Maybe he needs a tie, too!

Hines New York chief Tommy Craig's meeting downtown ran an hour longer than expected yesterday, leaving everyone back at the the 499 Park headquarters a little bit more tippled than expected but otherwise thrilled when Mr. Craig walked through the glass doors to his surprise 30th anniversary party.

There, Mr. Craig was presented with a tailored Oxford suit from Bergdorf's by Chris Hughes, Hines' East Region and Capital Markets CEO on behalf of the company and its humble leader Gerald Hines. Last year, The Observer profiled Mr. Craig and the firm, dubbing them The Bespoke Builders. According to a spy, it was that article  that was the inspiration for the gift.

“Thirty years passes by in a heartbeat when you’re doing something you love, but a bespoke suit—hey, that’s forever,” said a very surprised Mr. Craig.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

499 Park Avenue.

499 Park Avenue resembles a giant block of obsidian, perfect but for the even more perfect bluntings made to the corners of the obelisk. Running down one-third of the tower’s facade, the width of a single pane of glass, this is the one design flourish of the building. They were made with sculptor’s precision by the celebrated I.M. Pei some 31 years ago.

Inside, workers have been busy putting the finishing touches on the office duplex. The space atop this modernist ziggurat was being white-boxed, stripped back to its bare steel columns, a fresh coat of paint on the floors, grotty insulation still clinging here and there to a few beams. Light streamed in from all sides, the recently rechristened Ed Koch Bridge directly to the right down 59th Street, Central Park up and to the left. Everything had been cleaned and shined to make way for the brokers who would be streaming through the space, trying to find a new tenant for office space that had not been vacant since the building was finished in 1980.

The showstopper is the upper floor, where drop ceilings had been stripped out to expose a soaring 18-foot cathedral of steel and glass. It felt like Soho-on-Park. Not only was there enough headroom for two rings of a circus, but the renovations also revealed those signature cutouts on the inside, and the perfect views of the city they framed beyond—Mr. Pei was not simply being vain but practical with his spare geometric flourishes. He had built the tower for George Klein, who had occupied these two floors as his offices even after he sold the building to the Sumitomo Life Realty, a Japanese developer who later sold it to Hines Interests in 2003, which is now undertaking this renovation since the space had emptied out.

In this exquisite (if unnoticed) tower, created by one of the greatest architects of his generation—a building that would seem to need few improvements—Hines has still managed to keep itself busy. Finding opportunity, even in a top-of-the-line location, where it would seem all the potential had been reached—has been a hallmark of the firm, which got its start in Houston six decades ago.

Renting those two floors on Park is but the smallest of Hines’s projects in New York at the moment. While the name Hines may not be synonymous with big buildings the way Trump or LeFrak or Tishman Speyer is, the firm has actually been one of the busiest in the city over the past three decades, while continuing to rely on big-name architects and their reputations.

“When you think of who’s built office buildings in the city, Hines definitely comes up,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. “You might not think of them right away, but they are undeniably in the top dozen or half-dozen of developers in the city.”

18 Varieties of Hines Development: Tour the firm's New York projects >>

Starting with the Lipstick Building in 1986, Hines has built some of the area’s recognizable projects, from 450 Lexington, atop the old Grand Central post office, to gigantic offices for UBS in Stamford and Goldman Sachs in Jersey City—both as visible from a plane as the Empire State Building. Some have become symbols of Wall Street itself, be it the Bear Stearns headquarters on Madison or the Lehman Brothers tower in Times Square—now home to JP Morgan and Barclays, respectively. And there are luxury condos, too, for Andre Balasz and Aby Rosen.

The firm is embarking on three ambitious projects, which have finally begun to win it wider notice. There is Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower, famously cut down to size by City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden. In August, Hines announced plans for a boutique office building designed by Harry Cobb, Mr. Pei’s long-time partner, across from Bryant Park, a bookend to Durst’s celebrated tower. And The Observer has learned that Hines is also poised to revive 56 Leonard Street, a 57-story condo building planned for Tribeca, designed by Pritzker-winners Herzog & de Mueron, replete with an Anish Kapoor sculpture at its base. The project was announced a month before Lehman Brothers collapsed, and it nearly crumbled itself. Left for dead amid the wreckage of the real estate bubble, 56 Leonard is almost certain to rise anew.

