story tower planned for 50 West Street in Lower Manhattan.
On June 23, New York-based developer Time Equities Inc. marked the occasion with, appropriately enough, an organic breakfast from the local bakery Financier.
Not only was the breakfast-cum-groundbreaking religiously eco-friendly, but it was also religious.
According to the release, "Vicar Anne Mallonee, The Reverand Mark Bozzuti-Jones and Rabbi Schmaya Katz blessed the site and spoke of hospitality, unity and sustainability as they welcomed their new neighbor."
It's all in keeping with the firm's meticulous political correctness. The developers are anticipating that the residential and hotel building will get LEED-gold certification thanks to the incorporation of technologies like a green roof, water-efficient plumbing, automated blinds, and sustainable construction materials.
Read the full release below:

Groundbreaking of Skyline-Changing Tower Downtown
New York-based developer Time Equities, Inc. hosted a groundbreaking event on June 23 to celebrate Lower Manhattan’s iconic hotel and residential skyscraper, 50 West Street. Over 100 guests, including politicians, community officials and project partners, joined Time Equities to break ground on the site of the 65-story tower and enjoy organic breakfast catered by local bakery Financier.
With a soaring 20-foot banner of 50 West Street in the background, honored guests Seth Pinsky, president, Economic Development Corporation and Alan Gerson, Councilmember, joined Francis Greenburger, CEO and Chairman, Time Equities, on stage to speak about the importance of this extraordinary addition to Lower Manhattan. Vicar Anne Mallonee, The Reverand Mark Bozzuti-Jones and Rabbi Schmaya Katz blessed the site and spoke of hospitality, unity and sustainability as they welcomed their new neighbor.


This green residence and boutique hotel, which anticipates LEED-Gold certification when completed, will include sustainable technologies, such as a green roof, water-efficient plumbing fixtures, automated blinds and energy control systems. Demolition waste will be recycled, and the new construction materials will be sustainable and rapidly renewable. Both hotel and residences will feature an energy efficient glass facade to promote use of daylighting and filter UV rays.

The 50 West Street project is expected to create 740 construction jobs and 175 permanent jobs. As a fantastic example of public-private partnership, Time Equities will donate $4.6 million to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s affordable housing preservation fund, $350,000 to the NYC Board of Education for a Lower East Side Space Sciences Center and $430,000 to local P.S./I.S. 89 for a computer science program including computers for a new computer lab.
Designed by world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn, the $600 million, 580,000-square-foot mixed-use tower will be completed in 2011. The project will provide a critical pedestrian passageway that links the southern part of Battery Park City to Wall Street, Rector Street’s booming retail corridor, and Downtown transportation hubs. 50 West Street will contain 280 residential units and 155 hotel and retail units. The architect of record is New York City-based Gruzen Sampton.
About Time Equities:

Privately-held Time Equities Inc. (TEI), founded in 1966, has been in the real estate investment, development and asset & property management business for more than 40 years. With properties in 26 states, four Canadian provinces and Germany, the TEI portfolio consists of approximately 20.4 million square feet of residential, industrial, office and retail property.

Designed by world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn, the $600 million, 580,000-square-foot mixed-use tower will be completed in 2011. The project will provide a critical pedestrian passageway that links the southern part of Battery Park City to Wall Street, Rector Street’s booming retail corridor, and Downtown transportation hubs. 50 West Street will contain 280 residential units and 155 hotel and retail units. The architect of record is New York City-based Gruzen Sampton.
About Time Equities:

Privately-held Time Equities Inc. (TEI), founded in 1966, has been in the real estate investment, development and asset & property management business for more than 40 years. With properties in 26 states, four Canadian provinces and Germany, the TEI portfolio consists of approximately 20.4 million square feet of residential, industrial, office and retail property.

Awesome news. The Tower looks great and will look amazing in that area. New York is the master of skyscraper diversity - just look at the all the towers in the above rendering :bow:

10 points good for NY

NY is doing a great job, building all those slim towers. They already have enough fat boxes around. This one is really great.

