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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
New York Projects & Construction


NYC Midtown Skyline by Manish Reddy, on Flickr


Ok so I decided to do this NYC thread.

Unfortunately for NYC, a city of skyscrapers, a lots of zonings, construction costs and NIMBY's makes it impossible to built too tall in the city. But somehow something tall gets built. And that is all good. Keep in mind that most of the construction boom in the city are conversions from existing buildings like Offices, Hotels and Rental buildings to Condominiums apartments and there is alot of under 12 floors. So I wont post anything below 12 floors here. It is too much work to keep track. I also can't find a few renderings for somewhat tall buildings under construction yet.

If anybody thinks I got the hight in feet or the floors of a building wrong or if I missed a building please let me know. If you have a rendering for a building that I don't have please let me know. I will also try to store renderings in my photo service so I can have easy access for posting them. Hope nobody minds.

I also have not listed the proposing buldings and their renderings yet. But I will do that another time. This has been alot of work and time consuming.

I am posting based on number of floors as oppose to height. Much easier for me. But there are some towers with lesser floors but are much heigher in feet. So keep that in mind.


Hopefully I did this one right and I hope you enjoy it. ;)



==========================================================
Under Construction (Manhattan)
==========================================================


The Freedom Tower: 82 floors - 1,776 feet



Silver Towers 1: 60 floors
Silver Towers 2: 60 floors



123 Washington Street: 53 floors - 583 feet



Bank of America Tower: 54 floors - 1,200 feet



The Saya (22 East 23rd Street): 51 floors - 617 feet



Goldman Sachs Headquarters: 43 floors - 742 ft



785 Eight Avenue: 42 floors - 566 feet



Trump Soho Hotel: 41 floors - 454 feet



The Rushmore (80 Riverside Blvd): 41 floors - 425 feet



1095 Avenue Of The Americas (Redevelopment): 40 floors - 630 feet



11 Times Square: 40 floors - 601 feet



Chelsea Stratus (735 Sixth Avenue): 40 floors - 491 feet



Hampton Inn/Candlewood Suites/Holiday Inn Express (337-343 West 39th Street): 36 floors - 360 feet



Sheraton Four Points (326 West 40th Street): 33 floors - 297 feet
Marriot Fairfield (330 West 40th Street): 33 floors - 297 feet



47 East 34th Street: 32 floors - 450 feet



510 Madison Avenue: 30 floors - 386 feet



255 East 74th Street: 30 floors - 338 feet



808 Columbus Avenue: 30 floors - 326 feet



43 East 29th Street: 30 floors



Fifth On The Park: 30 floors - 310 feet



402 East 67th Street: 30 floors



229-251 West 60th Street & West 61st Street: 27/15/10 floors



Chelsea Hotel (128 West 29th Street): 25 floors



Holiday Inn Chelsea (125 West 26th Street): 24 floors



Holiday Garden (121 West 28th Street): 24 floors



188 Ludlow Street: 23 floors - 232 feet



453 West 37th Street: 23 floors



US Mission To The UN: 22 floors



281 Broadway: 22 floors



110 Eleventh Avenue: 21 floors - 250 feet



Maiden Hotel (20 Maiden Lane): 20 floors



Linden78 (On West 78th Street): 20 floors



Avalon Morningside Park (West 110th Street): 20 floors - 204 feet



The Brompton (200 East 86th Street): 20 floors - 210 feet



Sheraton Four Points (66 Charlton Street): 20 floors - 195 feet



200 Eleventh Avenue: 20 floors



1330 First Avenue: 20 floors



Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering: 20 floors



Standard Hotel (848 Washington Street): 19 floors - 233 feet


Strand Hotel (33 West 37th Street): 19 floors



Wyndham Hotel (37 West 24th Street): 18 floors



The Lucida (151 East 85th Street): 18 floors



Hilton Herald Square (59 West 39th Street): 18 floors



4 West 21st Street: 17 floors - 185 feet



Superior Ink (469 West Street): 17 floors - 190 feet



Graceline Court (West 116th Street): 16 floors - 162 feet



127 Seventh Avenue: 15 floors



10 Chelse Place: 15 floors



485 Fifth Avenue: 15 floors



East River Science Park (Complex): 15/12 floors



Columbia Northwest Science building: 14 floors



John Jay College (524 West 59th Street): 13 floors - 236 feet



245 10th Avenue: 13 floors - 125 feet



Smyth (85 Broadway): 13 floors



Chelsea Modern: 12 floors - 120 feet



127 Seventh Avenue: 12 floors



122 Greenwich Avenue: 12 floors - 128 feet





==========================================================
Under Construction (Brooklyn)
==========================================================​