Hines is having moment in the city. Then again, it has since it arrived 25 years ago. In a place where some of the world’s best architects famously come to do their worst work, Hines has been a pioneer in terms of quality design, architecture and sustainability, here, and at its 1,100 properties worldwide. That a firm employing such high profile architects has itself a low-profile is curious, but this is by no means unusual in the world of business and development. Not everyone needs their name on the building in big gold letters.

“I would say they are buttoned up, but I wouldn’t say that pejoratively,” Henry Cobb said. “It’s a certain sophistication.”

They are the Goldman Sachs of New York developers—pre-face-sucking vampire squid. Which is to say Hines is almost as anonymous as it is influential. Instead of shiny black towncars, gliding silently by, it has shiny office and residential towers, hidden in plain sight.

Gerald Hines.

If Hines is well-known anywhere, it is in the architecture and design community, where it has been a patron for so long. “There are many good developers, but I think Jerry is unique because he was the first to see architecture was an economic asset,” said David Childs, the influential SOM partner who designed 450 Lexington for Hines. “He was been ups-selling design in a way no one ever thought to do, though now everyone does it.”

Mr. Cobb recalled how he was working on a project for the firm in Washington, D.C., in the 1980s, and Mr. Hines took an exacting interest in every detail, down to the bathroom stalls. “The toilet rooms in a Hines building are nicer than in other people’s buildings,” he said. “It’s a little Steve Jobs-like.”

When people describe the great office buildings of New York, the most common examples given are the Seagram Building, and Lever House across the street. Other favorites include the Chrysler Building, Chase Manhattan Plaza, and CBS’ Black Rock. What stands out about all of them, beyond their designs, is the names, all of which are tied to a corporate client. Hines Interests was one of the very first developers to appreciate the commercial possibilities of architecture, one of the first developers to nudge its colleagues away from impersonation—ever notice how most Park Avenue towers look the same?—toward individualism and inspiration.

“I think Gerry Hines is the original, I think he recognizes quality like few others,” echoed George Klein, the builder of 499 Park Avenue and an admirer of Mr. Hines’.

Vision has been a guiding principle of the firm since its inception. Gerald Hines began as an engineer who went into development creating warehouse-offices. On his third project, a 10,000-square-foot space on the edge of downtown Houston, he employed the best architecture firm he could find (long since defunct). “I received three new jobs from just that one,” Mr. Hines told The Observer by phone, from his new base in London. “That was when I realized the potential of good design.” Mr. Hines might be called an architect’s best friend.

“I think it’s actually a very conservative approach,” he said. “We spend a lot of effort in trying to achieve architectural distinction because it may be more expensive but it’s lower risk. If we’re the first to get leased and the last to empty out, we get better rates of return and achieve better results.”

The Lipstick Building.

Leading the firm in New York is Tommy Craig, a presence in the office since 1983, when Mr. Hines opened his first shop outside of Houston here. Trim, with swept-back hair and a taste for baggily bespoke pinstripe suits, Mr. Craig looks the part of many of the bankers who often employ him. In fact, he was one, once, at JPMorgan for a few years after he graduated from U.N.C. Chapel Hill.

“I decided I wanted something more tangible,” Mr. Craig told The Observer during an interview in his office last month. To be there is to realize the scope of the firm’s work in New York. Pictures of his family lined one wall, dozens of industry awards and models of the buildings he built filled three rows of bookshelves on the other. A decent view of Park Avenue was just outside the window, but Mr. Craig does not have a corner office. Those are reserved for the conference rooms, so everyone can share in the views.

This is practical, as well as symbolic, since the firm is privately held. “That equity saved us,” Mr. Craig said. “It is the reason we never blew up, because we are very careful with our money.” This has also led to a highly adaptive firm, thanks especially to its global reach. “Because of all of our offices, we can tap into different markets and different pools of capital, but that all started in New York,” Mr. Craig said. “So many of our partners are here. You have to be successful in New York to be successful internationally.”

Hines first projects in New York, in the 1980s and early ’90s were spec-built office towers, like the Lipstick Building and 31 East 52nd Street, an angular postmodern-style tower also completed in 1986 and designed by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, the architects partly responsible for the Gateway Arch, as well as the Ford Foundation Building and U.N. Plaza. The next major project was 450 Lexington, finished in 1992, the work of SOM’s celebrated Mr. Childs.

