Extell Development gave a presentation last night to Riverside South Task Force Committee of Community Board 7 of its plans to develop the southern end of the 56-acre, Riverside South project that Donald Trump got rezoned from manufacturing to residential and commercial uses in 1992.
Extell and its partners bought the southern half of the site that overlooks the Hudson River from Mr. Trump and his partners a few years ago and has completed two new residential condominium buildings, the Avery and the Rushmore, and is nearing completion of two new rental buildings, all under a 1993 Large Scale Development Special Permit whose "restrictive declaration" permited Extell's southernmost "superblock" to have 2.3 million square feet of development.
The presentation last night was about the "superblock" between West End Avenue and the Hudson River and 59th and 61st Streets just to the north of the enormous power plant designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White in 1904 to house coal furnaces for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. That building still retails two of its original six smokestacks.
The two-block Extell parcel is now called Riverside Center and it has been designed by Christian de Portzamparc, a French architect. The Portzamparc plans call for a 53-story tower on the northwest corner of the site, which would be the third to be built, a 50-story tower on its southwest site, which would be the last to be built, a 42-story tower on its northeast corner, which would be the first to be built, a 39-story tower on its southeast corner, which would be the second to be built, and a 35-story, mid-block tower on its south side, which would be the fourth to be built. Most of the towers will have slanted tops and angled sides and would be clustered around a central plaza that aligns with 60th Street.
The original plans by Mr. Trump for this parcel included a large studio facility for NBC-TV and Mr. Trump also had commissioned Helmut Jahn to design the world's tallest building further north on the rail-yards site. Mr. Trump subsequently hired Cooper-Robertson, and eventually agreed to the existing compromise plan that extended the undulations of Riverside Drive north of 72nd Street and called for several twin-towered buildings reminiscent of some on Central Park West.
Those plans also called for the demolition of the elevated Miller Highway and its replacement with a tunnel. The highway still exists on the site and partially blocks vistas from the new buildings of the river.
Gary Barnett, the president of Extell, told the community board meeting that a "scoping" session for the project's environmental studies is likely to occur in December. After environmental reviews, the project has to go through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process, which involves public hearings by the community board, the borough president's office, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.
Mr. Barnett also said that plans announced earlier in the year to include a Costco at the site have since been abandoned but that it is still seeking to increase the total square footage of the southernmost site from 2.37 million square feet with 572,192 square feet of residential space to 3.1 million square feet with 2.55 million square feet of residential space. Extell's new plans also call for a 97,000-square-foot public school, a 240,000-square-foot hotel, a 44,000-square-foot cinema facility, 138,000-square feet of publicly accessible open space and an increase from 743 to 1,800 parking spaces.
The present plan and 1993 agreement calls for 12 percent of the residential units to be "affordable."
Mr. Barnett told the meeting that "it's a very difficult time" and "increased density" is needed for the project to proceed, adding that co-generation of energy is an idea his group will study and it strongly felt it did not want to wall off the river from the inland community.
Extell and its partners bought the southern half of the site that overlooks the Hudson River from Mr. Trump and his partners a few years ago and has completed two new residential condominium buildings, the Avery and the Rushmore, and is nearing completion of two new rental buildings, all under a 1993 Large Scale Development Special Permit whose "restrictive declaration" permited Extell's southernmost "superblock" to have 2.3 million square feet of development.
The presentation last night was about the "superblock" between West End Avenue and the Hudson River and 59th and 61st Streets just to the north of the enormous power plant designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White in 1904 to house coal furnaces for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. That building still retails two of its original six smokestacks.
The two-block Extell parcel is now called Riverside Center and it has been designed by Christian de Portzamparc, a French architect. The Portzamparc plans call for a 53-story tower on the northwest corner of the site, which would be the third to be built, a 50-story tower on its southwest site, which would be the last to be built, a 42-story tower on its northeast corner, which would be the first to be built, a 39-story tower on its southeast corner, which would be the second to be built, and a 35-story, mid-block tower on its south side, which would be the fourth to be built. Most of the towers will have slanted tops and angled sides and would be clustered around a central plaza that aligns with 60th Street.
The original plans by Mr. Trump for this parcel included a large studio facility for NBC-TV and Mr. Trump also had commissioned Helmut Jahn to design the world's tallest building further north on the rail-yards site. Mr. Trump subsequently hired Cooper-Robertson, and eventually agreed to the existing compromise plan that extended the undulations of Riverside Drive north of 72nd Street and called for several twin-towered buildings reminiscent of some on Central Park West.
Those plans also called for the demolition of the elevated Miller Highway and its replacement with a tunnel. The highway still exists on the site and partially blocks vistas from the new buildings of the river.
Gary Barnett, the president of Extell, told the community board meeting that a "scoping" session for the project's environmental studies is likely to occur in December. After environmental reviews, the project has to go through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process, which involves public hearings by the community board, the borough president's office, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.
Mr. Barnett also said that plans announced earlier in the year to include a Costco at the site have since been abandoned but that it is still seeking to increase the total square footage of the southernmost site from 2.37 million square feet with 572,192 square feet of residential space to 3.1 million square feet with 2.55 million square feet of residential space. Extell's new plans also call for a 97,000-square-foot public school, a 240,000-square-foot hotel, a 44,000-square-foot cinema facility, 138,000-square feet of publicly accessible open space and an increase from 743 to 1,800 parking spaces.
The present plan and 1993 agreement calls for 12 percent of the residential units to be "affordable."
Mr. Barnett told the meeting that "it's a very difficult time" and "increased density" is needed for the project to proceed, adding that co-generation of energy is an idea his group will study and it strongly felt it did not want to wall off the river from the inland community.
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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