After years of delay and a seemingly endless struggle with local NIMBY groups, excavation is now underway at Riverside Center, which – even after approval – has seen further changes in architects and plans. One of the first towers to rise will be on the corner of West End Avenue and 61st Street, and Portzamparc’s original design was swapped-out after the site made it through City Planning; the parcel was given to the Dermot Company by the Carlyle Group, and an SLCE-designed monstrosity will soon rise instead.
Despite losing its bid for the first site, Extell’s Gary Barnett – speaking to The New York Observer – did not express disappointment with Carlyle awarding the plot to Dermot. The building will contain a large school in addition to ample affordable housing – not Extell’s niche, as they typically specialize in the very high-end – which also explains SLCE’s selection as the project’s architect. Per the Observer article, the entire Portzamparc plan may or may not be abandoned.
The Dermot site is the closest to the Amsterdam Houses, and will act as a buffer between one of Robert Moses’ most obvious NYCHA scars and the ‘starchitect’ portion of the development – if SLCE’s proposed replacement weren’t so ugly, the deviation from Portzamparc’s master plan would be palatable. Unfortunately, New Yorkers will soon be faced with another eyesore on the Upper West Side, as work on the tower has clearly begun.
Portzamparc’s towers may still rise on the rest of the property, but regardless of which architect ultimately designs the buildings, Riverside Center will be an important step in transforming the West Side waterfront, filling a major portion of the gap between Midtown and the Upper West Side. Immediately to the north, Riverside South’s final building – which has also begun construction, with the tower crane pictured above – will assist. By 2020, the lower Upper West Side will be just about complete.
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