The New York City Department of Buildings today assigned a examiner to the plans filed by Extell Development for a 953-foot-high, mixed-use tower at 157 West 57th Street across from the Russian Tea Room that is wedged between two major midtown skyscrapers, the Metropolitan Tower and the Carnegie Place Tower.

The architect listed on the plans is Costas Kondylis, but prior published reports have indicated that Christian de Portzamparc, who is designed several towers for Extell near the Hudson River and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, may be involved.

The 73-story project would have retail and hotel space on its lower 20 floors and 150 residential units above, many of which would have unobstructed vistas of Central Park.

The mid-block site runs through the block to 58th Street.

Steve Cuozzo of New York Post recently reported that the project would include a "5-star" Park Hyatt Hotel according to the website of Aegis Security Design that had been hired by Extell to provide security for the project.

In today's edition of The Post, Mr. Cuozzo wrote "Extell still won't confirm or deny the Park Hyatt deal and - surprise - Aegis is no longer involved with the project."

"The $1 billion question remains," Mr. Cuozzo continued, is "how Barnett can get financing for the tower, even while most developers are starved for credit. But the purposefulness with which Extell has moved said it's a done deal."

At 953 feet, the tower would be taller than most towers in the city except for the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings and the Tower Verre planned at 53 West 53d Street in midtown and the towers planned for the Ground Zero site in Lower Manhattan.