The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s backlog, which had been reduced from 95 items to 30 items in February, has taken another big step towards being cleared. On Tuesday, the LPC designated eight new city individual landmarks, and they span all five boroughs.
Park Avenue is about to get its first new office tower in decades as the 1957 office tower at 425 Park Avenue (catty corner to Rafael Viñoly’s 1,396-foot-tall 432 Park Avenue), once the pinnacle of modernity, is being reinvented for the 21st century via a partial demolition and a dramatic, 893-foot-tall restructuring by developer L&L Holdings and architects at Foster + Partners.
A residential complex is nearing completion at 498 Lorimer Street on the southern edge of Greenpoint. Though it stands as a single structure, it functions as three conjoined buildings at 498, 500, and 502 Leonard, where each one is accessed via a separate entrance for its eight units. The combined 24 unit complex rises four stories high, with a penthouse level above set back from the main façade. In terms of urban context, its design makes it a transitional component between the rowhome neighborhood to the east and a new cluster of mid-rises facing McCarren Park one block west.
Last year, we reported that New York City’s population had increased by 52,700 people between 2013 and 2014, hitting 8,491,079, and nearing what the city had previously projected for 2020. Today, the American Community Survey released updated data as of July 1st, 2015, showing another large increase of 55,211, putting the five boroughs’ population at 8,550,405 — just 502 people short of the official 2020 projection.
Literacy is the cornerstone of modern society, and libraries stand as the foundations of thriving communities. While Long Island City’s rebirth manifests itself through its skyrocketing skyline, its most significant public building steadily rises at the waterfront. The Steven Holl-designed Hunters Point Library will join the iconic gantries and the Pepsi-Cola Sign to form the borough’s new public face, while becoming a new focal point for the rapidly growing community.