306 Gold Street: 400 ft - 40 floors
313 Gold Street: 35 floors - 367 floors



The Edge I: 40 floors
The Edge II: 30 floors



One Northside Piers (164 Kent Avenue): 29 floors - 297 feet



Forté Condos (230 Ashland Place): 28 floors - 288 feet



The Sochi (Sea Breeze Avenue): 28 floors



Be@Schermerhorn: 25 floors



Sheraton/Aloft Hotel Duffield Street: 23 floors - 244 feet



Gold Street Residential Tower: 22 floors



Bridgeview Tower: 18 floors - 216 feet



110 Livingston Avenue: 16 floors



The Edge III: 15 floors



1 Prospect Park Condos: 15 floors



100 Luquer Street: 15 floors - 184 feet



525 Clinton Avenue: 13 floors - 148 feet



The Smith: 13 floors



Novo (343-53 & 4th Avenue): 12 floors



The Argyle (410 4th Avenue): 12 floors



The Crest: 12 floors



Park Slope Court (110 4th Avenue): 12 floors





==========================================================
Under Construction (Queens)
==========================================================​



East Coast Tower II (5th Street, 47th Avenue): 30 floors - 316 feet



East Coast Tower III (Center Boulevard): 18 floors



The Crescent Club: 17 floors



Metroplex on the Atlantic (Beach 26th Street): 15 floors



Flushing Metro Center: 15 floors



Vantage @ Purves (44-27 Purves): 14 floors - 151 feet



10-50 Jackson: 13 floors



Queens Crossing: 12 floors - 149 feet



One Hunter Point (5–49 Borden Avenue): 12 floors - 123 feet



Hunters View: 12 floors



View59 (24-16 Queens Plaza South): 12 floors





==========================================================
Under Construction (Bronx)
==========================================================​



Riverstone (Arlington Avenue): 13 floors - 133 feet



The Towers at Hutchinson Metro Center Tower I(Waters Place): 12 floors




==========================================================
Under Construction (Roosevelt Island)
==========================================================​


Riverwalk Place (455 Main Street): 16 floors

 
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91
#1,302 ·
I bet you would not even want the lower Manhattan Verizon Tower to change, likely calling it 'a piece of the city,' or some other piffle. There are many reasons as to why buildings get recladded, from converting it to something greener or trying to make it safer, with a change of looks usually being at the bottom of the list.

Change is unavoidable, and your unwavering yet ill-advised and fruitless opposition to it is both fascinating and idiotic in my eyes. There's only three constants: NY will always be number one, its colors will always change, and everyone will die. TalB's goal has to be to make NYC look, in every subtle detail, the same today and every day as it did in 1998; any deviation must be mindlessly terminated.

You might turn this around and say I'm some development and don't care what is destroyed and how the new things will influence the old, but that's only half true. This is SCC, so people here will always support new high-rise projects and desire more. It's not like anything being built in NYC now is going to harm the city and it's not like the Twin Towers or Chrysler Building is being demolished to make room for newer projects.

That new SOM tower for midtown seems like it will look great. You can never go wrong with a simple design with light, shiny glass. This city will never run out of classical buildings and that character is indelible. At the same time, as the city continues to grow more powerful, taller and newer stuff has to rise. It's truly the epicenter of all high-rise architecture. 99 Church Street is sort of a rebel, and it looks amazing too, but I'd rather have more new towers u/c that are modern looking as opposed to trying to building towers that "fit in," which is pure BS since this is Manhattan, but I understand why 99 Church is what it is and fully support it. Now take the Chrysler Building for example; in ways, it looks like a post-modern skyscraper; the city has so much different stuff to show off that any architecture aficionado could never fully admire it all.
 
