One of the narrowest "slivers" in midtown, this bright and colorful, 20-story condominium tower was designed by Alan Ritchie of The Office of Philip Johnson, which also designed the Urban Glass House at 330 Spring Street.

Sam Suzuki of The Vintage Group is the developer.

The building will have about 20 apartments, many of them occupying full floors.

The tower, which is only 28 feet wide, is faced with "off-white" metal panels and has a red "accent column" on the lower part of the fa??ade and a yellow "accent column" above.

It is two doors from the Art Deco skyscraper at 535 Fifth Avenue, immediately adjacent to 11 East 44th Street, which has J. Press as its major retail tenant, and it is across the street from the Cornell Club. Brooks Brothers is on the same block and Grand Central Station and the MetLife Building are one-and-and-a-half blocks to the east.

The building is scheduled to be finished in 2007.

The site once was occupied by Canfield s Gambling House, which was closed in an anti-vice campaign in 1901 by District Attorney William Jerome and, according to New York Songlines, a website, was "perhaps the most prestigious illegal joint of the Gilded Age."

There is excellent transportation in the area as well as many clubs and the New York Public Library.