A 50-story, mid-block, mixed-use tower has been designed by TEN Arquitectos to replace three low-rise buildings on West 45th Street.

Retail spaces in the buildings have recently been closed.

The site consists of the 4-story building at 66 West 45th Street that housed the Vega House Chinese Restaurant, the 5-story building at 68 West 45th Street that housed Kitchen Provance, and the four-story building at 70 West 45th Street that housed Pizza Paradise.

A full-page, color rendering of the planned tower appeared today in the June, 2006 issue of New York Living Magazine in an article by Steven Cutler on Enrique Norten, the head of TEN Arquitectos. The article said that the building will have a 40-room hotel and 88 condominium apartments and that construction is expected to begin in the fall.

TEN Arquitectos has several other major projects underway in New York including One York Street in TriBeCa, Harlem Park, a mixed-use project on Park Avenue at 125th Street, and a new Library of the Visual and Performing Arts on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.

The article also indicated it is designed "an ultra-high-end residential tower at 11th Avenue and 24th Street overlooking the Hudson River.

The firm was founded in 1986 in Mexico City and opened an office here in 2001. It was the subject of a major exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York last year.

The rendering of the 45th Street project indicates that it will have a low-rise base that holds the street-wall on 45th Street and a set-back tower that is white with an asymmetrical fenestration pattern that includes corner windows on alternate floors. The asymmetrical fenestration pattern, which has not yet been finalized, is somewhat reminiscent of the design by Bill Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox for 122 Greenwich Avenue, a residential project of Hines Interests and Aby Rosen.

The 45th Street project is two doors to the west of the Sofitel Hotel and it is across the street from the black skyscraper at 1166 Avenue of the Americas, which has a large and lushly landscaped mid-block plaza.

Further west, Extell Investment Management was recently reported by The New York Sun to be assembling a site at 131-139 West 45th Street for a luxury hotel.

According to records at the Department of Buildings, the buildings at 66, 68 and 70 West 45th Street, are owned by Waterscape Resort LLS, which has a New York address in care of Jump Shot Sportswear Inc., at 15 West 34th Street of which Salim Assa is a principal. Waterscape Resort acquired the three buildings late last year for more than $20 million.

The planned building is "as-of-right," that is, it can be built within existing building and zoning regulations.

CityRealty.com placed a call Mr. Assa today but it was not returned.