A team lead by the California-based CIM Group has filed an application with the Department of Buildings to begin construction on the former site of the Drake Hotel on the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 56th Street, according to an article today by Laura Kusisto at observer.com.
The article described the location as "the most valuable development site in North America."
The article said that "associates of Harry Macklowe" who "purchased the site for $418 million in 2006, are listed on the application," adding that "the plans submitted to the city call for a mere five-story office tower, but that is a possible tactic to get the development moving before plans are finalized or financing is secured. Industry insiders told The Observer that a 70-story residential tower is planned, with as much as three stories of luxury retail on the bottom, but that could not be confirmed. Nordstrom's, which was previously slated to take the retail space, is reportedly still considering it."
"The Drake Hotel site has been fallow ever since Mr. Macklowe demolished" the hotel that once housed Shepheard's, one of the city's most glamorous discotheques. The 21-story, 495-room Drake Hotel had been erected in 1926 by Bing & Bing and designed by Emery Roth.
"In the early 1960's entrepreneur William Zeckendorf acquired the hotel, added guest rooms and opened New York's first discotheque, Shepheard's. In 1965, the Tisch brothers, acquired the property" according to Stanley Turkel, who had been hired by the Tisch organization to be the first general manager of Loews.
"We printed and distributed a card entitled, 'How to Do the Newest Discotheque Dances at Shepheard's in New York's Drake Hotel' with step-by-step instructions to dance the Jerk, Watusi, Frug and the Monkey. Killer Joe Piro's party was a regular feature at Shepheard's. The discotheque was so successful that patrons lined up on 56th Street and around the corner on Park Avenue to wait (even on the winter's coldest nights) to be admitted where they paid a hefty cover charge to dance to disco music," Mr. Turkel wrote.
"The Drake's guest list included such famous classical musicians as Alicia del la Rocha, Dame Myra Hess and Glenn Gould. Also celebrities like Milton Berle, Leon Bibb, Paul Anka, Muhammed Ali (soft spoken and kind), Barry Goldwater and many more," Mr. Turkel recalled.
The hotel was acquired in the early 1980s by the Swissotel company of Zurich, which undertook a $52 million room-by-room renovation of the building. Renovations were completed in 1991.
Silent film star Lillian Gish lived at the hotel from 1946-1949. Other notable guests included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Glenn Gould and restaurateur Toots Shor lived there in his final years.
"Deutsche Bank sued Mr. Macklowe over an unpaid $30 million debt on the site in August 2008," the article said, and "Los Angeles-based CIM purchased the site from Deutsche Bank for $305.4 million in January. They have also been quietly assembling or trying to assemble several townhouses around the site, in preparation for development. Mr. Macklowe is still said to be involved in the planning, with little or no financial stake, according to people familiar with the deal, but not directly involved."
"The application to begin excavation and other below-ground work on the site at Park Avenue and 56th Street marks the latest sign that real-estate development is stirring in New York. With the city's economy adding jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the country, a number of developers are moving forward with plans to build office and residential property," according to an article by Craig Karmin in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal.
The article described the location as "the most valuable development site in North America."
The article said that "associates of Harry Macklowe" who "purchased the site for $418 million in 2006, are listed on the application," adding that "the plans submitted to the city call for a mere five-story office tower, but that is a possible tactic to get the development moving before plans are finalized or financing is secured. Industry insiders told The Observer that a 70-story residential tower is planned, with as much as three stories of luxury retail on the bottom, but that could not be confirmed. Nordstrom's, which was previously slated to take the retail space, is reportedly still considering it."
"The Drake Hotel site has been fallow ever since Mr. Macklowe demolished" the hotel that once housed Shepheard's, one of the city's most glamorous discotheques. The 21-story, 495-room Drake Hotel had been erected in 1926 by Bing & Bing and designed by Emery Roth.
"In the early 1960's entrepreneur William Zeckendorf acquired the hotel, added guest rooms and opened New York's first discotheque, Shepheard's. In 1965, the Tisch brothers, acquired the property" according to Stanley Turkel, who had been hired by the Tisch organization to be the first general manager of Loews.
"We printed and distributed a card entitled, 'How to Do the Newest Discotheque Dances at Shepheard's in New York's Drake Hotel' with step-by-step instructions to dance the Jerk, Watusi, Frug and the Monkey. Killer Joe Piro's party was a regular feature at Shepheard's. The discotheque was so successful that patrons lined up on 56th Street and around the corner on Park Avenue to wait (even on the winter's coldest nights) to be admitted where they paid a hefty cover charge to dance to disco music," Mr. Turkel wrote.
"The Drake's guest list included such famous classical musicians as Alicia del la Rocha, Dame Myra Hess and Glenn Gould. Also celebrities like Milton Berle, Leon Bibb, Paul Anka, Muhammed Ali (soft spoken and kind), Barry Goldwater and many more," Mr. Turkel recalled.
The hotel was acquired in the early 1980s by the Swissotel company of Zurich, which undertook a $52 million room-by-room renovation of the building. Renovations were completed in 1991.
Silent film star Lillian Gish lived at the hotel from 1946-1949. Other notable guests included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Glenn Gould and restaurateur Toots Shor lived there in his final years.
"Deutsche Bank sued Mr. Macklowe over an unpaid $30 million debt on the site in August 2008," the article said, and "Los Angeles-based CIM purchased the site from Deutsche Bank for $305.4 million in January. They have also been quietly assembling or trying to assemble several townhouses around the site, in preparation for development. Mr. Macklowe is still said to be involved in the planning, with little or no financial stake, according to people familiar with the deal, but not directly involved."
"The application to begin excavation and other below-ground work on the site at Park Avenue and 56th Street marks the latest sign that real-estate development is stirring in New York. With the city's economy adding jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the country, a number of developers are moving forward with plans to build office and residential property," according to an article by Craig Karmin in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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