The Department of Buildings approved an amendment to the building plan for 23 East 22nd Street June 18, 2009 that appears to have substantially lowered the height of the 24-story residential condominium tower planned by Slazer Enterprises to rise directly behind its taller residential condominium tower at One Madison Park on East 23rd Street.

The recently approved amendment was submitted by John Cetra of Cetra/Ruddy, Inc., the architectural firm that designed One Madison Park, which is now nearing completion.

When the 23 East 22nd Street component of the project was announced the Office of Metropolitan Architecture, which is headed by Rem Koolhaas, the author of "Delirious New York," was the architect. Although much shorter than the 23rd Street tower, the 22nd Street building was one of the more unusual building designs in the city's history as its lower and upper floors have higher ceiling heights than the middle of the building and, more importantly, the building was cantilevered in many steps to the east to provide "peek-a-boo" vistas of Madison Square Park from behind One Madison Park. Its teetering design not only offered major thrills/frights to lovers of vertigo but also had "floor-lights" as opposed to skylights on the undersides of the stepped cantilever sections.

The amendment indicated but did not specify revisions in the number of floors and the number of dwelling units and the "schedule A" that lists the uses and number of units on each floor combined both buildings and indicated that some units were in the "north tower" that had 51 stories and some in the south tower whose exact height was not given but which had no apartments listed about the eighth floor. The Curbed.com article indicated that the amended plans for the 22nd Street building were 11 stories in height but that is not indicated in the filed "schedule A" on the website of the Buildings Department. The article did not that "Cetra/Ruddy had designed an 11-story building for the site."

A June 22 article by Joey at Curbed.com had the headline: "Arrested Development: Rem Put to Sleep on 22nd Street?" The article said that "Rumors have been flying for weeks about downsizing taking place at Koolhaas's 24-story sister building..., but the reality appears even more dire than just taking some Rem off the top."

The Koolhaas designed was unveiled well after marketing had started for One Madison Park and both buildings were to have shared a lobby. A very dramatic sales office opened earlier this year for 23 East 22nd Street at 27 Mercer Street and it included large "models" of the cantilevered building lying on its side.

Mr. Koolhaas and OMA are widely regarded as one of the most original and important contemporary architects in the world whose completed and geometrically spectacular projects include the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing and the Central Library in Seattle. In 1999, they designed a bold hotel for Ian Schrager at Cooper Square that was not developed. The sloping interiors of the Prada store on Broadway at Prince Street is another of their designs.

The OMA website still has pictures of the original design of the 22nd Street building and telephone calls from CityRealty to the number listed on the building's website were not returned this afternoon. A message was also left by CityRealty for John Cetra.