The City Planning Commission approved a plan last week for Silvercup West, a large, mixed-use development planned for a site just to the south of the Queensborough Bridge in Long Island City, but the commission insisted that the developer, Terra Cotta, LLC., provide 150 units of off-site ¿affordable housing.¿
The six-acre project would erect 8 large television and film studios at its center flanked by an office tower to the north and two residential towers with about 1,000 market-rate apartments to the south.
Stuart Match Suna and Alan Suna, the heads of Silvercup Studios, are the principals of Terra Cotta LLC.
The architect for the large project is the Richard Rogers Partnership of London. Lord Rogers, one of the world¿s most famous ¿high-tech¿ architects, designed with Renzo Piano the famous Centre Pompidou in Paris and on his own Lloyd¿s Bank in London and he was recently selected to redesign the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and to design one of three office towers that are to be developed by Larry Silverstein at Ground Zero.
In addition to about 1,000 market-rate apartments in the two south towers, the project would have about 650,000 square feet in the office building at the north end of the site and the eight film studios in the center of the site would be about 18,000 square feet. The studios would be topped by a catering facility with sweeping views of midtown Manhattan. The project, furthermore, would have a cultural/community facility in the base of the office tower of 126,401 square feet, 77,000 square feet of retail space and 1,400 parking spaces.
The tallest residential tower would be 588 feet high, although Stuart Suna told the commission in May that the Federal Aviation Agency had authorized a building height at this location of up to 600 feet. (The finials of the elegant Queensborough Bridge are about 354 feet high.)
Lord Rogers said the project¿s design relates to the ¿language¿ of the ¿fantastic¿ Queensborough Bridge, adding that office tower¿s setbacks were designed to respect the ornate towers of the nearby bridge.
The project would restore the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company building, and provide considerable public open space. Silvercup Studio¿s main facility is located in the former Silvercup Bakery Company building that is about half a mile east of the ¿Silvercup West¿ site.
The six-acre project would erect 8 large television and film studios at its center flanked by an office tower to the north and two residential towers with about 1,000 market-rate apartments to the south.
Stuart Match Suna and Alan Suna, the heads of Silvercup Studios, are the principals of Terra Cotta LLC.
The architect for the large project is the Richard Rogers Partnership of London. Lord Rogers, one of the world¿s most famous ¿high-tech¿ architects, designed with Renzo Piano the famous Centre Pompidou in Paris and on his own Lloyd¿s Bank in London and he was recently selected to redesign the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and to design one of three office towers that are to be developed by Larry Silverstein at Ground Zero.
In addition to about 1,000 market-rate apartments in the two south towers, the project would have about 650,000 square feet in the office building at the north end of the site and the eight film studios in the center of the site would be about 18,000 square feet. The studios would be topped by a catering facility with sweeping views of midtown Manhattan. The project, furthermore, would have a cultural/community facility in the base of the office tower of 126,401 square feet, 77,000 square feet of retail space and 1,400 parking spaces.
The tallest residential tower would be 588 feet high, although Stuart Suna told the commission in May that the Federal Aviation Agency had authorized a building height at this location of up to 600 feet. (The finials of the elegant Queensborough Bridge are about 354 feet high.)
Lord Rogers said the project¿s design relates to the ¿language¿ of the ¿fantastic¿ Queensborough Bridge, adding that office tower¿s setbacks were designed to respect the ornate towers of the nearby bridge.
The project would restore the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company building, and provide considerable public open space. Silvercup Studio¿s main facility is located in the former Silvercup Bakery Company building that is about half a mile east of the ¿Silvercup West¿ site.
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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