Tall and slim towers with lots of glass, that's a combination i like.:)

elegant shape too. :)

this one really will stand out because if its location.

i really like it. its elegant and simple.

This is U/C? I swear when I checked this thread a few days ago it was Proposed...

look at post 77

bad news...this one is On Hold at least until spring 2009 :(

I agree, hearst tower it, or don't touch it.

- A

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/50-west-street-completion-date-delayed

50 West Street completion date delayed

12/03/08
By David Jones

Time Equities said its $600 million hotel and condominium project at 50 West Street could be delayed until 2012 as the market for new construction financing in New York has all but dried up.

After originally breaking ground in June, the New York-based developer said it has a bridge loan to complete the tower's foundation, but warned that construction financing will likely be delayed until third-quarter 2009.

"It's been a difficult financing market for a year now, but it's gotten tremendously more difficult in the last 90 days," said Phillip Gesue, director of acquisitions and development at Time Equities.

The 65-story building was expected to be one of the crown jewels in the city's effort to convert Lower Manhattan into a full-time residential neighborhood. Famed architect Helmut Jahn of Chicago is designing the 580,000-square-foot tower, which is slated to include a 155-room luxury hotel, a 280-unit condominium and ground floor retail space. Jahn, of Murphy/Jahn Architects, previously designed Park Avenue Tower, at 65 East 55th Street; 425 Lexington Avenue at 44th Street; and Cityspire, at 150 West 56th Street.

The tower was also expected to receive a LEED-Gold rating, offering environmentally friendly features such as a green roof, automated window blinds, energy control systems and recycled construction materials.

As part of the agreement, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is providing some of the financing for the project. Time Equities is donating $4.6 million to the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development's affordable housing preservation fund.

The project was originally scheduled for completion by mid-2011, however the lack of financing forced the developer to push the completion date to late 2011 or early 2012, Gesue said.

The delay is not unique to Time Equities, as an August report released by CB Richard Ellis shows. The report noted that 30 percent of the city's new hotel inventory would be delayed or canceled before the end of 2010 due to increased construction costs, tight capital market and the economic downturn.

CBRE now estimates that 69 hotels with 10,836 rooms will open in New York before the end of 2010, which is a 23 percent drop from previous estimates.

Attorney Mark Fawer, chairman of the real estate department at Dreier LLP, said that some developers, even if they can obtain financing, will have to make tough decisions about the long-term potential of new hotel and condo combinations.

"New buyers may look to either hold the land until the market recovers and operate them as a condo project down the road," he said. "Alternatively, they may look to reconfigure the project as rental apartments as opposed to for-sale condos."

i dont know.. i like the small building... i liked the new project
but...

i dont know.. i like the small building... i liked the new project
but...

now explain that in English please :ohno:

what is he talking about? :weird: :lol:

^^ You know... some people operate at a special speed... Just let him be. :)

I feel he means he likes small buildings, but am not 100% sure.

Are there any new construction pics?

maybe..but the tower is on-hold, so you won't see much:)

Looks nice. While it's important to preserve some buildings, you can't preserve all of them. If you do that the city won't change. For example, just look at most Italian cities today. Used to be very important, but preservation got out of hand, and now people mainly go there to look at the nice buildings, not to do business.

It's great that New York still has the ability to renew itself. :)

i dont know.. i like the small building... i liked the new project
but...

He liked the small building that stood there before but he likes the new project, but he still is not sure if he likes it enough to have razed the smaller building.

i wish this building, although really nice looking, wouldn't be built. or at least in that location. the old building was so nice. i think its a mistake what they did. :(
Wish the developer could've chosen another spot
but since we can't bring that beautiful building back, may as well complete it! It will look great

This has a good chance of being canceled & moved to new spot.

- A

He liked the small building that stood there before but he likes the new project, but he still is not sure if he likes it enough to have razed the smaller building.

Oooooh....

