Construction at FRANK 57WEST, 600 West 58th Street. Photo by Tectonic.

Construction Update: FRANK 57WEST Rises On The Far West Side

If you’ve gone up the West Side Highway in Manhattan or up Port Imperial Boulevard in New Jersey, you’ve probably noticed the Durst Organization-developed Bjarke Ingels Group-designed Via tetrahedron. Not only is it visually striking, there has been a fair amount of press coverage. Additionally, its next-door neighbor, the high-rise Helena has been there for a decade now. But they are not the only Durst developments on the block bounded by Eleventh Avenue, West 57th Street, Twelfth Avenue, and West 58th Street.

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520 Park Avenue

54-Story, 33-Unit Residential Tower Rises At 520 Park Avenue, Upper East Side

YIMBY partially revealed schematics back in 2013 of Zeckendorf Development’s planned 54-story, 33-unit ultra-luxury residential tower at 520 Park Avenue (formerly 45 East 60th Street), in Lenox Hill. Later that year, demolition wrapped up on the site’s old low-rise structures. Since then, work has focused on building the project’s foundation. In recent months, however, the tower has finally begun to rise, as seen in these photos by Tectonic, and concrete is now being poured for the fourth floor. Robert A.M. Stern Architects is designing the limestone-clad structure, which will eventually host some of New York’s most opulent condominiums. Completion is currently expected in 2017.

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25 Bleecker Street

Six-Story, Three-Unit Mixed-Use Project Planned At 25 Bleecker Street, NoHo

David Smilow, doing business as an LLC based in Union Square, has filed applications for a six-story, three-unit mixed-use building at 25 Bleecker Street, in NoHo. The project will measure 6,758 square feet and includes a 1,074 square-foot retail portion on the ground floor. The residential units will surely be condominiums, averaging 1,895 square feet apiece. One unit will take up the second and third floors, another will occupy the fourth floor, and a third will span the fifth, sixth, and penthouse levels. Michael Haverland, who is also based in Union Square, is the architect of record. An existing three-story townhouse must first be demolished.

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Some of biggest current adaptive reuse projects: St. Ann's Warehouse (via Curbed NY), 111 West 57th Street, Tammany Hall, 10 Jay Street, and 28 Liberty Street

LPC Chair, Top Architects Review NYC’s Adaptive Reuse Projects

The New York City landmarks law was signed 50 years ago this year. So, what better time to talk about some of its successes? Plenty of great structures, such as the Empire State Building, completed in 1931 as a multi-tenant office building, are easy to keep relevant and functioning. Others, however, become obsolete and can no longer perform their originally intended purpose. That’s where adaptive reuse comes in. If you haven’t heard the term, it’s when an old structure is adapted for a new use. It’s often how we are saving our great city.

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