By Matt Chaban 10/19/12 4:18pm

Kimmelmania

Mr. Dolan, tear down this arena. (MAS/Twitter)

Michael Kimmelman Calls Madison Square Garden ‘the Worst Arena in Town’ [Update: Paul Goldberger Calls It 'Worst Arena in the World']

The MAS Summit has been going on for the past two days, and it has been a cornucopia of delights for the city-obsessed, full of zany proposals for affordable housing, green buildings, starchitecture, community-based development and a giant floating doughnut hovering over Grand Central. But so far the most thrilling moment was deliver by The Times‘ architecture critic Michael Kimmelman during a discussion capping day one with the Municipal Art Society’s president, Vin Cipolla.

The two of them basically meandered through a bunch of Mr. Kimmelman’s columns from his first year on the job, and the first question was about Penn Station, when the critic had the audacity to tell the Dolans to scram. He still believes it is one of the most pressing planning issues in the city all these months after he wrote the piece. “I think there’s a hunger to do something about this site, which I think is a blight on millions of people’s lives every single day,” Mr. Kimmelman explained. Read More

By Matt Chaban 5/10/12 5:14pm

Machers

The site, from 58th Street. (Skyscraper Page)

Gary Barnett on How He Chooses His Designers and the 1,250-Foot Starchitect Tower Planned for Broadway and 57th

When Gary Barnett builds, he wants everything to be “the best,” as the Extell exec made clear in our recent profile. Bigger is not always better, but it certainly does not hurt, especially in Manhattan. That is part of the appeal of Mr. Barnett’s One57—not only will the views be dead-center on Central Park, a fact Mr. Barnett keenly brags about, but there are also the bragging rights of having the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere. At 1,005 feet, it beats Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street by more than 100 feet.

But this is New York, and the record will never hold for long, as competitors like the MoMA tower and 432 Park start to rise. But Mr. Barnett has an ace up his sleeve just down the block, a large development site on Broadway running between 57th and 58th streets. The lot, site of the former B.F. Goodrich Building is nearly twice as large as One57′s, and more importantly the tower could be many hundred feet taller, as well, as Mr. Barnett continues to assemble air rights and properties, one of his favorite parts of the business.

For this stratospheric project he also turned to several top-shelf designers, none of whom Extell has ever worked with before. Read More

By Matt Chaban 10/13/11 2:56pm

Greensward

See you at the AXA Gallery! (AXA)

Occupy Midtown: A Parade Through Privately Owned Public Spaces This Saturday

The Friends of Privately Owned Public Spaces had no idea the good fortune of their timing. The group was formed a few years ago, to bring awareness to the hundreds of POPS littered across the city, a sort of watchdog fighting for their open access. Almost no one knew of the spaces, that is until the Wall Street occupiers showed up at Zucotti Park. Now, almost everyone does. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/08/11 3:41pm

Towering Ambition

Air rights sold to develop 1.3 million square feet

Interminable Debate Over Vornado’s Terminal Tower

Sunday came and went, and still there is no deal for Vornado’s Port Authority Bus Terminal tower. It has been a dozen years since Vornado was tapped to build the thing, and while the developer was poised to get to work in 2007, those plans collapsed along with the economy. The deal was set to expire this weekend, but the Port Authority has granted Vornado yet another extension to come up with a plan to make both sides happy. Read More