It will be out with the old and in with the new in a historic part of Chelsea. On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved demolition of the existing structures at 21 West 17th Street and 16 West 18th Street and the construction of new residential buildings to replace them. The site is between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District.
Over the past 200 years, Broadway was the center stage for many that came to make their fortunes in the big city. Foundations for the world’s second Virgin Hotel, part of billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, are underway at 1205, 1225, and 1227 Broadway, between West 29th and West 30th streets. The site’s relevance in the city’s history is rooted deeper than the new skyscraper’s supports. Before it housed the three 1920s office and retail buildings that graced the site until 2015, the block was home to a prominent theater row, a theater-museum built by John Banvard, once the world’s richest and most famous artist, and a number of other ventures worthy of remembrance and commemoration, undertaken by the gritty and relentlessly driven people that give New York its signature flair and energy.
At the intersection of the Upper East Side and Midtown East, there has been a surge of new development, starting with the newly-iconic 432 Park Avenue, by Macklowe Properties. And now we have the first full rendering of the same developer’s plans for 200 East 59th Street, designed by CetraRuddy, thanks to the YIMBY Forums, where EB-5 materials for the project have surfaced. YIMBY previously revealed the first renderings of the building back in November, but this image is the first to show the whole tower, which will feature wraparound terraces on every floor.
As New York City’s Housing Authority tries to dig itself out of a $60 million budget deficit, the agency has filed plans for an 18-story residential building on the parking lot of one of its old projects, the mid-1960s Fulton Houses in Chelsea.
Kamber Management Company is planning a $20 million renovation of Tower 45, the 40-story, 458,446-square-foot building at 120 West 45th Street, in Midtown. The office tower will see upgrades to its 175-foot-tall outdoor atrium, the lobby, and hallways and bathroom facilities throughout, plus mechanical equipment such as elevators. The 15th, 20th, 21st, and 24th floors, which are vacant, are also being renovated, according to Commercial Observer. Kohn Pedersen Fox and Milo Kleinberg Design Associates are behind the design of the renovations. Construction is expected to get fully underway later this year, with completion scheduled for summer 2017. Tower 45, completed in 1989, was acquired by Kamber in 2015 for $365 million. Amenities include a parking garage.
