Last July, Spansh tile maker Porcelanosa, one of that nation's largest producers of tiles and ceramics, purchased 202 Fifth Avenue for $40 million. Better known as the Commodore Criterion Building, the six-story granite structure once housed the Commodore Manufacturing Corp. and Criterion Bell & Specialty Co., two Brooklyn-based Christmas ornament makers (hence the building's best known feature, a troupe of carolers permanently affixed to the second-story facade). Now, the 18,000-square-foot building will house Porcelanosa's U.S. flagship, with interiors designed by Foster + Partners.

Lord Foster said the biggest challenge with the project was figuring out how to enliven the space to create the ideal showroom.

"Like many Neoclassical New York City structures, the former Commodore Criterion which dates back to 1918 has a repetitive stack of six identical floors–not an ideal arrangement for spaces to showcase contemporary products," he said in a statement. "The main design challenge has been to work within the protected shell to transform the interior. The design will create new visual connections vertically through the building and will introduce a greater variety of spaces, with a series of dramatic interlocking levels."

Among the other design changes, the Commodore Criterion name topping the building will be replaced with the same signage, but bearing the Porcelanosa name. As renderings show, the famous carolers will be staying put. Any exterior changes must be approved by the city's Landmark's Preservation Commission, as the building, designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and Alan Buchman and completed in 1918, is a city landmark.

It has been a busy few months for Foster + Partners in New York. The firm won a high-profile competition to build a new office building at 425 Park Avenue and its first U.S. residential project, 50 U.N. Plaza. The New York Public Library is also moving ahead with controversial plans to remake the Schwartzman Building.

Lord Foster's World Trade Center tower remains on hold for the foreseeable future, though. These projects come some years after the success of the new Hearst headquarters on Eighth Avenue, opened in 2006, as well as the Sperone Westwater Gallery on the Bowery.

This is also not the first time Lord Foster will have to go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. He and Aby Rosen failed to get an apartment tower atop 980 Madison approved and had to scale back the project into a box set atop the original building, rather than a slender tower perched atop it.

Hopefully the Brits and the Spaniards will have an easier time here, but given the unostentatious design—they're keeping the carolers!—it seems like there will be little to complain about.

Fostering fancy apartments. (dbox/Zeckendorf Holdings)

Those Zecekendorfs sure do love their starchitects.

From William Zeckendorf's work with I.M. Pei and Minoru Yamaski in the 1960s and '70s to his grandsons' projects with the likes of  KPF and, most notably, Robert A.M. Stern, who created both the brand new 15 Central Park West and the newly renovated 18 Gramercy Park South, the Zeckendorfs have a thing for high design.

Add to that now 50 UN Plaza, a 44-story condo tower on the East Side that will be Lord Norman Foster's first residential commission in the United States. Mr. Foster is well known for his work on the Hearst Tower, World Trade Center Tower 2 and the new Sperrone Westwater Gallery on the Bowery, as well as a new commission for 425 Park Avenue for L&L Holdings. With this latest commission, he cements his place as an all-around architectural power in the city.

Tomorrow morning, Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, real estate scions like few others, will break ground on the project at 345 East 46th Street, on the corner of First Avenue. The location will afford the project prime river views, as well as a prominent place on the skyline right between the United Nations headquarters and the Trump World Tower. The Observer has obtained an exclusive rendering of the project, which shows a glassy building of in the high-tech vein for which Foster + Partners is best known.

More demure than buildings like Hearst or the so-called Gerkin in London, 50 UN Plaza seems to strike the proper balance of brash understatement the Zeckendorf's so seem to favor.

The project holds special significance for the Zeckendorf family, since they got their start at the United Nations. William Zeckendorf, Sr., assembled the land that Nelson Rockefeller than bought to build the United Nations complex, and Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf's maternal grandfather was Trygve Lie, who served as the first secretary general of the United Nations.

A special announcement of a gift to the neighboring Daag Hammarskjold Plaza park is expected at the ground breaking, with Borough President Scott Stringer in attendance, as well as local Councilman Dan Garodnick and Eyal Ofer, head of Global Holdings and a partner in both 50 UN Plaza and 18 Gramercy Park South.

The project will include 87 units, ranging from one-bedrooms as large as 1,100 square feet to three bedrooms as big as 3,000 square feet. There will also be a number of full-floor residences twice that size, as well as a penthouse duplex measuring some 10,000 square feet. Like at 15 Central Park West, one of the marquee features will be a private driveway. It is Lord Foster's first American apartment tower, following on the success of work he did in Vancouver, at Jameson House, completed in 2004.