#1,303 ·
you say it won't run out of classical buildings now. Don't underestimate how fast it can all be destroyed. I honestly don't see how covering a nice masonry facade with glass is progressive, if anything its backward to cover classic facades with glass. Its not even like its being torn down for something better(which they rarely are) but instead its simply about making it look 'cool' but in reality it only further makes New York less for New Yorkers(by destroying local flavor) and more of international city like Tokyo or Hong Kong. NYC should preserve its classical buildings so that it may keep its victorian look for ages to come. There are ways to preserve things while progressing at the same time. Many look at Historic Preservation as backward to development but in reality its more about preserving buildings designed to last in both structure and style(unlike most buildings being built at this time). Are New Yorkers ashamed of their classic history and the boom of hotels in the early 20th century?? Why should we cover it up with glass? Honestly this has nothing to do with progression as it doesn't look nice at all. Its bland, dull, lacking local flavor, and charm. In 20 years they will be thinking what the hell people were thinking back then and why on earth they would cover up a beautiful facade.. Sorta like we did to the 70's.
 
#1,304 ·
I actually agree wit Talb on this one. The recladding of this building is completely stupid in my eyes. If you're going to do something, you make sure to do it right. I would much prefer to see this building demolished for something taller and grander than to see it turn into the usual short blue boxes we see around. This building is going from a usual classical building in NY to a usual glass box in ny. What a rip off...

We've already lost plenty of classical buildings and it's always the usual, "don't worry we still have plenty". Theres some progressive thinking for ya....
 
#1,305 · (Edited)
Still opinion. No matter what happens, NY won't be tomorrow what it is today, it won't hold the same charms, and that isn't a bad thing because there will be a time when people will crave 'classical' designs such as the Freedom Tower, Time Warner Center, and BoA Tower. I'm sure plenty of people weren't happy about the utterly amazing Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was being demolished to make way for the ESB. Boo hoo. Change happens, always and all the time. Who back then knew how popular the ESB would be? It's all a game of chance, and not playing in this game is not accepting reality.
 
#1,306 ·
Historic Preservation is important. People thought the same of rome during the 1500's when they were tearing down ancient structures for 'progression' that held the same arguement you state. Reality is that this structures our the culture of our time. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel wasn't that old when it was torn down in the 1930's(a time when classic architecture was still dominant) and it wasn't as though it was replaced by an ugly post modern peice of crap. It was replaced by another elegant, classic, and timeless structure. BIG DIFFERENCE. Today we don't have the material or craftsmen to mimick this sort of architecture again, so why tear it down? They are sturdy good structures usually made from local material and local taste. To continue demolishing or covering these buildings would be to tear down the culture that makes NYC so great. If I want to see another Hong Kong, I'll go to Hong Kong, but right now, I prefer historic major cities, not seas of bland glass and steel. You don't have to tear things down to be progressive infact thats more backward then progressive to tear down your historic classic buildings and replace them with eyesores. Re-use is also a way to help our environment. Most buildings built at that time are made of material idle for environmental awareness with simple upgrades like a green roof. Most buildings being built today will have to be replaced shortly, but these buildings will just keep on going.
 
#1,307 ·
Another middle class dance theater will bite the dust to progre$$ :no:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/arts/dance/09fazi.html?_r=1&ref=dance&oref=slogin
Last Dance: A Studio Tears Up Its Floors

By JENNIFER DUNNING
Published: February 9, 2008


Fazil's Times Square Studio has closed after 73 years as a ramshackle, homey rehearsal center that served everyone from movie stars to struggling tap, flamenco and Middle Eastern dancers. The Caravan Serai class practiced there for the last time Thursday night.

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



Fazil Cengiz, the owner, standing at the front desk. "The only rule was that you couldn't bring a blanket and sleep there," he said.

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



For many years, dancers paid 25 cents to spend a day at the studio,located on Eighth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets.

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



A wall of photographs showing the people who have danced at Fazil's. Bill Irwin, the performance artist, said: "I first walked up the stairs in 1978 or '79, to take tap class with Brenda Bufalino. The place was clouded with cigarette smoke. Some of the old tap dancers wouldn't talk to each other. They'd shut the door so that other tappers would not steal their steps."

