The planned mixed-use tower at 400 Fifth Avenue on the northwest corner at 36th Street took a giant step forward last night when Community Board 5 passed a resolution that endorsed transfer of development rights to the site.
The board voted 27 to 10 with 1 abstention last night to approve a resolution requesting the Landmarks Preservation Commission to issue a report to the City Planning Commission authorizing the transfer of 173,000 square feet of development rights from the former Tiffany Building at 401 Fifth Avenue, a landmark, to a new building planned at 400 Fifth Avenue in exchange for a preservation plan and continued maintenance plan for the landmark building.
The proposed tower will be 631 feet 10 inches tall including a 40-foot-high mechanical space at the top of the building which will have a ribbed crown that flares outward slightly and will be illuminated at night. The tower will be setback on an 11-story base.
Michael T. Sillerman, the co-chair of the land-use department at the law firm of Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP, who represented the developer at the meeting, told the board that the base of the proposed tower will have a luxury hotel that will occupy floors 4 through 16. Floors 17 through 56 will have corner windows, unlike the lower floors, and they will contain about 360 condominium apartments. The hotel is anticipated to have almost 200 rooms.
Mr. Sillerman said that "an additional icing on the cake" is that the developer is giving an easement to the Landmarks Conservancy to oversee the maintenance program for 401 Fifth Avenue. He also noted that the 21.6 F.A.R. (floor-to-area ratio) of the proposed tower does not produce a building much taller than an as-of-right development with "wedding-cake" setbacks.
The 57-story skyscraper has been designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates for Bi & Di Real Estate SpA, which acquired the site in May from Tessler Developments LLC and Lehman Brothers. Tessler and Lehman had, in fact, commissioned Gwathmey Siegel to design the project. Bi & Di Real Estate SpA is based in Italy and has developed offices and resorts in Europe and Cuba and this is its first project in the United States.
The site has been cleared for several months and had been acquired by Tessler Developments LLC from The Chetrit Group for about $150 million.
A previous design for the site was prepared The Chetrit Group by Peter Magill of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and that called for a low-rise based topped by a rectilinear tower of about 50 stories with a highly textured facade of undulating faceted elements and slightly angled windows. The Community Board had voted against the proposed air-rights transfers in 2004 and 2005 when presented by previous owners.
The new design retains the general massing of the previous design but makes more contextual gestures in its base to the surrounding buildings on both sides of the avenue that are quite similar in their Italian Palazzo-style architecture. The new design is also much more contextual with its own base and with the facades of the Empire State Building, two blocks to the south.
The new design also differs from the old design in that its corner is rounded, a treatment that Gwathmey Siegel & Associates has also employed in its design of a planned new residential building at 240 Park Avenue South.
The landmarks committee of the community board had voted to approve the resolution by a vote of 5 to 4 and the co-chairs of the committee, Layla Law Gisiko and Joyce Matz, both voted against it and argued strongly against it at the board's full meeting. Ms. Gisiko expressed dissatisfaction with the rounded corner and noted that the landmark building already has a "preservation plan" in effect. Ms. Matz claimed that the planned tower is too big.
The project is expected to come up for review in the future before the board's zoning committee.
The board voted 27 to 10 with 1 abstention last night to approve a resolution requesting the Landmarks Preservation Commission to issue a report to the City Planning Commission authorizing the transfer of 173,000 square feet of development rights from the former Tiffany Building at 401 Fifth Avenue, a landmark, to a new building planned at 400 Fifth Avenue in exchange for a preservation plan and continued maintenance plan for the landmark building.
The proposed tower will be 631 feet 10 inches tall including a 40-foot-high mechanical space at the top of the building which will have a ribbed crown that flares outward slightly and will be illuminated at night. The tower will be setback on an 11-story base.
Michael T. Sillerman, the co-chair of the land-use department at the law firm of Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP, who represented the developer at the meeting, told the board that the base of the proposed tower will have a luxury hotel that will occupy floors 4 through 16. Floors 17 through 56 will have corner windows, unlike the lower floors, and they will contain about 360 condominium apartments. The hotel is anticipated to have almost 200 rooms.
Mr. Sillerman said that "an additional icing on the cake" is that the developer is giving an easement to the Landmarks Conservancy to oversee the maintenance program for 401 Fifth Avenue. He also noted that the 21.6 F.A.R. (floor-to-area ratio) of the proposed tower does not produce a building much taller than an as-of-right development with "wedding-cake" setbacks.
The 57-story skyscraper has been designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates for Bi & Di Real Estate SpA, which acquired the site in May from Tessler Developments LLC and Lehman Brothers. Tessler and Lehman had, in fact, commissioned Gwathmey Siegel to design the project. Bi & Di Real Estate SpA is based in Italy and has developed offices and resorts in Europe and Cuba and this is its first project in the United States.
The site has been cleared for several months and had been acquired by Tessler Developments LLC from The Chetrit Group for about $150 million.
A previous design for the site was prepared The Chetrit Group by Peter Magill of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and that called for a low-rise based topped by a rectilinear tower of about 50 stories with a highly textured facade of undulating faceted elements and slightly angled windows. The Community Board had voted against the proposed air-rights transfers in 2004 and 2005 when presented by previous owners.
The new design retains the general massing of the previous design but makes more contextual gestures in its base to the surrounding buildings on both sides of the avenue that are quite similar in their Italian Palazzo-style architecture. The new design is also much more contextual with its own base and with the facades of the Empire State Building, two blocks to the south.
The new design also differs from the old design in that its corner is rounded, a treatment that Gwathmey Siegel & Associates has also employed in its design of a planned new residential building at 240 Park Avenue South.
The landmarks committee of the community board had voted to approve the resolution by a vote of 5 to 4 and the co-chairs of the committee, Layla Law Gisiko and Joyce Matz, both voted against it and argued strongly against it at the board's full meeting. Ms. Gisiko expressed dissatisfaction with the rounded corner and noted that the landmark building already has a "preservation plan" in effect. Ms. Matz claimed that the planned tower is too big.
The project is expected to come up for review in the future before the board's zoning committee.
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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