The development of 50 UN Plaza is expected to cost $500 million to build, with completion by the end of 2014. If it is even close to the success of 15 Central Park West, which sold $2 million worth of units when it first came on the market (and is worth probably twice that now given a gangbuster market for resales in the famed building), then the Zeckendorfs and their partners should have no problem making an easy return on their investment here.

It looks like have just wrested the crown of New York's most luxurious development back from Gary Barnett.

"That's my next job, to find three more sites so I can build all these buildings," Mr. Levinson joked, seated at a conference table inside his sleek white offices on 57th Street on Monday. He was surrounded by renderings and models by Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Rem Koolhaas and the winning architect Norman Foster.

"For us, it was really a blend of what's the right concept for Park Avenue, a place that has not had a new building for almost 50 years, an avenue that is quite possibly the most important commercial boulevard in New York City, quite possibly the United State, and what is the place of a new build down the street from Seagrams and Lever House, two of the greatest buildings ever built," Mr. Levinson explained. "We had to determine for that setting what's the right firm. So really, it's a blend of the concept and the firm we can work with."

Mr. Levinson emphasized that this was not a traditional architecture competition, where he was selecting a design so much as a firm. He acknowledged that Lord Norman Foster had a head start, but as the competition got underway, that choice became harder to make.

"Things we knew early on about the Foster organization, it's a very deep bench with a great deal of knowledge about office buildings," Mr. Levinson said. "There is an emphasis on function, the techtonic aspect, but also an emphasis on form, how it fits into the Park Avenue context and makes an impact."

Foster proposed a set of three floating towers—Mr. Levinson called them separate buildings connected by a central spine—with each higher segment held aloft by dramatic trusses. In the spaces between the office blocks are vast open spaces, some 42-feet high, that will be open to building occupants and occasionally the public.

"We wanted to address the public realm, how does a building fit in to the public realm, the way people approach the building," Mr. Levinson said.

This was true of all the designs, but the way they addressed them were different. Rem Koolhaas conceived of a dramatically torqued building, with retractable walls throughhtout to reveal the spaces or protect them from the elements. Richard Rogers created what Mr. Levinson joked was an "Adirondack park." Like Mr. Foster's plan, there are three discreet office volumes, but here they are held up by a robust orange structure with diagonal cuts to make room for pocket parks, planted with tall pine trees—certainly nothing else like it in New York. Zaha Hadid created a sinuous building that resembles a giant white flower. It has cutouts at the base of the petals, in the towers four corners, which would have been open to the sky.

"Rogers we knew would have an exoskeleton, something very muscular, Zaha would create something real organic, Rem would have some movement and a very cerebral project and Foster would have elegance with an emphasis on the presence of the building," Mr. Levinson said.

It is a challenging commission since all the firms were given the task of peeling back 75 percent of the current boxy building that sits at 425 Park Avenue, then building back up from the base that remained. This was part of a zoning quirk that were Mr. Levinson to demolition the entire building, he would actually be forced to build something smaller than the current building, about 500,000 square feet compared to 650,000.

Mr. Levinson is eagerly awaiting the Midtown East rezoning, which might remove certain impediments to his project, like a better base to the building, but he also admitted that he does not expect to build an even bigger building, even though the new zoning would allow it, up to 24 FAR, compared to the 18 FAR the building currently has (current zoning only allow 15 FAR, but since the building was built before the zoning was revised in 1961, it is bigger than that).

"We are building a bespoke office building," Mr. Levinson explained. "I don't think we need to go much bigger than what we have now. Around Grand Central, bigger might work, but this is the Plaza District, this is a bespoke office building, and I believe this is the right size for us."

Mr. Levinson said he was not joking about finding a place for all these architects in his stable. "We actually do hope to work with all the firms in the future," Mr. Levinson said. No doubt the city's architecture cognoscenti hopes he does.