I have an idea for your signature if you don't mind:

"Ramvid: the f.e.s.b.r. whisperer" :)


Besides that, I just wanna say it's nice to see Downtown getting denser. Fingers crossed for this one!

posted on SSP:

Quote from the NY Post...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01152009/realestate/waiting_game_150209.htm

CREDIT CRUNCH HAS LEFT MANY MAJOR PROJECTS IN THE LURCH

By Lois Weis
January 15, 2009

Downtown, Time Equities has owned the site at 50 West St. for many years. CEO Francis Greenburger says he doesn't have to make a decision on moving forward with a 65-story hotel and residential tower designed by Helmut Jahn until later this year and can then decide to "landbank" it for a better time.

He already has some permits and some financing for the new building.

posted on SSP:

Quote from the NY Post...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01152009/realestate/waiting_game_150209.htm

CREDIT CRUNCH HAS LEFT MANY MAJOR PROJECTS IN THE LURCH

By Lois Weis
January 15, 2009

Downtown, Time Equities has owned the site at 50 West St. for many years. CEO Francis Greenburger says he doesn't have to make a decision on moving forward with a 65-story hotel and residential tower designed by Helmut Jahn until later this year and can then decide to "landbank" it for a better time.

He already has some permits and some financing for the new building.

cant be they rubbish

someone should change the U/C statement of this thread...

informed one of the local mods, will be done in the next minutes i guess

Isn't this tower be on the skyscrapers section, 700ft < 300m :dunno:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa155/jwalas/Construction/P1010669.jpg

holas soy arqui no ncuentro chile bueno!!

^^^^ i'm sorry i dont understand. Doesn't look like much is going on in the picture above.

of course not, the tower is on hold ^^

^^^^Really thats why I said that. I know it's on hold.

posted by NYguy on SSP:

Stalled update from NY Magazine...
http://nymag.com/news/articles/09/04/ghostbuildings/index5.html

http://images.nymag.com/news/articles/09/04/ghostbuildings/images/5.jpg

ANNOUNCED: June 2008
PLAN: A 65-story tower containing 280 condominiums and a 155-room luxury hotel.

STATUS: Construction began last summer but stopped after a few months. In December, The Real Deal reported that “construction financing will likely be delayed until third-quarter 2009.”

“The project is on temporary suspension right now,” says Dermot Johnson of Time Equities.

So they demolished that lovely old building and now there's a vacant lot? Nice.

So they demolished that lovely old building and now there's a vacant lot? Nice.

well obviously its not permanent.

nice building though!

Very nice ! If it was a bit taller.......

Yes they work today but on new sidewalk only.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa155/jwalas/Construction/P1120850.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa155/jwalas/Construction/P1120852.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa155/jwalas/Construction/P1120853.jpg

not much going on...

lower manhattan info (http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/50_west_street_72528.aspx)

*The following information was last updated on January 8, 2010.

* Foundation preparations are currently on hold
* Monitoring for roadway settlement on West Street

not much going on...

lower manhattan info (http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/50_west_street_72528.aspx)

ORLY? you think?

I like how people cried out for the crappy old building, that use to be there. Not every old ran down building in NYC a work of art. If I told you it was a crackhouse your tears would stop righhhht, well I can't say that because I don't know if it was lol.

I like how people cried out for the crappy old building, that use to be there. Not every old ran down building in NYC a work of art. If I told you it was a crackhouse your tears would stop righhhht, well I can't say that because I don't know if it was lol.

The old building that used to be there used to be called Crystal building and had very interesting looks like copper roof with plaster masks on the wall. If this roof was somehow saved instead of being just thrown out no one would cry for the building itself - ti was nothing special. And this particular building if not all of it then part of it for sure was a work of art.

Heard it from the grapevine...

Is 50 West St. reawakening?

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13821&p=341769&viewfull=1#post341769

Heard it from the grapevine...

Is 50 West St. reawakening?

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13821&p=341769&viewfull=1#post341769


In the last post on the page you linked above, the guy points to a HUGE car park East of the tower's site... Are there any plans to tear it down and build anew? The lot it huge, it'd be a semi WTC by itself IF redeveloped!

If I told you it was a crackhouse your tears would stop righhhht
No.

^^ dude read the date, I wrote that over a year ago. So quit bumping threads.