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



The waiting room at Fazil's. A young Savion Glover honed his tap style by jamming with members of the Copasetics and continued to rehearse there as his career flourished. "The floors really had history," said Jane Goldberg, a solo tap performer. "Those were the best-sounding floors in the city."

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



"Everyone who comes from Spain goes to Fazil's," said Isabel Soler, a director of the Danzas Espanolas company. "I got Maria Alba's locker. Such ghosts here. I cried like a baby my last time there."

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



Fazil Cengiz hugging dance teacher Elena Lantini in Studio A-1. The spacious studio became known as the Copasetics Room, named after the ensemble of august tap stars, including Honi Coles and Charles Cook, who gathered there. It was the only studio with a working piano.

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



The maple floor in Studio A-1 will be lifted and cut into pieces, to be distributed to Fazil's habitues as souvenirs.

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



During a Christmas party last year that ran well into the next morning, Fazil Cengiz insisted that everyone sign the walls of Studio A-1 before leaving.

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times



Fazil Cengiz kissing Anne Tyus goodbye on Thursday night. After exhaustive searching, Mr. Cengiz has found one possible new space in Manhattan, but he said it is not ideal. One problem has been the largely unearned reputation of flamenco and tap dancers tearing up floors with their thundering feet. "Where are the flamencos going to go?" he fretted. "Nobody wants them."

Photo: James Estrin/New York Times


The places where cultural history was made in New York City have largely disappeared, and on Friday another institution was lost. Fazil’s Times Square Studio closed after 73 years as a ramshackle, homey rehearsal center that served as a mecca for everyone from movie stars to struggling tap, flamenco and Middle Eastern dancers.

The rates were cheap. Even penniless artists could afford to rent there. In Studio A-4 — one of 14 rehearsal rooms in the three-floor center on Eighth Avenue, between 46th and 47th Streets in Clinton — dancers for many years paid 25 cents to spend an entire day working in the studio that was affectionately known as “the snake pit.”

“As many as could fit in,” said Fazil Cengiz (pronounced FAY-zil cen-GEEZ), a languid former owner and driver of taxis who bought the center in 1978. “The only rule was that you couldn’t bring a blanket and sleep there.”

Bill Irwin, the performance artist, was at Fazil’s on Thursday, its last day, rehearsing a new show for the Philadelphia Theater Company. “It’s very sad around here,” he said. “We’re all saying goodbye to each other.”

Mr. Irwin recalled that he fell in love with the unusual atmosphere of the place from the start. “I first walked up the stairs in 1978 or ’79, to take tap class with Brenda Bufalino,” he said. “The place was clouded with cigarette smoke. Some of the old tap dancers wouldn’t talk to each other.” They’d shut the studio door, Mr. Irwin said, so that other tappers would not steal their steps.

That studio, the spacious A-1, became known as the Copasetics Room, named after the ensemble of august tap stars, including Honi Coles and Charles Cook, who gathered there. It was the only studio with a working piano, though the old hoofers tended to sing out accompaniment.

Fazil’s was first known as Michael’s, owned by a former wrestler who taught acrobatics, tap and ballroom dance. No one seemed to know his last name, though he was immortalized in the 1948 film musical “Easter Parade” when Fred Astaire invites Judy Garland to run over to Michael’s and go through some steps. The center’s next owner was Jerry LeRoy, a vaudevillian whose specialty was tap dancing in ice skates, who renamed it after himself.

From the start, tap, flamenco and Middle Eastern dancers thronged there, as well as Broadway hoofers. By the late 1950s, Alvin Ailey was teaching there. Countless workshops and rehearsals for Broadway musicals were held at the studios. And a gangly youth named Savion Glover honed his tap style by jamming with members of the Copasetics and continued to rehearse there as his career flourished.

“The floors really had history,” said Jane Goldberg, a tap solo performer. “Those were the best-sounding floors in the city.”

Fazil’s was full of unexpected nooks and legends. “Upstairs there was a bar where there were belly dancing performances,” Ms. Goldberg said. “I don’t think it even had a name. You just knew about it.” An ancient seamstress named Chiquita who made affordable costumes for regulars in B-4, the center’s smallest room, was said to be the model for the Chiquita Banana girl.