Bring it up. (dBox/L&L Holdings)

Who needs the Midtown East Rezoning to transform the area when you have intrepid developers and unlikely circumstances? O.K., so both of those are super-rare, so bring on the rezoning,

In the meantime, though, we can occupy ourselves with David Levinson's daring plan to tear down 75 percent of 425 Park Avenue and replace it with a dynamic new tower by Lord Norman Foster. Foster + Partners have emerged victorious from a competition Mr. Levinson's L&L Holdings held over the past few months between some of the world's most high-profile designers. The British Pritzker Prize winner beat out fellow starchitects Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid and Richard Rogers (no Americans, unfortunately).“We are grateful to each of the firms for the thoughtfulness and creativity they demonstrated throughout the process,” Mr. Levinson said in a release. “There is no doubt that each group was fully capable of helping us realize our vision of a 425 Park Avenue tower that redefines the modern office environment while also respecting and enhancing the timeless allure of the Plaza district.”

The project poses an unusual challenge. Because the existing 32-story building was built in 1957, it is larger than current zoning (created in 1961) allows. Were Mr. Levinson to demolish the entire building, he would be forced to replace it with a smaller structure. But his clever real estate attorneys have determined that they could retain the base of the building, building a replacement up from there, and, through some zoning wizardry, maintain the new building at the current one size, 650,000 square feet.

425 Park today.

The new building as currently conceived will reach 687 feet, considerably taller than the 370-foot structure it will be replacing. The design by Foster + Partners is interesting in part because it looks somewhat like a midcentury office tower in the Seagrams/425 Park vein, except that it has been judo-chopped in two spots and is now held up by giant trusses. This not only breaks up the scale of what would likely be a massive building but also creates two terraces, an increasingly popular amenity in office towers. On the street, a rendering shows a vast plaza, providing much-needed open space (even if there is a building overhanging it) in the heart of Midtown.

Should the Midtown East Rezoning be approved, it would allow Mr. Levinson to potentially build a tower 50 percent bigger than what he already can do, but he would have to wait until 2018 to do so, because of a special provision in the rezoning to protect the development of projects at Hudson Yards and the World Trade Center, where millions more square feet of office space is already poised to come online.

Lord Foster is best known for his pioneering work on what became known in the 1970s and '80s, when he began to build serious projects such as the  HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong and London's Stansted airport, as high-tech or high modern architecture. In New York, he has built the new Hearst Building and the Sperrone Westwater Gallery on the Bowery as well as designing 2 World Trade Center, the second tallest building on the site that is indefinitely stalled at the moment.

For those eager to get a look at all of Foster + Partner's designs for 425 Park, as well as the three losing proposals, they will be on display Oct. 18 and 19 as part of the Municipal Art Society's annual MAS Summit, to be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Correction: An earlier version of this post stated the new building would be not much taller than the existing one. In fact, the new building is almost twice as tall. It also credit Lord Foster with designing the Pompidou Centre with Richard Rogers. It was he and Renzo Piano that built the Paris museum. The Observer regrets the errors.

425 Park Avenue, before it needed tearing down. (Eral Soto)

In what sounds like a cross between a party and a design crit from architecture college, L&L Holdings held four marathon sessions last week to explore proposals for replacing the tower it owns at 425 Park Avenue with a new modern office building.

Last year, L&L revealed it planned to tear down the 1950s office block and replace it with something new. A complication in the zoning meant L&L had to keep the bottom 25 percent of the building intact, otherwise the developer would be forced to replace the current building with something smaller. It tapped 11 of the world’s top architects to come up with their own plans, then chose four to present preliminary designs, which took place last week.

These starchitects—Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers (all foreigners, including three Brits!)—each gave two hour presentations at L&L’s West 57th Street offices, according to a source, one in the morning, one in the evening, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. This was followed by either lunch or dinner at a different nearby restaurant.

An early model of a possible replacement. (L&L)

The architects themselves were on-hand to make the presentation to L&L principals David Levinson and Robert Lapidus and their deputies. There were joined by a design advisory committee led by Columbia real estate dean Vishaan Chakrabarti, CBRE CEO and REBNY chair Mary Ann Tighe, Municipal Art Society president Vin Cipolla and former Landmarks Commission chair and current Hunter College president Jennifer Raab.

According to our source, the designers each presented two different proposals, one in which the 25 percent provision was considered and another where the building could be torn down and replaced at the current floor-area-ratio with no restrictions, at an FAR of 18. There was no discussion of the recently announced Midtown East rezoning, which could allow buildings of exceptional quality to rise to a 24 FAR—50 percent bigger than the current zoning, a bonus that seems to tantalizing to pass up—because the plan had not yet been revealed.