Curbed (http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/07/06/helmut_jahn_reawakens_at_50_west_street.php)


Helmut Jahn Re-Awakens at 50 West Street

Wednesday, July 6, 2011, by Pete Davies

http://www.jetsongreen.com/images/2008-small/08/11/50_west_street_nyc_skyline_view_cro.jpg

The big and shiny Helmut Jahn hotel/condo combo at 50 West Street is back from the dead and getting ready to rise just south of the World Trade Center site. The plan from West Street Development LLC, 65 stories growing 714 feet into the downtown sky above the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, first came to light back in 2008, but it skidded to a stop along with the economy. Now a permit for the new building has been issued to the architect of record, Gruzen Samton Architects. But this is still Helmut's baby and his design, described by some as a ginormous silver sex toy, can be seen on the Murphy Jahn website, where it's tagged as the "Time Equities Tower." But don't let the mundane name fool you.

In the DOB's files the Schedule A shows that a 139-room hotel will cover floors 4 to 13. Up above, from floors 14 to 63, will be 301 condo units with a super-duplex on two upper floors. Way up high on Floor 65, where views should be phenomenal, a lounge will top it all off. This tower, peaking at 714', will rival neighbors all around, nearly three times as tall as the 33-story Visionaire across West Street and topping the 56-story W Downtown a couple of blocks north. As for more immediate surroundings, Helmut's hi-rise will totally eclipse the neighbor to the north, a brown pile of condos at 33 Rector Street. If things move ahead as planned, 50 West should be ready for residents at just about the same time that Anna Wintour and her Conde Nast crew move into their new WTC digs sometime in 2014.

Great news :D Looks like a good design to, hopefully they will use high quality materials i.e cladding, which could be be the make or break of the design. Nice sleek design though, should look good :cheers:

In the last post on the page you linked above, the guy points to a HUGE car park East of the tower's site... Are there any plans to tear it down and build anew? The lot it huge, it'd be a semi WTC by itself IF redeveloped!

Yeah, heres a link to just sort of a preliminary study/proposal on SSP (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=181550). The garage has 3 million sf of residential developable air rights, which is a lot obviously. So eventually something north of 1,000 ft and all residential will get built there, but who knows when.

Good for NY! Now I'm waiting for some good news about 99 Church Street!

Good for NY! Now I'm waiting for some good news about 99 Church Street!

Is 99 church street on hold as well?

Is 99 church street on hold as well?

Yes. Larry Silverstein has hinted at resuming construction soon (http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2010/11/04/still-without-financing-silverstein-gives-four-seasons-new-timeline/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fdevelopments%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Developments+Blog%29), possibly by mid 2012.










.

Awesome..When you think New York can't get any better these days, it shows that it can..

I see good times coming to new york.

With every skyscraper is new york a better city. (street canyons)

Thank you Mr. Bloomberg

interesting

Nice. I like the slenderness and the elegant shape. :)

TRD (http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/helmut-jahn-designed-50-west-street-behemoth-condo-and-hotel-tower-by-time-equities-not-actually-back-from-the-dead-just-yet)


Helmut Jahn's 50 West Street behemoth not actually back from the dead just yet
July 08, 2011 01:00PM

http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/290797/helmut-jahn-and-greenburger_articlebox.jpg
Jahn's rendering of 50 West Street and developer Francis GreenburgerDeveloper


Francis Greenburger's Time Equities is putting the kibosh on speculation that a revival of its planned, Helmut Jahn-designed 50 West Street tower is imminent.

Yesterday, the developer was reported to have paid $1.5 million to obtain new permits for its $600 million, 65-story hotel and condominium project, which has been shelved since 2008, causing several publications to infer that this signaled the rebirth of one of Lower Manhattan's largest stalled developments. But contrary to those reports, Time Equities said today that such conclusions are "premature."

Time Equities did obtain new permits at the site, but only because it changed the contractor of record to Skanska after its previous contractor, HRH, decided to pursue a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in April, the company said. According to the statement, "this was an administrative change and required only normal filing fees… 50 West is currently in pre-development and Time Equities looks forward to ultimately completing a successful project at the site."