“It’s one thing to build this kind of building on Park Avenue,” ür-commercial broker Mary Ann Tighe said of the Lipstick Building. “It’s entirely another to do it on Third Avenue, and then to fill it up so quickly, no less. That had a huge impact on the area.”

When the recession hit in the ’90s, the firm began to move from building on spec to partnering with firms in need of new buildings. Reversing the approach of the banks and businesses that had sought to build great buildings for decades, Hines would now do the hard work for them.This led to the partnerships with all the big banks. “The average person on the street may not know Hines,” a real estate executive said, “but Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon certainly do.”

The dot-com bubble led to another opportunity, as real estate was depressed and interest rates were good. Hines began shoring up capital and got into the business of acquisitions, buying instead of building top-quality towers. The one constant was the commitment to design—an easier proposition now that so many developers had begun to follow Hines’s lead. In New York, 750 Seventh Avenue, 425 Lexington Avenue, 600 Lexington Avenue and 499 Park all entered the firm’s portfolio. “We would buy, but only if it was up to our standards,” Mr. Craig said.

Now, the firm has come full circle. It is again building on spec, as with the project on Bryant Park, but there are also the residential projects. In Soho, Hines built 40 Mercer, Jean Nouvel’s take on the neighborhood’s cast iron buildings, which was done with Andre Balazs, who gets most of the credit for the project. (Daniel Radcliffe calls the building home.) With Aby Rosen, Hines created the KPF-designed 1 Jackson Square just off Greenwich Avenue in the Village.

MoMA is easily the most ambitious of its new undertakings, even after the planning commission’s sheering off of 200 feet when approving the tower in 2009. It will be one of the most dynamic contributions to the city’s skyline in a generation. “When you respect someone because of their ethics and good taste,  it’s natural to want to work with them,” said Jerry Speyer, the man most often compared to Gerald Hines in New York. The MoMA trustee was instrumental in selecting the firm to build the new condo project.

There are similarly high hopes for Herzog & de Mueron’s 56 Leonard, even if Hines was unwilling to discuss them beyond a brief statement. “Many of their projects, including the Beijing National Stadium, known as the ‘Bird’s Nest,’ have become global landmarks, and we believe 56 Leonard will achieve that same status in New York and beyond,” the statement read, highlighting the work of the renowned Swiss architects, best known here for 40 Bond Street and the new renovations to the Park Avenue Armory here.

Tommy Craig.

That the firm reserved its words about its latest project for a written statement underscores why they are not more widely known. “I don’t think he likes to let out more than what he knows is in effect complete and good,” Mr. Spinola said of Mr. Craig.

“They’re not one of those run-and-gun developers, they’re definitely running a big, button-down business,” one rival developer said. “They’re not cowboys just out there throwing up buildings.”

There is also the fact that most of its development is fee development, building out sites on commission. This is opposed to Hines assembling sites of its own, which is more lucrative, but also more risky—the Hines approach avoids the NIMBY fights and the headlines in the paper. “It doesn’t seem to me they’re big risk takers, but they’re very successful nonetheless,” Douglas Durst said.

In a way, the firm’s profile has been a victim of its own success—because its buildings are rarely vacant, given the level of detail and commitment to them, they are rarely in the papers, taking out ads, on the scene. Being ignored has its advantages, it seems.

Or maybe that does not even matter. So long as Hines continues to building some of the best building in the city and the world, even if so few bother to notice them for it, New York will still be all the better for it.

“I would say they are buttoned up, but I wouldn’t say that pejoratively,” architect Henry Cobb said. “It’s a certain sophistication.” Here is a look at the firm's sophisticated properties built or bought by the firm's New York office over the past 25 years.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Those'll be some views. (Getty)

Even if the city could be headed for further construction slowdowns, developers are still readying themselves for the (eventual?) recovery. The MoMA Tower, Hudson Yards, East Coast Number 4—all are showing signs of life. And they all have something in common, as well: their developers have their sights set on the first site at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Things were very, busy at the libertarian park two weeks ago. The city reached a new development deal with the state on what exactly can be built at Brooklyn Bridge Park to help fund its maintenance. Then, two days later, the city released an RFP seeking developers for Pier 1, the first site at the park to be redeveloped.