Soledad Barrio, of Noche Flamenca, taught there, along with flamenco artists like Mariano Parra and Maria Alba, a fiery performer who taught the ballerina Gelsey Kirkland at Fazil’s.

“Everyone who comes from Spain goes to Fazil’s,” said Isabel Soler, a director of the Danzas Españolas company. “I got Maria Alba’s locker. Such ghosts there. I cried like a baby my last time there.”

Rap and hip-hop stars also found their way to Fazil’s, among them Missy Elliott. “She was such a sweetheart,” said Serpil Civan, the studios’ office manager, an ethnic dancer who is Mr. Cengiz’s sister.

Something of Fazil’s will live on in scenes in the movies filmed there, among them Woody Allen’s “Broadway Danny Rose” and Nick Castle’s “Tap.” Gregory Hines, a fixture at Fazil’s, modeled Sonny’s, the hoofers’ hangout in “Tap,” after Studio A-1. When Fazil’s received a move-out date from its landlord in July, work began on “And 5, 6, 7, 8 ...,” a documentary about the studio by the filmmaker Timur Civan, Ms. Civan’s son.

The building is one of several on the block slated for demolition to make way for new construction. Ms. Civan said the fine old maple floor in Studio A-1 would be lifted and cut into pieces, to be distributed to Fazil’s habitués as souvenirs. During a Christmas party last year that ran well into the next morning, Mr. Cengiz insisted that everyone sign the walls of Studio A-1 before leaving.

He discovered the place in 1971, when he began picking up Elena Lentini, a Middle Eastern dancer and his longtime companion, after rehearsals. Mr. Cengiz had grown up in a dancing family of Turkish descent and soon found himself taking tap and ballroom classes there.

That was the effect the studio had. “The kinds of people I met there opened my eyes to other worlds of dance,” Ms. Soler said.

Fazil’s still has a branch in Istanbul, in an old building where posters for Turkish movies were once printed. After exhaustive searching, Mr. Cengiz has found one possible new space in Manhattan, but he said it was not ideal. One problem has been the largely unearned reputation of flamenco and tap dancers for tearing up floors with their thundering feet.

“Where are the flamencos going to go?” he fretted. “Nobody wants them.”
 
#1,308 ·
Yes that is sad that this dance studio has to move because someone bought their buidling (really that happens all the time). But we can be happy that the City does mandate that new major developments must provide not only a portion of afforable housing, but also an area for a cultural space. This is what New York is good at.

We should push the City to ensure that not all small owners and cultural spaces are not lost to big name, big box type developments, yet for the most part that has already happened in Manhattan. We are arguing a debate that was waged in the early 90s in which the porn shops lost out to gleaming glass skyscrapers.
 
#1,309 ·
I bet you would not even want the lower Manhattan Verizon Tower to change, likely calling it 'a piece of the city,' or some other piffle. There are many reasons as to why buildings get recladded, from converting it to something greener or trying to make it safer, with a change of looks usually being at the bottom of the list.
There was actually an article recently in the NY Times stating that prewar skyscrapers do not to be recladded just to have have green energy, and I was all against the recladding of 2 Columbus Circle as well.

Ebola said:
Change is unavoidable, and your unwavering yet ill-advised and fruitless opposition to it is both fascinating and idiotic in my eyes. There's only three constants: NY will always be number one, its colors will always change, and everyone will die. TalB's goal has to be to make NYC look, in every subtle detail, the same today and every day as it did in 1998; any deviation must be mindlessly terminated.
I am not saying that change is all bad, I am saying that it depends on what type of change such as building were a worldwide symbol like the Twins once stood with something so less of that scale like the FT. The same would go with emminent domain abuse like the Atlantic Yds. Calling someone idiotic for not taking your views is uncalled for especially when I didn't call you that for what you took, so don't do it to others. Ebola, you have your say on projects, and I have mine, so cut the personal attacks. Just b/c you support just about every project doesn't give you a right to attack others that support it.

