After the Port Authority tried and failed to find a developer to build over the Lincoln Tunnel approach on West 33rd Street, they’ve decided to develop part of the site themselves. The agency has filed plans to erect a nine-story residential building on a parking lot at 431 West 33rd Street, overlooking a depressed stretch of roadway that runs between 10th and 11th Avenues.
YIMBY reported on the initial applications filed in January of 2014 for a 33-story mixed-use building at 12-20 West 40th Street, on Bryant Park, and the project’s latest renderings surfaced last spring after multiple redesigns. Now, The New York Times has more details, stating the 33-story structure will contain roughly 230 hotel rooms from floors two through 15, and 57 condos beginning on the 16th floor. Retail space and a restaurant will operate on the ground floor. HFZ Capital Group is developing, while British architect David Chipperfield is designing, and sales are expected to begin this October, with completion scheduled for early 2017.
The New York Public Library Main Branch, located at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, in Midtown, has selected the Netherlands-based architecture firm Mecanoo to design the building’s $300 million renovation, according to the New York Times. Beyer Blinder Belle will serve as the architect of record, and the 645,680 square-foot-building will receive new interiors. More space will also be opened to the public. Last year, the library abandoned planned renovations that would have been led by Norman Foster.
Early last year, YIMBY brought you a construction update on the nearly complete 50-story hotel and residential tower at 20 West 53rd Street, in Midtown. Since then, the 59-unit and 114-key Baccarat Hotel & Residences wrapped up construction, and now 80% of the condominiums have sold, with sales topping $300 million. Condo layouts range from 1,167 square feet up to the 7,381 square-foot penthouse. Starwood Capital and Tribeca Associates are the developers, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is the architect.
Vornado Realty Corp. and Kushner Companies are proposing to redevelop the 41-story, 1.5-million square-foot commercial building at 666 Fifth Avenue, in Midtown between East 52nd and 53rd Streets, into a 1,400-foot-tall mixed-use tower. According to the New York Post, the building would include a significant retail podium, which will be topped by a slender tower featuring a hotel and residences. Zaha Hadid has been tasked to design, and Kushner owns a majority of the property, although Vornado currently owns the building’s retail condominium along Fifth Avenue, and Zara owns a separate retail portion.