The RFP calls for two new buildings housing a hotel and condos, with either 170 hotel rooms and 180 condo units, 225 rooms and 150 units, or some mix thereof. If there was any notion Brooklyn is still somehow a backwater, the high-profile firms vying for these two sites should dispel that idea right about... now. According to a source present at an information session held yesterday by the city, among the developers and architects present were:

• Related Companies (Hudson Yards, Time Warner Center)
• Hines (MoMA Tower, Bryant Park tower)
• Two Trees (Pretty much all of Dumbo, Mercedes House)
• Andre Balazs (Fabulous!)
• Douglaston Development (The Edge)
• Rockrose (Lots of Queens West, 200 Water Street)
• TF Cornerstone (Lots of Queens West, 505W37)
• Starwood Capital (Westin, W hotels)
• The Dermot Company (One Hanson, Battery Maritime Building)
• Muss Development (Two Brooklyn Marriotts, Sky View Parc)
• TEN Architectos (One York, Hotel Americano)
• FXFowle (FXFowle, Northside Piers)
• Rogers Marvel (Gowanus Green, State Street townhouses)
• Architetonica (MiMA, Westin Times Square)
• Artimus (Lots of Harlem: 5th on Park, SoHa)

What's interesting about this list is, based on past history, some obvious teams seems to be emerging. Two Trees worked with TEN on Mercedes House, and this won't be their first hospitality venture—the Walentases are building a hotel in Williamsburg with architect Morris Adjmi. Architectonica has plenty of hospitality experience, building the Westin for Starwood and Related's MiMa, home of the robotic Yotel. Dermot has worked with both Rogers Marvel and FXFowle.

The final pairings might look nothing like this, but it presents some interesting options, especially because it would mean a new level of quality on the eastern shore of the East River—with the possible exception of the New Domino, designs for most of the glassy riverside towers in Queens and Brooklyn have been so-so. And there is another point of note: Pretty much all the developers on this list have built major luxury projects on said waterfront, whether at Queens West, Hunter's Point South (Related is doing the first phase) or Williamsburg.

So no slouches here, and for good reason. According to our source, "The site is awesome."

And there may be room for more parkland, too. The Journal reported yesterday that the city was in negotiations with ConEd to buy a transformer site in Vinegar Hill, which interrupts the waterfront promenade. The Bloomberg administration envisions a near-contiguous park stretching the length of the East River,  replacing former factories with miles and miles of public space stretching from Astoria to Sunset Park.

mchaban@observer.com

Nice curves. (Hines)

While it might not be as, uh, edgy as the Torre Verre, Hines unveiled another new Manhattan project today, one with a location even more enticing than next to MoMA. The Houston-based developer will construct a 28-story office tower at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 40th Street, across from Bryant Park.

It is only the latest stage in the park's transformation. Not only is there 'Wich Craft and movie in the park now, instead of muggers and drugs, but it is also lined some of the shiniest new baubles in the city, including the Dursts' eponymous tower and the recently reclad Verizon and HSBC buildings. And we still haven't gotten a look at the project Lord Norman Foster has planned for the Bryant Park Hotel.

As for this one, it is up to Hines' typically stachitecture-struck standards, featuring the work of Pei Cobb Freed principal Henry Cobb. His most recent marquee project was the new Goldman Sachs headquarters at 200 West Street downtown—a building this new one very much resembles, a cross between it and Durst's crystalline confection. Just like the latter, Hines' tower is all about the park, with concave corners that meet at a point, creating unique views of the greensward below.

The tower will be built on the shrowded site at left, kitty corner from the park. (Bing)

“The building was conceived in response to the extraordinary circumstance of its location at the corner of Bryant Park," Mr. Cobb said in a release. "The hourglass facade detail will be a lens through which building occupants can view the park with dramatic and alluring immediacy."

It will not have the pride of place on the skyline that One Bryant Park or the MoMA Tower do, rising to only 28 as-of-right stories, with 450,000 square feet inside. There is, of course, the usual LEED chasing, an unusual curved stainless steel orb at the entrance that serves as both a canopy and a sculptural piece, and two terraces at a setback overlooking the park. The project, built in partnership with Pacolet Milliken, which has owned the site since 1954, could begin construction as soon as next year and be completed by 2014.

The building plays deference to the park across the street. (Hines)

The developers seem to be following in the steps of 510 Madison, creating a boutique building aimed at flush clients but not corporations—your run of the mill hedge funds, law firms and fashion houses. "We are privileged to develop a project that combines such an exceptional location with a distinguished design," said Tommy Craig, Hines senior vice president in charge of the Tri-State region. "It will be a singular opportunity for mid-sized tenants in the midtown market."

