Vertical progress on Extell’s 50 West 66th Street appears to be stalled, and it is unclear at the moment what is causing the delay in construction. Snohetta is the design team behind the 775-foot-tall residential skyscraper, which would become the tallest structure on the Upper West Side.
YIMBY last checked in on the upper Manhattan property earlier this summer when work had just reached street level. A recent check-in through the construction fence showed the site bereft of activity, and it appears that no work has occurred in some time. The exposed steel rebar for the walls and columns of the ground floor is now covered, while the rest of the unused equipment is neatly arranged and stacked across the site. 50 West 66th Street is located between West 65th street and West 66th Street, adjacent to the ABC News studio and the current headquarters of the Walt Disney Company.
Looking at the site with Extell’s Central Park Tower rising in the background. Photo by Michael Young
50 West 66th Street. Photo by Michael Young
50 West 66th Street. Photo by Michael Young
50 West 66th Street. Photo by Michael Young
The tower’s plot sits close to the west side of Central Park and will provide views of Frederick Law Olmsted’s sprawling landscape, the Hudson River, the slender supertalls of Billionaires’ Row, and the rest of the Midtown skyline. Should 50 West 66th Street be completed, it would surpass the 668-foot-tall roof parapet of 200 Amsterdam Avenue.
The 66th Street-Lincoln Center subway station is half a block away from the site and serves the local 1 train. A host of shops and dining are found nearby at Columbus Circle while access to Central Park can be found at the entrance on West 65th Street by Tavern on the Green.
It’s unsure when construction on 50 West 66th Street will resume, but YIMBY will keep a close eye on the site.
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Construction stops seems to be standard practice in NYC. The 4 story apartment building on my corner started a full year ago and only the basement walls are done with a few steel columns installed. The 5 story apartment building a block away took almost 4 years. Any construction industry people here know why?
The same is happening at 9 DeKalb in Downtown Brooklyn, and hopefully that new borough icon will get finished.
9 Dekalb was stalled forever – several months ago it still seemed to be just a pile of dirt – but they are making serious headway on its foundation finally (I passed by the site recently). I am excited for it to go up.
I’m in the construction industry and honestly, there are a numerous amount of factors that can come into play on construction being stopped. It varies from an inspection failing where they issue a “Stop-Work Order” until all faulty situations have been fixed to budget inaccuracies to approvals/compliance, the list goes on and on. There is no real way to figure out why this specific project was stopped unless you’re involved in the construction team for it.
Could it be doing just enough foundation work to lock in the zoning allowances?.and then you can take whatever time is needed..
Are developers reconsidering their investments in NYC, and cutting their losses? Have politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths sent fear into the developers’ plans, that is, encouraging massive new construction, but talking equally massive new taxation, especially on “landlords”?
Have potentially new and higher taxation plus demands for more “affordable housing” caused builders to re-evaluate their profit-and-loss columns for each project?
Has JPMorgan’s move out of NYC…and the reasons why…sent chills to other business people, including developers?
The political winds are not blowing in favor of businesses and taxpayers alike, and may be blowing in this direction for some time, possible decades. And NJ is in no better shape.
Could any of this be the cause of the stoppages, not only on W.66 St., but elsewhere?
I hope not this is one of the best looking buildings NYC has gotten in a while. hope it get’s finished.
It is strange taht you dont know that Extell end Neighborough commitee are fighting a legal battle….about excessive voids….
This is the UWS. Nothing gets built without innumerable proverbial hoops of fire to go through. Legal battles will run until if and when the Certificate of Occupancy has been granted, which in this area can mean years, if not decades. I may be exaggerating, but not by much.