The architects could always come up with such schemes at a later date, as the project is not expected to commence until 2015, when the tenants clear out all at once. Normally, this would present a major challenge for a landlord to re-tenant the building, but L&L has decided to use it to its advantage in replacing the aging structure instead.

Details of the different designs were not available, but they were said to be impressive. "They put a tremendous amount of time and thought into their presentations," the source said. "They were extremely detailed and highly creative in their solutions to the site’s challenges."

The details were confirmed by an L&L representative who declined to comment further. The designs are due to be unveiled sometime in the coming weeks, with a finalist to be announced by the end of the year.

The Post's Lois Weiss got word that Eric Hadar is in talks with Foster for a 300,000-square-foot office/hotel/condo project of some sort built on an assemblage of properties on West 40th Street, on the south side of the park. Weiss' sources suggest that two of the buildings would go, while a third, an annex to the landmarked American Radiator Building at 50 West 40th Street, would likely be preserved in some capacity.

The L-shaped lot also includes 54 West 40th Street and 43 West 39th Street, with 50 West 40th located at the crux of the site. Though majestic, the building is not currently landmarked. The decision to preserve it anyway is a worthy one, though it probably also helps stave off an outcry.

This is familiar territory for Foster, as his best-known building in the city is the Hearst Building, the crystalline tower on 57th Street that rises from the historic six-story base of the original Hearst headquarters. Foster is also familiar with the challenges facing this latest project, having contended with preservationists and annoyed neighbors on his 980 Madison addition and the still uncertain timeline on his 2 World Trade Center tower.

Similar challenges appear to be facing this project. Weiss reports that at the same time Hadar is negotiating with Foster, he is also in talks with CUNY to put a new community college into one of the buildings that has already been built out as a school, raising questions about when or even if the new building would get built.

And yet this could simply be a shrewd move on Hadar's part, getting the building occupied and generating income in the short-term while he goes through the city's onerous approval process. Plus, construction financing limited as it is right now, this project probably won't be beaking ground for years.

Still, the possibility is tantalizing. Hopefully this isn't the last we'll be hearing of this project, as well.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo

Sources attribute much of the delay to the Hearst Corporation’s style of decision-making. Any retailer must be approved not only by the firm’s head of real estate, but also by its president and CFO. And then there’s the fact that, for a while, Hearst apparently insisted on asking $400 a square foot for space that, despite its proximity to the Time Warner Center, exists in a retail hinterland.

But we can’t put all the blame on the fumbling Hearsts. For one thing, it would be a tad disappointing were the ground floor to go to a tenant like CVS (one would-be retailer allowed to wither on the vine). For another, any retailer looking to make its own bold statement would find its voice overwhelmed by the glassine pitch of Lord Foster’s angular, towering creation.

Even so, what possible complaint could Hearst have with Anthropologie, which was pretty close to a deal but is now, as a source rather obliquely put it, “in cyberspace?” What tenant could be a better fit for the ladies at Cosmo and Marie Claire?
As Hearst dithers, the economy has undermined its price point, and the very ability of tenants to open stores.

We hear that Hearst has of late become more reasonable, from a pricing perspective. Richard Hodos of CB Richard Ellis, who a while back took over the challenging leasing assignment from arch-nemesis Cushman & Wakefield, said interest in the space remains strong.

“Hearst is in negotiations with a number of quality retailers—some for all of the 57th Street space and some for just a portion—and no decision has yet been made as to which retailer(s) to proceed with,” Mr. Hodos wrote in an email. “We’ve also had a lot of interest in the 56th Street corner, mainly from quality food uses.”

drubinstein@observer.com

According to a release issued by the gallery in November, Sperone Westwater will relocate from West 13th Street in December 2009, the move "prompted by Sperone Westwater’s increasing need for larger and more flexible space..."

More from the release:

Lisi de Bourbon, the Landmarks spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the commission would "comment, and possibly vote" on the tower on Tuesday.

The two were beaten back with their 2006 plan to build a much taller 30-story apartment tower atop the 1949 Parke-Bernet Galleries building, also revealed by Mr. Ouroussoff, as it met strong opposition on the Upper East Side.

From Mr. Ouroussoff’s review, dated for Wednesday’s paper:

From the tiny picture on the Times site that doesn’t (yet) enlarge, it seems the more modest version pops up five stories above the limestone-clad building.

The plan of Mr. Rosen, who is a principal at RFR Holding, must gain the approval of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission as the Parke-Bernet Galleries building is within the Upper East Side historic district.