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

The Anglicans also lost money on Stuy Town.

Maybe all of those second-quarter reports lauding the return of Manhattan real estate convinced New York's Common Retirement Fund that investing in it is a good idea. (But remember how that worked out for California's pensioners and Stuy Town?)

The pension fund, along with the Houston-based real estate firm Hines, have announced that they will invest more than $1 billion in U.S. office and medical properties. The supposed uptick in commercial property prices is the reason for their confidence: "The timing is right to reconstitute this venture and strategy," Jeff Hines, C.E.O. of the real estate firm, said in a statement obtained by Crain's.

Let's hope the market can hold onto its small comeback; commercial property values in the U.S. increased 6.3 percent in May, which was the first month in six to see an increase.

The partnership aims to "develop, acquire, own and manage buildings primarily occupied by a single tenant," according to a statement.

pengel@observer.com

The Death Spire. (Atelier Jean Nouvel)

New York City may have brought down Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but another torrid Frenchman will not be held up by the likes of us.

Jean Nouvel, winner of the Pritzker Prize and a severe man even by the standards of his profession, delivered unto the city a “real skyscraper” in 2007. The Torre Verre, more commonly known as the MoMA Tower, would rise to 1,250 feet, an obsidian shard piercing the heart of midtown, built on land traded by the museum to a developer, Hines, for $125 million and three floors of galleries in the base of the new building. A rival to the Empire State Building 20 blocks south, The Times’ Niccolai Ouroussoff called it “the most exhilarating addition to the skyline in a generation.”

Mr. Nouvel, in defending his creation to the City Planning Commission, which was then  deciding the outsize tower’s fate, said at a July 2009 hearing, “It’s like music, part of the rhythm of the city and the skyline.” Commission chair Amanda Burden was less taken with Mr. Nouvel's tune, and knocked 200 feet off the top of the tower, bringing it well south of the Chrysler Building it would have eclipsed (and much closer to its as-of-right height).

Among the issues, she deemed the building’s thorny crown an eyesore for visitors to the Empire State Building, a position that drew outcry from the tower's legion of worshipers. "Approving the design of Tower Verre while lowering the height was not a compromise but an example of curatorial caution run amok, an attempt to turn midtown into an architectural preserve," wrote Justin Davidson in New York magazine.

The tower will rise to something closer to the bottom of its crown, though its new profile has not been revealed.

Ms. Burden's burden not withstanding , like many of the starchitectural erections proposed during the boom, the tower was put on hold, left for dead by some. Hines argued during the approval process that the project simply could not work if not approved at its original height. It  would simply be too small to justify the expense of such an ambitious tower. So much for so much.

And yet, this is New York. Expensive real estate can always be justified.

Two weeks ago, Hines quietly filed a new set of plans with the Department of City Planning. They are compliant with two special permits that the commission and the City Council approved in the fall of 2009, which enforce the 1,050-foot height along with restrictions on things like a loading dock for the new building and the museum's sculpture garden fence—something that has been bothering the neighbors ever since the 2003 renovations. According to a department spokesperson, the application is a chair certification, which does not require public approvals. The process is meant to ensure that the project is in accordance with what was previously agreed upon; a review has no set timeframe.

The resolutions required a tower of similar design proportions. How much the new design resembles the old one, just shorter, is not immediately clear. Initially, Hines said it had filed no new plans, but when The Observer pointed to a notice on the City Planning website, spokesman George Lancaster admitted that the project was back on and imminent. “We DID file revised plans with City Planning for the shorter tower adjacent to MoMA,” he wrote in an email. “We aren’t going to release drawings or details just yet but will in the near future.” He would not say whether the project had financing yet.

The controversial crown.

MoMA was equally taciturn. "The filing is Hines' so I don't have any details on it here. Our plans with regard to the project remain unchanged," emailed Margaret Doyle, the museum's communications director. When asked about something Hines would not discuss, the recently acquired Folk Art Museum and how it might factor into the project, she replied, "MoMA has not yet announced any plans for the Folk Art Museum building."

“Of course for the neighborhood it’s going to be a problem, because it’s a big, tall building,” said Al Butzel, attorney for the Coalition for Responsible Midtown Development, a local community group that filed an unsuccessful suit against the project last summer. “Ten-fifty is better than 1250, but it’s still much more than we wanted, which was 500, closer to the Financial Times building next door.”