Ebola said:
You might turn this around and say I'm some development and don't care what is destroyed and how the new things will influence the old, but that's only half true. This is SCC, so people here will always support new high-rise projects and desire more. It's not like anything being built in NYC now is going to harm the city and it's not like the Twin Towers or Chrysler Building is being demolished to make room for newer projects.
The reason why there are projects that I hate is b/c of the fact that I understood how they were brought up. The FT was brought up behind close doors and through a governor's overridding of the public, while the Atlantic Yds complex forces people out of their homes w/o a say on whether or not to sell, and I could say the same thing with what's going on around Columbia University and Willets Pt. I don't oppose them b/c I am anti-developement, I oppose them b/c I know what they represent. As for places like Dubai and Shanghai building their stuff, their countries aren't even democracies, so it's difficult to against the developers there when the government gives them a rubber stamp to build despite their say.

Ebola said:
That new SOM tower for midtown seems like it will look great. You can never go wrong with a simple design with light, shiny glass. This city will never run out of classical buildings and that character is indelible. At the same time, as the city continues to grow more powerful, taller and newer stuff has to rise. It's truly the epicenter of all high-rise architecture. 99 Church Street is sort of a rebel, and it looks amazing too, but I'd rather have more new towers u/c that are modern looking as opposed to trying to building towers that "fit in," which is pure BS since this is Manhattan, but I understand why 99 Church is what it is and fully support it. Now take the Chrysler Building for example; in ways, it looks like a post-modern skyscraper; the city has so much different stuff to show off that any architecture aficionado could never fully admire it all.
Again, I am not saying that you can't like what you want you want to like, but do not attack others who disagree with you. I am not against anyone who disagrees with me on issues, and I am against those who have personally attacked me on issues just for having my side. I know that over at SSP and Wired NY a fourmer by the name of NYguy attacks others all the time for disagreeing with him even though they only stated their views while he had a right to their's and even labled them as being anti-developement. I am very surprised that you did not try to succeed Daniel Doctroff when he resigned b/c you tend to have a lot in common with him. Even people over at the NY Times Cityroom agreed with me on my statements. If you would like to debate against me on projects back them with actual facts like I am doing, not personal attacks.
 
#1,311 ·
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02112008/news/regionalnews/qns__pol_rips_condo_con_jobs_336298.htm
QNS. POL RIPS CONDO 'CON JOBS'

By REUVEN FENTON

February 11, 2008 -- A Queens councilman yesterday called for a change in zoning laws to prevent the construction of hotels in residential areas as "a back-door way" to build condos.

Democrat Eric Gioia said 11 hotels are being built in a 12-block area of Long Island City and they could easily be converted into condos if the owners claim that business is bad, skirting regulatory laws.

"It can be a back-door way to build condos that couldn't be built otherwise," Gioia said.
 
#1,312 ·
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local...-11_builder_change_zone_and_ill_fix_park.html
Builder: change zone and I'll fix park

BY DONALD BERTRAND

Monday, February 11th 2008, 4:00 AM

A developer wishing to turn a vacant commercial site in College Point into a 90-unit condominium is offering to fix up a local park for a thumbs up on zoning changes.

The proposal is scheduled for a public hearing by Community Board 7 tonight. A zoning change from commercial to residential means the plan must go through the city's uniform land-use procedure.

The two-story condominium, to be located at 14th Ave. and 115th St., would offer enclosed parking at below grade, said Steven Sinacori, a representative of the developer.

As part of the project, the 29-acre MacNeil Park, along College Point's waterfront, would get a number of upgrades, including a boat ramp, new trees and park benches, 150 feet of new fencing and a replenishing along the sea wall.

The hearing will be held at the Union Plaza Care Center, 33-23 Union St., Flushing.
 
#1,314 ·
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_249/twoworkers.html
Volume 20, Number 37 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | Feb. 8 - 14 , 2008

Two workers injured in second Jack Parker accident

By Julie Shapiro


Downtown Express photo by Tequila Minsky

Part of a crane broke off Friday at this construction site being developed by the Jack Parker Corp. The next day, two workers were injured in a subsequent accident. The project is near Capsouto Frères restaurant and several other buildings.


Two construction workers landed in the hospital after the second accident in two days at 450 Washington St. Work is temporarily suspended at the site, where Jack Parker Corporation is constructing a 15-story residential building.

In the first accident, last Friday afternoon, a 200-foot crane partially collapsed while lifting a load that was too heavy. Debris scattered across the site, but no one was hurt.

