By Matt Chaban 10/08/12 6:55pm

Best Laid Plans

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Another Reason for the Midtown East Rezoning: Bragging Rights

We’re kind of embarrassed to admit that this never occurred to us until just now, reading The Times‘ recap of the Midtown East debate. Sure, all the familiar arguments on both sides are there—the city is moving too fast, the city is not moving fast enough, the buildings are too big, they are not big enough, we must compete, we must consider the consequence—but there is also are new argument that should have been obvious from the start, though no one has brought it up, at least not publicly, until Charles Bagli spelled it right out. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/10/12 11:43am

In the Rezone

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Even a Smaller Hudson Square Will Transform the Manhattan Skyline

We know that the reason there are no skyscrapers in the middle of Manhattan has nothing to do with bedrock and everything to do with development patterns. And it is development that will alter that skyline once again. Trinity Real Estate recently unveiled their plans to rezone Hudson Square, the last undeveloped corner of Manhattan just west of Soho, north of Tribeca, south of the Village. As those neighborhoods would suggest, it is a place ripe for development. Just beware of over-development. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/14/12 11:52am

Best Laid Plans

Now that's a skyline. (William Weber/Curbed)

Another Look at the Quite Possibly Insane Midtown Skyline of the Future

Back when we did our big report one what the Bloomberg administration has in store for Midtown East under an in-the-works rezoning, we came up with a little dream/doomsday scenario of what that might look like. Then, when the city officially unveiled the plans, they revealed that some sites could potentially see buildings as big or bigger than the Empire State Building, and they produced their own images of this brave new world.

Now, our pals over at Curbed have come up with their own rendering of a Midtown of the future, which are equally exciting and terrifying, depending on where you stand on cool new skyscrapers and the crowds and shadows that come with them. Read More

By Matt Chaban 5/31/12 5:40pm

Skyscraper Living

Going up. (original image:Dave Hogerty/Curbed, with additions by NYO)

Just How Insane is the 57th Street Skyline Going to Be?

Last night, The Observer got a glimpse of the super-tall residential tower Gary Barnett has planned for Broadway and 57th Street, just one block away from his already very tall One57.

Our good friends at Curbed picked up on this and were brilliant enough to photoshop the two onto the same skyline. It is quite the striking image, but not quite complete.

After all, rival 432 Park is already underway—and looking for more investors, if you’re interested, as The Journal revealed yesterday—so we figured, what the hey, let’s put them all together.

Welcome to your new skyline, circa 2015. Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/30/12 7:02pm

The Neverending Story

The Empire State Building (ESB)

As 1 WTC Reaches Historic Height, An Effacing Empire State Building ‘Salutes’

As of today, as you probably already know, 1 World Trade Center reached the historic height of 1,271 feet, eclipsing the Empire State Building and reclaiming its place as the tallest building in the city. In honor of that achievement, the tower will be lit up red, white and blue tonight. The Observer asked Tony Malkin, owner of the iconic tower, what he thought of being No. 2 again. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/25/12 10:20am

Cloudbusters

Manhattan 1906, in the throws of a boom.

Paul Goldberger and Skyscraper Economist Jason Barr Debate the Manhattan Skyline

Last week, The Observer learned with the help of Rutgers economics professor Jason Barr that the reason for the development of Midtown apart from Lower Manhattan, and the skyscrapers both possess, had nothing to do with bedrock beneath these towers, as had long been believed.  Call it the uncanny valley, the soaring mountain range that makes the New York City skyline the best in the world.

Having determined what was not the cause of this unique skyline, The Observer thought we had figured out what was, that being the flight of the wealthy north.  But it turns out one very influential urban investigator begged to differ: New Yorker architecture critic and Pullitzer Prize winner Paul Goldberger. Read More

By Eliot Brown 11/15/07 8:42pm

Maxim’s Home Sells for $170 M.

A $170 million deal for 1040 Sixth Avenue became official today, with Orin Wilf’s Skyline Developers scooping up the 256,000-square-foot building that houses Dennis Publishing, publisher of Maxim and The Week magazines.

Skyline has said it could build a hotel or a residential building on the site just south of Bryant Park, which includes Read More