Justin Peyser, co-founder of the group, put it more succinctly and cynically in an email: "Our city has always been for sale to the highest bidder and this bid is awfully high."

In Paris, they forbid tall buildings, too.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

SL Green, the city's largest office landlord, has won the bidding war for Hines' 600 Lexington Avenue, the glass-clad, 36-story tower between 52nd and 53rd streets, according to Crain's. Rumblings of the deal were first reported at Observer.com late last week.

According to Crain's:

At $180 million, the price would be almost nearly $700 a square foot, a very healthy amount amid a recession, sources said.

...Publicly traded SL Green has been on an acquisition spurt recently. Earlier this year, it bought 100 Church St. in a foreclosure auction. It also moved to push 510 Madison Ave. into foreclosure after buying debt on the boutique building; however, a hearing is set for Wednesday to prevent the foreclosure, which is scheduled for next Tuesday.

drubinstein@observer.com

The opponents, mostly neighbors of the 1,050-foot tower-to-be, are hitting the airwaves Monday with a television ad that directly targets Council Speaker Christine Quinn, urging her to oppose the development, planned to be built by the Texas firm Hines. The ad buy comes a day before the City Council holds a hearing on the building, which needs Council approval to go forward.

The building has elicited impassioned reactions from both the architectural community, which generally loves it, and neighbors, who detest it, saying it is grossly out of scale.

“This tower will overwhelm the neighborhood and crowd streets. Christine Quinn: Say no,” the ad says, narrated by a deep voice that seems at home in a negative political ad. “Air rights are sold off and the people are sold out. Christine Quinn: Say no.”

The politics of the tower are slightly more complicated than normal. The Council often defers to the local member on land-use decisions, and, in this case, the local is Ms. Quinn. But the constituents who are most upset and loudest—members of the West 54^th - 55^th Street Block Association—are in the district of Councilman Dan Garodnick.

Neither Ms. Quinn nor Mr. Garodnick have taken a strong stand either way on the MoMA tower. Last month City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden took an action that Council members often seek when they’re looking for a compromise: she decreased the height of the tower by 200 feet. (While many in the architectural and development communities have denounced that move, the opponents, who have formed a group called the Coalition for Responsible Midtown Development, called the height chop insignificant, noting the tower would still be as tall as the Chrysler Building.)

A spokesman for Ms. Quinn, Anthony Hogrebe, said in a statement that the Council would be looking for a balance. "As always, the Council will be working to find an appropriate balance, providing for development that addresses the needs of the community," he said.

It seems opponents of the Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper planned to rise next to MoMA are well-funded.

The opponents, mostly neighbors of the 1,050-foot tower-to-be, are hitting the airwaves Monday with a television ad that directly targets Council Speaker Christine Quinn, urging her to oppose the development, planned to be built by the Texas firm Hines. The ad buy comes a day before the City Council holds a hearing on the building, which needs Council approval to go forward.

The building has elicited impassioned reactions from both the architectural community, which generally loves it, and neighbors, who detest it, saying it is grossly out of scale.

“This tower will overwhelm the neighborhood and crowd streets. Christine Quinn: Say no,” the ad says, narrated by a deep voice that seems at home in a negative political ad. “Air rights are sold off and the people are sold out. Christine Quinn: Say no.”

The politics of the tower are slightly more complicated than normal. The Council often defers to the local member on land-use decisions, and, in this case, the local is Ms. Quinn. But the constituents who are most upset and loudest—members of the West 54^th - 55^th Street Block Association—are in the district of Councilman Dan Garodnick.

Neither Ms. Quinn nor Mr. Garodnick have taken a strong stand either way on the MoMA tower. Last month City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden took an action that Council members often seek when they’re looking for a compromise: she decreased the height of the tower by 200 feet. (While many in the architectural and development communities have denounced that move, the opponents, who have formed a group called the Coalition for Responsible Midtown Development, called the height chop insignificant, noting the tower would still be as tall as the Chrysler Building.)

A spokesman for Ms. Quinn, Anthony Hogrebe, said in a statement that the Council would be looking for a balance. "As always, the Council will be working to find an appropriate balance, providing for development that addresses the needs of the community," he said.

ebrown@observer.com