Then, Saturday evening, as workers dismantled the crane, part of it swung down and hit one worker on the back and another on the leg, sending them to St. Vincent’s Hospital, according to the Buildings Department. One was released that night and the other was released Sunday, said Robin Dolch, spokesperson for Jack Parker.

A Fire Dept. spokesperson said the injuries were both serious, but did not provide other details.

Andy Neale, who lives on West St. near 450 Washington St., heard the crane collapse Friday, which sounded like metal scraping against concrete. He looked out his window and saw people running away from the site and debris littering the ground.

Outside, the atmosphere was one of gratitude: Because of the cold, steady rain, the foreman let workers go home early, shortly before the collapse, Neale said.

“By the grace of God it didn’t happen half an hour earlier,” Neale said. “A lot of the debris fell right where the workers were working.”

The collapse also sent the crane’s cable whipping across the site, damaging wooden forms used for pouring concrete, Neale said.

Eva Lindemann heard the noise of the crane tearing from her office on the fifth floor of 135 Watts St., where her desk faces the site. She immediately bolted away from the window, and later her entire office was evacuated.

“This brings up a lot of scary feelings,” Lindemann said, alluding to 9/11.

This wasn’t the first accident to befall the project. Last February, a fire broke out while the abandoned garage and auto shop on the site were being demolished. No one was injured and the Fire Dept. never determined the cause.

Another witness to Friday’s accident, who did not want to give his name, said the building where he works and several others were evacuated Friday because the Fire Department feared the crane would collapse further. Everyone was allowed back in by midnight.

The witness said the building’s construction has been progressing “very, very fast” — seven stories have gone up in four to five weeks — and he was concerned about the expertise of the workers. “With all the development happening across the city, things get stretched thin in terms of labor and experience,” he said.

The first accident occurred because the crane was lifting a load of lumber that was too heavy, said Buildings Department spokesperson Carly Sullivan. When the lumber was 5 feet off the ground, the crane buckled. D.O.B. plans to issue violations to Tim O’Conner, the crane operator, and Cross Country Construction, the equipment user, for operating the crane in an unsafe manner.

Meanwhile, a stop-work order is in place — with the exception of work needed to make the site safe — until Cross Country and general contractor Gotham Construction Company meet new safety requirements.

Gotham did not return a call for comment and Cross Country could not be reached by press time.

Neale sees the problems with construction safety as a citywide issue. “Safety should be turned up,” he said. “I just don’t think the Buildings Department is overseeing buildings properly.”

Patricia Lancaster, buildings commissioner, made several suggestions for safety improvements at a City Council hearing Monday. The hearing was convened after an accident at the Trump Soho condo-hotel killed a construction worker last month. Lancaster’s testimony focused on concrete operations at high-rise buildings. The number of accidents at high-rise construction sites is growing at a faster rate than the number of sites, she said.

To hold general contractors and concrete contractors accountable, Lancaster wants to require them to register with the city, so the city could revoke that registration if the contractors have repeat violations. Currently, the Buildings Department registers 29 trades, but contractors are not among them.

Lancaster also wants to require a concrete safety manager to oversee operations on high-rise construction sites. Also, buildings that are 15 stories or 200 feet tall currently require a general site safety manager, but Lancaster will reduce the cutoff to 10 stories or 150 feet, encompassing more projects.

Still, the recent spate of accidents is making some residents nervous. Looking toward the future, Neale said, “I just dread to think — I can’t even imagine more deaths and injuries of workers. It’s really bad thinking about it.”

With reporting by Tequila Minsky
 
#1,315 ·
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/news/regionalnews/gowanus_condo_plan_97724.htm
GOWANUS CONDO PLAN

By RICH CALDER


An artist's rendering of the condo plan.

February 15, 2008 -- The country's largest builder of luxury homes has unveiled plans for a massive luxury condo and townhouse project on the shores of one of the Big Apple's most polluted waterways.

Toll Brothers filed paperwork with the city Planning Department for a 605,380-square-foot development off the Gowanus Canal – a project of that would change the face of the isolated long-time industrial area.