If and when the tower does go up, Time Equities' plans call for a 139-room hotel on floors four through 13 of the building, with 301 condos on floors 14 through 63 and a two-story lounge on the top two floors. -- Sarabeth



Paying $1.5 million for an "administrative change" suggests that Time Equities is quite serious about building this tower. Stay tuned...

i like the design hopefully it actually looks like that render.

Wow, the rounded corners of this building definitely softens the neighboring boxes.

Elegant, simple, pretty.

The 15 Aug 2011 edition of Crains NY reports that this tower is financed, that a deal with a hotel is imminent and that this beauty is ready to go!

The 15 Aug 2011 edition of Crains NY reports that this tower is financed, that a deal with a hotel is imminent and that this beauty is ready to go!

i hope it:cheers:

I suspect that this will start in a few months.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3313/50wp.jpg

http://www.timeequities.com/images/developments/50West1.jpg
www.timeequities.com

awesome! :cheers:

It's a very elegant building. From the website http://www.timeequities.com/dev-50west.cfm:

50 West Street


When it is complete, 50 West Street will be a 65-story mixed-use tower and one of the tallest mixed-use hotel and residential buildings in New York and a skyline defining landmark. Consisting of a 5 star luxury hotel on floors 1-14 and residential condominiums on floors 15-66, the building will offer a variety of ground floor retail to enhance street level activity and neighborhood interaction. The proposed project will boast unparalleled views of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor due to its unique location and height.

50 West Street will include an important public urban plaza connecting West and Washington Streets in Lower Manhattan. The plaza will provide a much needed pedestrian thoroughfare to enhance the connection of lower Manhattan to Battery Park City.

The building will be a modern glass tower designed by internationally renowned architect Helmut Jahn. Interiors will feature a sophisticated modernist design with a warm color palette, the use of high-end woods and stone finishes and European designed furnishings.

Continuing with Time Equities’ commitment to sustainable design, the building anticipates receiving a LEED Gold rating, the nations premiere benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

http://www.timeequities.com/images/developments/50west2.jpg
Plaza

http://www.timeequities.com/images/developments/50West3.jpg
Apartment Interior


http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8180/50w2.jpg
spyguy999@WNY (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13821&page=35&p=384909&viewfull=1#post384909)


FINAL height figures, CTBUH (http://buildingdb.ctbuh.org/building.php?building_id=1306):

Height: Architectural 217.6 meter / 714 feet
Height: To Tip 217.6 meter / 714 feet
Floors Above Ground 65
Tower GFA 53,883 m² / 579,992 ft²
# of Apartments 301
# of Hotel Rooms 139

Please change thread title to NEW YORK | 50 West Street | 218m | 714ft | 65 fl | On hold

Nice to see this building finally getting the permit. It's phallic-shape is quite a refreshing change from the boxes, and the crown looks interesting

Redevelopment of site to condominium and hotel; demolition
of existing building owned by TEI
Estimated Project Cost: $500,000,000

Source (http://www.timeequities.com/acq-indnewcon.cfm)

FINAL height figures, CTBUH (http://buildingdb.ctbuh.org/building.php?building_id=1306):

Height: Architectural 217.6 meter / 714 feet
Height: To Tip 217.6 meter / 714 feet
Floors Above Ground 65
Tower GFA 53,883 m² / 579,992 ft²
# of Apartments 301
# of Hotel Rooms 139


Interesting,Time Equities lists 239 apartment units and 150 hotel rooms. http://www.timeequities.com/pdf/tei-brochure.pdf Page39

^^ Well, the pdf- brochure you posted and their website both state the 65 storey figure, so it's very unlikely that there's been a height reduction. It seems to me they just increased the number of hotel rooms and the apartments got a little bigger.

I've got mixed feelings about this building. It is beautiful but kinda small. I had hoped to see another supertall in Lower Manhattan :dunno:

I've got mixed feelings about this building. It is beautiful but kinda small. I had hoped to see another supertall in Lower Manhattan :dunno:

what is that for a figure in your profile?

