Cape Advisors is replacing the elegant polished granite lobby at 100 Eleventh Avenue designed by Jean Nouvel with carpeting and three "boulders," according to an article in today's edition of The New York Times by Fred A. Bernstein.

"Real estate agents attribute slow sales in part to the lobby designed by Mr. Nouvel, a stark black space. So the developers have begun to alter the lobby, not with the help of Mr. Nouvel, but of Jennifer Post, an Upper East Side interior designer," the article said, adding that Mr. Novel was "sad about the changes" and declared that "they have gone off course" and "want to complete the building as inexpensively as possible and they want to take the money." His project architect, Francois Leininger, told The Times that "None of what they're doing is related to our design," adding "we are out of the loop."

Mr. Nouvel, a Prizker Prize architect, has had difficult times in New York. Earlier this year, the City Planning Commission "decapitated" 200 feet off his planned skyscraper for Hines Interests and the Museum of Modern Art and former projects proposed for the High Line and Brooklyn riverfront were not built.

The article said that 16 condominium apartments in the crescent-shaped 54-unit building, which is distinguished by a dazzling, curved facade with more than a 1,000 irregularly sized and angled windows, remain unsold.

Holly Parker, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman and the building's sales director, told The Times that said the goal was to "take it to the next step of making the lobby more residential, and comfortable, when you walk in." "She said that she had heard, over and over, from both potential buyers and current residents, that they wanted the lobby warmed up, which she communicated to the developers," adding that "the furniture Ms. Post chose for the lobby would create a 'more residential,' feel."

Ms. Post told The Times she was bringing in "three huge black boulders, rock sculptures, designed by me - they're as big as grizzlies. And I'm adding furniture from my collection - two seating areas, in cashmere."

The existing lobby, Ms. Post said in the article, is 60 feet long and "it's nothing but a cold black hallway. We're not taking anything away from Nouvel. He's a hard-surface minimalist - I'm adding my soft surfaces. I'm complementing his aesthetic."

The article maintained that "some owners are skeptical" of the developer's lobby change: "I don't want it warmed up," said Todd Eberle, a photographer who with his partner, Richard Pandiscio, owns a one-bedroom condo in the building....Their neighbor Barbara Dente, a communications executive, agrees. Ms. Dente, whose weekend house was designed by the modernist Marcel Breuer, said she wanted her Nouvel as Mr. Nouvel intended it."

Last year, Pembrook Capital Management lent $47.1 million to Cape Advisors to keep the project afloat and the article said that Stuart J. Boesky, the chief executive of Pembrook, said he supported the lobby update, adding that he was not telling Cape Advisors what to do, but that "they consulted with us, and we thought it was a good idea."

In an article entitled "Massacring Jean Nouvel's Nightmarish Lobby" in today's edition of observer.com, Matt Chaban wrote that " the renowned French architect created a stark hallway of matte and mirrored black surfaces with irregularly pattern punched windows that echo the facade. It is not exactly inviting, yet it is distinctively, explicitly Nouvel."