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http://professional.wsj.com/article...07867628&user=welcome&mg=id-wsj&mg=reno64-wsj

NY REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL
June 3, 2012, 10:26 p.m. ET

SL Green's Dreams of Development

By LAURA KUSISTO and ELIOT BROWN





SL Green Realty Corp., New York's largest office building owner but a relatively untested developer of new buildings, has taken a step forward in its ambitious plans to build a trophy office tower across the street from Grand Central Terminal.

SL Green has brought in one of the country's most prominent office developers, Hines of Houston, Texas, to act as a consultant on the 1.2 million-square-foot project. The team is in the preliminary stages of drawing up plans for the block-long site on Madison Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets, according to people familiar with the matter.



Above, the block west of Grand Central Terminal where SL Green is planning to build a 1.2-million-square-foot office building.

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SL Green has assembled the prime development site across from Grand Central Station by buying up low-rise buildings over the course of more than 10 years. It closed on the purchase of the last building, at 51 E. 42nd St., in December.

Of course, SL Green will need cooperation from the economy to be able to break ground. Typically developers don't move forward with major office projects without pre-leasing a big chunk of the space. Given the weak recovery and the rival developers who also have projects on the drawing board, it could be many years before the SL Green tower is built.

Still, SL Green executives clearly want to move forward. According to the transcript of an investor conference in December, Edward Piccinich, SL Green's executive vice president of property management and construction, said the company plans to build "a spectacular trophy asset with designs inspiration from around the world," drawing on iconic modern towers such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the International Commerce Centre tower in Hong Kong.

"I imagined how the lines and the curves of these designs will make a huge impact on the city skyline. I thought about how great it would be [to] construct one of these tower over Grand Central Terminal," Mr. Piccinich said.

While SL Green owns more than 25 million square feet of office space in the city, most of its development experience has been with overhauling existing office buildings.

Development of new buildings "is not in their DNA," says Michael Knott, an analyst at Green Street Advisors. "I don't think that they have an intention to dive headlong into ground-up development. It's more of a one-off, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Hines, in contrast, is known for designing ambitious office towers with star architects, including Philip Johnson's Lipstick Building and the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed 450 Lexington Ave. Indeed, fewer than five blocks away from the SL Green site, Hines has plans to build its own office tower overlooking Bryant Park.

SL Green's site would likely be included in a proposed rezoning of the area around Grand Central that would allow larger office buildings. The details of the rezoning haven't been settled.

The city is poised to see millions of square feet of new office space hit the market in the coming years, but much of it is at the World Trade Center and on the far west side. In the past two decades, there's been very little new construction in the Grand Central area, a highly desirable location because of its proximity to the commuting hub.That's, in part, because the current zoning makes it difficult for developers to build tall new office towers. "The fact that there's someone who's willing to build a modern office building [near Grand Central], that's sending a message that this will continue to be the most important business district in the city and around the world," says Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.

Write to Laura Kusisto at laura.kusisto@wsj.com and Eliot Brown at eliot.brown@wsj.com

 
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#196 ·
Weird is good is right! I think overall, I like the single building that looks like Hudson Yards more than the twins/skywalk proposal. However, I'm a little sick of all this green/tree stuff on top of skyscrapers. It's becoming a bit cliche and it isn't even actualized yet.

If they're going to bring trees into the sky, then do it with One Madison Avenue. THAT would be something to see. That's the perfect place for it. But trees sticking out the tallest building in Midtown and the Metlife Building? Like I said, too cliche.
 
#197 ·
I just don't like the ring over GCT. It's an interesting concept but in the middle of the city I would prefer a traditional observation deck. Now that I think of it, an arch tower like the one proposed for Beijing would be perfect.
 
#200 ·
Thanks for sharing it in bigger size! I just realized that in the first render, 517 Lexington (Hyatt 48 Lex) is not built (construction began in 2007 and finished in 2011). (Saw that because I created this one in paper model, 2 weeks ago).
In the last one: no WTC1.
Is that an old render just released?
 
#207 ·
I agree with Kanto. The ring is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen, and the towers alone aren't great. Please don't build twins here. Individual designs are much, much better. And 42nd Street should remain the way it is. Just light rail lines would ruin the atmosphere. New York is trying to change much too quickly. Just keep it simple.
 
#211 ·
I agree with Kanto. The ring is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen, and the towers alone aren't great. Please don't build twins here. Individual designs are much, much better. And 42nd Street should remain the way it is. Just light rail lines would ruin the atmosphere. New York is trying to change much too quickly. Just keep it simple.
If you would have taken a closer look at the two said towers, you would have realized that the towers have individual designs, therefore said towers aren´t TWINS.

The streets of NYC are eyecatching because of the retail and the architecture NOW, but mostly horrible when it comes to landscaping. The plan to transform the 42nd street into a grand boulevard is something to add deepness into the city fabric, enhance quality and make the whole system more sophisticated.

They showed a proposal to tranform Park Aevnue today, and renders gave a glimpse of what it might be, if you visualize such a plan for the 42 street, from WSH all the way to Times Square, you pass 1BP, see the library, walk down to GCT and see the new transformed GTC area all the way down to the UNHQ. :O Dear Lord!
 
#209 ·
^^ exactly. If there is anything to add here I would like to just say that the ring itself is not something that fits to the surroundings but makes one. It would be what Eiffel Tower is for Paris or London Eye for London. Hated at first but can now anybody imagine these cites without those landmarks?
 
#212 ·
Having those two new supertalls with the ring would be awesome!!!! I doubt very much it will happen but we can always hope.

I've been wondering why they don't put a roof top lounge on the former helipad of the Met Life building. It would be much better than 230 Fifth!! And think of the views - midtown, a spectucularly up close and personal view of the Chrysler building, and unobscured views of the ESB and downtown. I would think it would be a total hit - the only problem being having to close sometimes due to high winds.

The one thing that I do disagree with here though is the notion that that area around Grand Central has been seedy or run down. I've been here since '82 and in all those years the area has always been upscale and nice. Only the interior of the station was not good but even that was totally made over years ago.
 
#213 ·
The ring is never going to be build!

Just by thinking rational: such a ring is to expensive and the maintenance of a such a device is to expensive. It is just a brainfart of one of the visionairy architects but far from reality.

What they probably could do is build a bridge type or a block highscraper swallowing the surrounding buildings that could resamble the TV tower in Bejing China.

At the end this will become a to expensive project and they probably will choose for a compromis between a infrastuctural super hub that exceeds expectations and some classical skyscrapers that fit the surroundings better.
 
#215 ·
^^ First I thought that the ring was just ugly but after seeing these renders I now think it is both ugly and creepy. I wouldn't want that thing moving up and down above my head. Would be a feeling like standing in an elevator shaft :badnews:
 
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