"We're not only talking about bringing much needed housing, but building an esplanade that will finally open up public access to the canal for the first time in many years, the same way waterfront access is now be opened up in Williamsburg," said David Von Spreckelsen, a vice president for Toll Brothers, whose long list of projects include some in Williamsburg

But the Gowanus project, which calls for buildings ranging from 4 to 12 stories, would be built on contaminated land that would need a massive environmental cleanup and leaves lingering concerns over air quality and seepage from the still-toxic canal.

Toll is seeking a zoning change from the city and hopes to finish by 2011.

The project calls for 130 of the 577 units to be marketed to low- to middle-income households near Bond, Carroll and Second streets with the rest selling for market rate.

It would also include 2,000 square feet of retail, 2,000 square feet of community space and a 23,000-square foot esplanade off the canal, once dubbed "Lavender Lake" for its purplish chemical sheen.

Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the nonprofit Gowanus Canal Community Development Corp. said there is community concern in nearby low-rise Carroll Gardens over the heights of the planned buildings but he welcomes the esplanade and affordable housing.

He believes even the likely high-priced market-rate housing will be hot, despite environmental concerns about the canal that include a regular flow of raw sewage and recent test results revealing traces of venereal and other diseases.

"There are efforts being made to clean it up, and I think there's a good argument that the more people we have living near the canal, the more political pressure there will be to clean it up," he said.

The project would go up not far from where other Gowanus-based developments are planned – such as a 68,000-square-foot Whole Foods superstore on Third Street and a mixed-use city project, "Public Place," from Fifth Street south to Nelson Street, that is expected to bring 500 to 1,000 units of housing.

All these projects, along with Toll's, have led some community activists to question whether cleanup efforts can be coordinated effectively with government agencies, and if the new developments will only get re-contaminated by the canal after being built.

Spreckelsen said his project will be built on a hill to prevent flooding and that he's not concerned about re-contamination.

"I like to go canoeing in the canal with my kids, so I'm not concerned about the contamination," he said. "I have been splashed on and I'm still here."
 
#1,316 ·
Developer’s Dreams Deferred in Long Island City


Twilight for Silvercup West?

by: Alec Appelbaum
02/08/08
nymag.com

Long Island City won't be transitioning from Next Big Thing to Big Thing quite as quickly as some were planning. In August 2006, Alan and Stuart Suna, the brothers who run Silvercup Studios near the Queensboro Bridge, unveiled city-approved plans for Silvercup West: a new soundstage and offices and 1,000 apartments (150 priced for people of moderate means), plus retail, a gym, and an esplanade on the waterfront, all designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Richard Rogers and set to begin construction in 2008. But it's taken a year, Silvercup CEO Alan Suna says, to get permission to enter the site and test the soil around a power plant the team will have to clear. And now that the builders have gotten into the dirt, they've discovered that the bedrock was not where they expected it to be. Is there something toxic in there? Nobody will say. So when will we get this handsome new neighborhood? “We really can't give a target date at this point,” says Silvercup spokesperson Cara Marino Gentile. Adds Rogers spokesperson Paul Stelmaszczyk, “We are not currently working on any adjustments to the design.” That’s the sound of a project stalling out. LIC loft-dwellers have a little more time, it seems, to relish that pioneer spirit.
 
#1,317 ·
Robert A.M. Stern Likens New Larry Silverstein Development to the ‘Titanic’



by: Alec Appelbaum
01/29/08
nymag.com

Developer Larry Silverstein says his new deal to build a Four Seasons hotel and condo tower downtown will help steer lower Manhattan through the banking industry's crisis, but not everyone in his circle is matching his strut. At a civic-alliance breakfast this morning, Silverstein presented his plan to replace the stately former Moody's headquarters, up Church Street from the Woolworth Building, with a 912-foot stone tower by 2011, creating the city's tallest residential building. The building's design is by neoclassicist Robert A.M. Stern, who worked up 15 Central Park West — which, Silverstein crowed, "broke all records for sales." But this morning, after some lukewarm talk about assisting in the rebirth of lower Manhattan "in a way that I'm comfortable with," Stern betrayed some major butterflies. "I never thought when I was growing up in New York that I'd get to design a building taller than the Woolworth Building," he told us. "That makes for sleepless nights and exciting mornings — I'm like a guy on the Titanic, and I just hope we don't crash."
 
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