^^ It's Kanto, a DC comic character :cheers:

I've got mixed feelings about this building. It is beautiful but kinda small. I had hoped to see another supertall in Lower Manhattan :dunno:

Lol, you can't seriously expect every new residential / hotel tower in New York to be a supertall. On the contrary, you should be glad that this city is building altogether given the bad economy and also when compared to other major U.S. cities. And btw this tower started construction back in 2008, the foundations are already done.

^^ Expect not, hope yes :dunno:

I've got mixed feelings about this building. It is beautiful but kinda small. I had hoped to see another supertall in Lower Manhattan :dunno:

Not so. First, this building will be built in a very narrow field. Another thing would not be appropriate to build a super tall so close to the WTC complex. We must also see that this is not a project dedicated to high (compared to The Drake) but because it is a good place to make money.

This is a very good building, its design will be excellent for this area. And we still have to take into account its small increase in height (from 700 feets to 714). Can not wait for this project is built, I have to model it on my google earth. :lol:

^^ I think a supertall close to the WTC would be awesome. The WTC completely ignores height so it kinda deserves to be in the shadow of a taller building next to it :cheers:

But I agree that this project will make a lot of money. A residential/hotel tower is rare in Lower Manhattan iirc the only other residential skyscraper there is the Beekman :dunno:

^^ I think a supertall close to the WTC would be awesome. The WTC completely ignores height so it kinda deserves to be in the shadow of a taller building next to it :cheers:

But I agree that this project will make a lot of money. A residential/hotel tower is rare in Lower Manhattan iirc the only other residential skyscraper there is the Beekman :dunno:

Barclay Tower and 123 Washington Str, both in the 200m range are pretty new. Soon to join the club: 99 Church Str, 56 Leonard Str and 111 Washington Str. Go here f.e.: http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/residential_development_overview_55425.aspx

Current projects:
Battery Park City Sites 23 and 24
55 Battery Place PS/IS 276
Beekman Tower (8 Spruce Street)
40 Broad Street
45 Broad Street
371 Broadway
130 Cedar Street
99 Church Street
50 Franklin Street
40 Gold Street
34 Leonard Street
56 Leonard Street
67 Liberty Street
201 Pearl Street
57 Reade Street
111 Washington Street
123 Washington Street
450 Washington Street
50 West Street
15 William Street

^^ Wow, I didn't know there were so many residential buildings over there. Thanks for the info :cheers:

I've got mixed feelings about this building. It is beautiful but kinda small. I had hoped to see another supertall in Lower Manhattan :dunno:

Well, you want it to fit in with its surroundings. I'm not sure a supertall right below the WTC would look all that good. On another note, I'm glad to see the area of LM below the WTC getting some attention. It seemed like that area was dead in terms of large developments.

^^ I agree.

What I liked about the old WTC is that the towers stood well aboven the surrounding area, they were visible from all directions. True icons and symbolic for New York.
The new WTC will be like that as well, but in a bit different as there will be 4 towers.
Construction of other supertalls nearby would not do justice to that as they might (partially) obscure the view.

^^ I think a supertall close to the WTC would be awesome. The WTC completely ignores height so it kinda deserves to be in the shadow of a taller building next to it :cheers:

But I agree that this project will make a lot of money. A residential/hotel tower is rare in Lower Manhattan iirc the only other residential skyscraper there is the Beekman :dunno:

This building is over 200m which is tall for most cities other than NY, HK and Shanghai. Also, the developer can only build as tall as the air rights allow. This is a thin tower on a small site, so the expected height is the maximum permitted.

^^ That's true. I guess we should be happy that something is being built at that site :dunno:

Btw, where do you find your info about air rights?

This building is over 200m which is tall for most cities other than NY, HK and Shanghai. Also, the developer can only build as tall as the air rights allow. This is a thin tower on a small site, so the expected height is the maximum permitted.
you forgot Chicago.

The only indication that tells us that this tower is the works is the luxury apartments market that grows more than anyone can think of. Given the fact that 57 Carnegi price went from $98,5 million to $110 million it seems like more like this midtown tower should be on the way.

considering the fact that downtown isnt booming with high end residential construction like midtown, i think this ower has a pretty good chance of realization thanks to the decreased competition.