On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on six proposed designations. One was for a complex in East New York, Brooklyn and the latter five were for properties in Midtown East.
The 42-story, 287-key hotel under development at 310 West 40th Street, in the Garment District section of Midtown, now appears to be a few concrete pours away from topping out. The construction progress can be seen in photos posted to the YIMBY Forums by user JC_Heights. The latest building permits indicate the completed tower will measure 117,280 square feet and stand 420 feet in height (although the bulkhead will bring the tower’s pinnacle to 472 feet). The hotel rooms should average 310 square feet apiece and guest amenities will include a fitness center, meeting rooms, a lounge/bar/terrace on the ground floor, and a restaurant & bar across the 40th and 41st floors. Helm Management Inc. is the developer and Nobutaka Ashihara’s Financial District-based firm is the architect. Completion can probably be expected by the end of the year.
Property owner Vanbarton Group is currently renovating the 16-story, 135,533-square-foot commercial-office building at 45 West 45th Street, in the heart of Midtown. Progress on the work being done on the interior can be see in a Commercial Observer report. The property, which was last renovated in the 1980s, will see its lobby redesigned with increased lighting and new finishes, and it will receive façade restoration. The office floors above are getting their dividing walls demolished, modernizing and enhancing the flow of the floor plates. Significant repairs are also being done to fix the floors and ceilings, which were revealed to be crumbling. Mechanical equipment, like elevators, is being replaced with new appliances. Probably the most exciting upgrade is an outdoor roof deck and lounge. A restaurant is also planned to occupy as much as 16,346 square feet of space on the ground, mezzanine, and lower levels. The work is being done in three phases, with the last expected to be complete by spring of 2017. Spivack Architects is the architect of record.
Last month, the Moinian Group announced that they were planning a condo project at 220 11th Avenue that had been designed by the late, renowned Zaha Hadid. Now, the firm has filed new building applications for the 11-story development in Chelsea.
Deborah Berke Partners has been selected, through a competition, to design the mixed-use conversion of the eight-story, 100,000-square-foot former Bayview Correctional Facility at 550 West 20th Street, on the corner of the West Side Highway in West Chelsea. The competition included over 43 entrants, Curbed NY reported. Last October, Empire State Development (ESD) awarded NoVo Foundation and the Goren Group a 99-year lease of the property, to transform it into community facility and commercial space. Dubbed the Women’s Building, it will house a women’s rights organization, community space, an art gallery, and a restaurant. A construction timeline has not been released. The facility was evacuated in preparation of Hurricane Sandy in October of 2012. Inmates were never transported back to the location due to storm damage and budgetary constraints.
