Two of Manhattan’s highest profile LEED projects took blows on the chin last week. After announcing in July that it would likely reduce the tower’s size by nearly a third, Vornado’s plans for Harlem’s first office tower in thirty years appear to be on the ropes. Despite generous tax incentives from both the city and state, Vornado has had difficulty obtaining financing for the Swanke Hayden Connell-designed Harlem Tower. Instead, the developer recently sought an additional $15 per square foot from planned anchor tenant MLB Network and, alternatively, also proposed building a five-story building exclusively for the network. The Times reports that both strokes “infuriated” MLB executives, who “wanted to be in a marquee tower on 125th Street.” Meanwhile, downtown, 2008 Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel’s LEED-hopeful 100 Eleventh Avenue is currently $50 million over budget and close to a year behind schedule.
August 25th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | ContinuedJean Nouvel
53 West 53rd Street: Jean Nouvel Tower Set to Rise Above MoMA
Jean Nouvel’s design for a new seventy-five story tower at 53 West 53rd Street, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown, was unveiled late last week. Hines, which will develop the property, purchased the 17,000-square-foot site from MoMA for $125 million earlier this year. Construction won’t get underway until sometime in 2009, but [...]
November 19th, 2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Jean Nouvel & Beyer Blinder Belle: 100 Eleventh Avenue
French architect Jean Nouvel and Beyer Blinder Belle (whose sustainable portfolio includes a $193 million renovation of Cass Gilbert’s 1936 Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse in lower Manhattan, seeking a LEED rating) are currently in pursuit of an unspecified level of LEED certification at 100 11th Avenue in West Chelsea, across the street from Frank Gehry’s [...]
July 24th, 2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued