Going big: The Trump International in Chicago. (Wikimedia Commons)

There had been rumors that Gary Barnett had tapped Swiss starchitects and downtown darlings Herzog & de Meuron to design his supertall skyscraper at the corner of 57th Street and Broadway, but now The Journal reports that Adrian Smith is the architect for 225 West 57th Street. The bigger surprise, literally, may be that the 1,550-foot height for the Extell tower, which The Observer previously reported, may just be a starting point.

While the precise height could easily change—Mr. Barnett said plans were very preliminary—the developer is clearly gearing up to build one of the tallest towers in the city, and one that would offer sweeping views of Central Park a block to the north.

Of course, any groundbreaking is still quite a ways off and Extell needs to line up crucial construction financing. But Mr. Barnett said: "It's going to be a tall building."

This wouldn't be the first time Mr. Barnett has jacked up the height of one of his buildings. His One57 tower was listed in building permits as reaching 953 feet with 73 stories, but the finished building tops 1,005 feet with 90 stories.

Whether this could produce a 1,600-foot tower (or taller) remains to be seen, but one thing Mr. Barnett previously told The Observer he will not be pursuing is a spire, a common tactic used to push building heights further into the stratosphere, as is the case at 1 World Trade Center. There, the building is 1,368 feet, matching that of its historic predecessor, while a 408-foot mast pushes the building to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet.

On a side note, Mr. Barnett said it was his partner in the project, Nordstroms—which will anchor the bottom six floors of the tower with its first New York City outpost—that suggest Mr. Smith. A former partner at SOM's Chicago office, the deisnger is best known for the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest tower that reaches some 2,717 feet, more than a mile high. The tower has a spread of apartments on the upper floors that help it lay claim to the world's tallest apartments, as well.

Another of Mr. Smith's prominent commissions is the tallest residential tower in Chicago, and this hemisphere, and the city's second biggest building, the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which reaches 1,389 feet (thanks to spire, of course—the roofline is at 1,170 feet).

And so the fight for the city's tallest apartment tower continues.

Last year, New York by Gehry surpassed another Trump confection, the World Tower near the U.N., by 16 feet. The Bruce Ratner-built building usurped the crown held for a decade with its rippling metal curves stretching 876 feet into the air. When Mr. Barnett's One57 opens next year, it will top 1,005, but CIM and Harry Macklowe's fast-rising 432 Park will be far bigger, in a year or two, even surpassing the Trump Chicago tower, at 1,397 feet, arguably becoming the biggest building in New York. Until Mr. Barnett finishes 225 West 57th Street, of course. Or until something even bigger comes along.

Going up to come down. (Matt Chaban)

The facade of 1780 Broadway will be retained, but that's it. (Matt Chaban)

No sooner did Extell Development file permits for a new 1,550-foot residential tower on the corner of 57th Street and Broadway then scaffolding started to go up around one of the final properties comprising Gary Barnett's little west side assemblage that will be home to the city's tallest tower. On Friday morning, The Observer happened to be out for a stroll on the crosstown boulevard when we noticed construction workers assembling a sidewalk shed, the first sign of construction commencement.

A source close to Extell confirms that demolition will soon begin on 1780 Broadway, a 12-story building that was once home to BF Goodrich. At the time, this corner of Gotham was known as Automobile Row during the Gilded Age. Because of an agreement with the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, the facade of 1780 Broadway must be retained as part of any new building, so this will presumably be a careful deconstruction.

It is worth noting that, according to construction documents, the hotel will occupy floors seven through 12, the same height as 1780 Broadway, so it could make a good entrance for the hotel, while the Nordstrom would presumably have its entrance on busy 57th Street, with something quieter for the apartment tenants on 58th Street.

Inside the old, trashed Morton Williams (Matt Chaban)

The building at 225 West 57th Street was also part of the BF Goodrich complex, but the eight-story building was not given protections by the landmarks commission. The only thing holding up its demolition, which is also just beginning, was a Morton Williams grocery store in the ground floor and basement. Construction netting and scaffolding has been up on the building for months, but until a new Morton Williams opened a block down 57th Street, this one stayed open. Currently, the space is half empty, with ripped ceilings and empty cold cases strewn about the space.

Neighboring 117 West 57th Street was torn down last year and has lain dormant.

Is this a sign that this new building might indeed start rising sooner rather than later? "Once a building is torn down, a new one tends to rise," according to our source. "It's quite possible."

That would be an impressive feat, given that One57 is not even finished. Then again, if that building is indeed almost sold out, Mr. Barnett will need something else to start selling to the billionaires of the world, eh? Which begs the question, what could he possibly build next to top these two?

Update:Extell spokesman George Artzt explains that the building is being prepped for future work, but nothing will happen before plans are approved by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. "We're not doing anything to the building right now," he said. At the moment, demolition is only underway on 225 West 57th Street.

A hypothetical skyline, with 225 West 57th at right, One57 middle, 432 Park at left. (Curbed/NYO)

1780 Broadway, the one piece that will remain. (City Realty)

If King Kong were to swing into New York sometime this decade, he might actually have a hard time figuring out where to go.

In the original 1933 black-and-white classic, King Kong famously scales the two-year-old Empire State Building, cementing it in the conscience of the world as arguably its most famous skyscraper. Four decades later, the giant gorilla set his sights higher, standing astride the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Today, perhaps he might climb atop their succesor, the new 1 World Trade Center. But one gets the sense that King Kong is given to gigantism, so only the city’s tallest tower will do.

Until a few months ago, that would have been 1 World Trade. But since 432 Park Avenue began to rise skyward in April, the 1,397-foot condo tower developed by Harry Macklowe and CIM on the old Drake Hotel site would have claimed the skyline crown. It beats out its downtown rival by 29 feet, so long as one ignores the silly 400-foot sorta spire atop 1 World Trade. Should King Kong arrive sometime in 2014, this slinky tower would probably be his choice.

But a year or two after that, and he might turn his gaze further down 57th Street, past the already striking 1,005-foot One57 tower, Gary Barnett's billionaire bauble nearing completion despite that crane accident. There it would settle on another tower being developed by Mr. Barnett, at 225 West 57th Street, just one block from what was already going to be the city's tallest apartment building when it opens next year. The new tower's height, according to building permits filed last week: 1,550 feet. 

That would make it the world's sixth tallest building—at least until something else comes along and knocks it off its pedestal.

That is a good 50 percent taller than either the Chrysler Building or One57, while all three are about the same size, between 1.2 and 1.4 million square feet. The tower will be slender, but it will also be solid unlike some of its spindly rivals, notably 432 Park and predecessors like the Trump World Tower. (Amazing how that held the record for tallest apartment building for a decade, surpassed by only a few feet by Frank Gehry's Spruce Street tower, and now, it's just off to the races, especially when the 1,050-foot MoMA tower is added into the mix. And never mind all the super-tall office towers on the horizon, like the 1,300-footer at Hudson Yards and all those maybe-taller towers coming out of the Midtown East rezoning.)

The tower will reach 88 stories, which sounds like a lot, but when the overall height is considered, that belies exceedingly high ceilings. At the same time, much extra space will also likely be devoted to mechanical systems to keep such a colossus running, as well as the fact that the first five floors, as construction documents show, will be given over to a Nordstrom, as was announced in July. On the seventh through 12th floors, there will be a hotel, and then, boom, 223 residential units. That is almost twice as many units as One57, though the hotel is also considerably larger there.

"I don't want to confirm anything except to say we've filed permits," Mr. Barnett told The Observer Monday by phone, when asked if the project had financing and was set to rise.

As noted by the eager architecture savants on Skyscraper City and Wired New York, who first noticed the building permits yesterday, construction equipment is already on hand at 217 West 57th Street, one of the lots Mr. Barnett controls and will be building on some day. Similarly, the Morton Williams grocery story at 225 West 57th Street closed last month, paving the way for demolition of that building and its replacement to rise.

This is one of Mr. Barnett's most complicated deals ever, requiring the assemblage of numerous parcels of land and air rights from surrounding buildings and properties, including tax lot mergers and air rights purchases, essentially turning the entire block into a piece of the project, even if some of the buildings thereon will remain standing. "We've been at this seven or eight years," Mr. Barnett said. "We've bought different parcels and air rights, etc, etc, and here we are." Building documents show no fewer than nine different parcels tied up in creating the lot.

Back in the spring, Mr. Barnett told The Observer he was still working on assembling pieces for the project, with the implication that the goal would be to reclaim the title of New York's tallest apartment tower. (The Burj Khalifa in Dubai still boasts the world record, with apartments through the tower's 108th floor.) Previously, it had been speculated that 225 West 57th Street would top out around 1,250 feet, but Mr. Barnett has pushed beyond that to new heights.

"There won't be a spire or anything like that, the floors will go all the way to the top, or almost to the top, with some mechanicals above," Mr. Barnett said. "This is not a gimmick."

On the highest occupiable floor, the 85th, construction documents call for a "residential accessory lounge open to sky." Apartments will be from the 15th through 84th floors, with no mention of layouts (full-floor, duplex, etc.). The building permits also mention another residential lounge on the 14th floor, and the seventh floor houses a number of amenities for the hotel: a restaurant, salon, gym, lounge and "sky lobby." The ground floor has separate entrances for the Nordstrom, the hotel and the residences.

One thing that will not be new is the facade along Broadway, the former BF Goodrich building. Because of a deal struck with the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2009, the old auto building at 225 West 57th can come down, despite the protests of preservationists, but its sibling at 1780 Broadway must remain. A 1920s red brick building, its 12-story facade must be integrated into whatever Mr. Barnett builds. The building will have T-shaped configuration as a result, with section on Broaway, 57th and 58th streets.

What lucky architect gets to design such a multifaceted project? The Observer had heard that Herzog & de Meuron had beat out the likes of Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster and SHoP, but on that count, Mr. Barnett demured. "I'm not going to confirm or deny that, but I wouldn't print that if I were you," he said. The associate architects listed on the construction documents are Adamson Associates, who were the architects of record on all three of Larry Silverstein's World Trade Center towers, Durst's One Bryant Park, the Goldman Sachs headquarters and the still unbuilt MoMA Tower by Mr. Nouvel. So whomever the architect is, it must be a pretty high caliber firm.

Still, Mr. Barnett is taking nothing for granted. When The Observer tried to congratulate him on a new project, and the city's tallest at that, he responded, "Congratulations are only in order when you've finished the building and cashed the last check."

"We're just working hard and hoping the market stays healthy," he added.

No doubt when this project is finally finished some years from now, Mr. Barnett will stand atop it, perhaps out on the residential accessory lounge open to the sky and thumping his chest in triumph. King Kong certainly would.

(Click to zoom)

We warned of a deluge of lawsuits surrounding the crane accident at One57, and it looks like the tide is already rising. A tipster sent Curbed a photo of a flyer seeking claimants for a suit against Extell, the contractors on the site and the city's Department of Buildings. Turns out the attorney putting together the suit lives on West 58th Street and was evacuated during the accident. The sweetest revenge is judicial!

Meanwhile, The Observer got our hands on a copy of the dentists' lawsuit, and it turns out Extell was named in that suit, as well. As we all know, this ought to be interesting, since the only thing Gary Barnett loves more than building buildings is spending his time in court.

A headache and a toothache. (Getty)

As most every New Yorker can now eerily recall, just as Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the city, the crane atop One57 snapped back, nearly crashing to the street. The boom wound up holding throughout the 100-mile-per-hour winds, the incident resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of residents, businesses and hotels, most of whom could not return for more than a week.

We've already heard from an angry public relations executive who believes Extell should reimburse the city for the cost of monitoring the accident and evacuating the streets. Now comes the first of what may well be many lawsuits over the crane crisis at the billionaire-beloved building.

According to the Daily News, two dentists have sued Pinnacle Industries, the crane's owner, and Lend Lease, the contractor on the project. Barry Musikant and Caroline Stern have a dental practice at 119 West 57th Street, and they charge that they lost a week's worth of business because of the accident, and the News also notes that Mr. Musikant had to evacuate his home.

It would be curious if the pair could file for FEMA funds, since there are questions about whether this was a natural disaster or a man-made one, so to speak. But what seems certain is this will be the first of many such suits.

Their success remains another open question since the crane accident has been seen exactly as that, a freak accident resulting from a freak of nature. Even the commissioner at the Department of Buildings has said there was no way of expecting this would happen and nothing that could have prevented it since every precaution was taken during the storm.

The boom is back, but the street is not. (Getty)

It's true of communities across the city, so why not West 57th Street? From the Rockaways to Staten Island, people have returned to their homes and businesses but found them without power, and the same seems to be going for the one-block stretch of the city that was shut down after the crane boom of One57 snapped back.

Yesterday, the city secured the crane boom to the side of the building, a day ahead of scheduled, and reopened the street. But that does not mean life is yet back to normal. According to a number of people on the street, they remain without electricity or heat—even though Con Ed claims otherwise. "They said we couldn't expect anything before noon," Daniel Van Doren, whose family owns 130 West 57th Street, told The Observer in a phone interview from his MetroNorth train headed to the city.

"Just like the rest of this debacle, Con Ed is not giving much detail," Mr. Van Doren added.

The Observer also spoke with someone at the Salsibury Hotel, the 118-room hotel at 123 West 57th Street that had to be evacuated because of the crane accident. "We're not back up yet," said a woman at the front desk, who asked we not use her name. "We really hope we'll be back this afternoon by three, but that all depends on Con Ed."

This would seem to contradict what a Con Edison spokesman told The Observer this morning. "The power has been turned back on, but there are still some customer who have issues we have to deal with," Alfonso Quiroz said. But Mr. Quiroz also mentioned flooding issues on the street as a problem, which so far no one has reported as a problem, this being some of the highest ground in Manhattan.

The power was shut down following the accident to ensure no further damage should the crane boom fall and puncture a gas main or electrical line, which could have triggered an explosion.

The lack of help from Con Ed extends not only to landlords but tenants, as well. "Do you know when I will be allowed access to my building (north side of 57th, between 6th and 7th)?" Stuart Bernstein wrote The Observer in an email. "My office is there, and I can get no info on when I might gain entrance to my building. Extreme frustration on many people's part as no info is coming out about this block near the crane."

Update:According to Dan Garodnick's office, "it could be a few days" before some people on the street see resumption of heat and steam service.

Boom! (Getty)

Well, the recovery continues faster than expected in New York. We've got subways almost miraculously coming back to life after flooding throughout the system, and now the securing of the crane boom dangling over West 57th Street has been completed a day ahead of schedule, wrapping up tonight rather than Monday night as the mayor had previously predicted.

It will still be weeks before the crane—whose boom was almost torn asunder during last week's hurricane—can be removed and construction can resume on the billionaire-beloved One57 tower. Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri's full statement on the operation is below.

The operation to secure the boom of the tower crane at 157 West 57th Street in Manhattan is complete.

All streets in the immediate area are in the process of being opened, excluding two lanes on the north side of West 57th Street between 6th and 7th avenues.

Evacuated residents can reoccupy buildings in the area, but utilities in some buildings may have to be restored.

I would like to commend our engineers and inspectors who have worked tirelessly with the project's contractors to inspect the tower crane and approve a plan to secure the boom - so New Yorkers can safely return to their homes and offices.

Hang on. (Getty)

The crane that snapped back at One57 is still hanging precariously over Midtown, but the city is preparing a plan to secure the boom on the billionaire-beloved building that will commence tomorrow and should be completed by Monday night, Mayor Bloomberg announced at his press briefing this afternoon.

"Tomorrow, work on securing the crane will begin," he said. "It's approximately a 36 hour operation, and the goal is to remove the vacate order to allow people in the vicinity to return to their homes and offices by Monday night. We've just got to make sure we do this in a way that doesn't cost any lives."

It has taken this long to get to taking down the crane because the city was studying the damage from every angle to ensure no further accidents during the recovery procedure.

"We think we have a plan that's been well studied by everybody," Mayor Bloomberg said. "We've been on the crane with workers, we've photographed everything, we've studied the blueprints, and we think have a plan that will in 36 hours let us secure the boom to the building and then over the next three or four weeks, we'll have to build another crane next to it to take down the pieces that are damaged."

The Journal had some details on just how the crane might be secured this morning, a procedure that can only be described as Rube Goldberg-esque.

The plan calls for a worker to rotate the entire crane using a small hand crank, turning the damaged boom toward the building. Then cables would be used to secure the boom to 10- to 12-foot steel arms installed near the top of the condominium tower on West 57th Street, the people said.

Later, a derrick would be installed near the top of the building, and used to lower the crane boom to the ground. Another boom would be raised so that construction work on the tower could continue, according to a person briefed on the plan.

Ah, the good ol' hand crank. We're living by candle light, back to 18th Century technology.

For some, danger, or at least an inconvenience. (Getty)

PR maven Ronn Torossian, who was evacuated from his offices at 888 Seventh Avenue, has been passing around an op-ed to outlets across the city, Gothamist among them. He blames Extell Development for failing to maintain its now-crushed crane at One57, accuses the firm of negligence and mismanagement and endangering the people and economy of the city. "A thorn and open question remains the 90-story residential tower, One57," Mr. Torossian writes, in his piece titled "Shame on Extell Development and Gary Barnett."

"The city of New York should demand that Extell and Barnett pay back the city, residents and businesses back for the millions it will cost because of their negligence," he concludes.

Extell released the following statement to The Observer taking Mr. Torossian to task for trying to capitalize on this misfortune.

We think is is obvious that Mr. Torossian is trying to take advantage of a natural disaster for own publicity and profit. The crane was inspected in anticipation of the hurricane on Oct. 26 and was positioned as it was supposed to be in preparation for a hurricane. Lend Lease, the construction manager for the site, is working together with the city Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management and Department of Buildings to ensure the safety of the street and to return people to their homes and businesses as quickly as possible.

Hang on. (Getty)

Superstorm Sandy has been full of dramatic events, from the fire in Breezy Point to the flooding of all those tunnels, the explosion of the Con Edison plant, submersion of the Rockaways... it has been a terrifying 24 hours. But perhaps no moment typified the New York-iness of this storm quite like the crane accident at One57. Where but here would you find a death-defying incident 1,000 feet in the air involving a home for the world's billionaires?

With that in mind, many New Yorkers have been wondering just what the fate of the crane boom that has been hanging precariously for more than a day would be. According to the Department of Buildings, inspections reveal that the crane should be safe for now, but given the difficult conditions from the storm, it has been very difficult to inspect the damage directly.

"Our engineers have been on the scene all day now with the crane," Tony Sclafani, the DOB spokesman, said in a phone interview. "Up until this point, they have not been able to access the building due to high winds. But last night, two inspectors made their way up to the 70th floor, floor by floor, step by step, to make sure all the connections to the crane were secure. They were accompanied by firefighters along the way."

The crane currently sits near the 90th floor of the building, which is the penthouse, so it was difficult to inspect everything, but the department remains confident that the boom will not be falling barring some unforeseen disaster. Mr. Sclafani stressed that the inspection was in the early stages and the department was more concerned with securing the crane than determining what caused the accident, though it appeared to be a wind-related issue.

"Right now, the concern is stabilization, and we are working on a plan to fully stabilize the crane," Mr. Sclafani said.

He said that it could take a few days before the crane is secure, but the exact measures required would become more clear "in the next few hours." He said the Department of Buildings, along with the Fire Department, would be working around the clock to secure the crane and one possible solution would be to tether the boom to the building or the body of the crane until a new crane can be erected to disassembled the damaged crane. Such an operation could take days or even weeks according to industry experts.

For the time being, construction will be halted at the site and an evacuation order for the surrounding area remains in effect. Mr. Sclafani said Extell Development, the firm behind the city's tallest apartment building, and its contractors are fully complying with the investigation.

In a brief phone call with The Observer, Mr. Barnett said simply, "It is what is is and everything is being dealt with. It's going to be O.K." He said his p.r. firm, Rubinstein Associates, had prepared a statement, but that was more than an hour ago and none has materialized.

Mayor Bloomberg did not mention the accident in his morning press briefing, but it was mentioned in a statement sent out by his office after the event: "Yesterday a partially damaged at a site on West 57th Street required evacuation of the immediate vicinity. The Department of Buildings has determined that the crane is currently stable, however we can’t fully secure the crane until the wind dies down. The procedure there, when the winds die down, will be to try to get the boom and strap it to the building, and then we could reopen the streets, and then over a period of time the contracting company will have to figure out a way to build a new crane on top and take that one down."

We may be in the clear, but the wait continues.

Update 6:20: Extell just released the following statement:

Responding to press questions, we can confirm that LendLease took all recommended measures to position the crane in anticipation of a hurricane. This was inspected and approved by the Department of Buildings and is the standard for hurricanes.

LendLease together with members of the Extell construction team and with supervision and direction of the Fire Department, OEM, DOB, along with other city agencies, are planning a recovery procedure to secure the crane. As soon as the Fire Department deems it safe, that procedure will begin.

We apologize for the considerable inconvenience experienced by our neighbors, but safety is paramount. We are thankful that no one has been hurt.