As supertall condo 45 Broad stalls, FiDi still booms with new skyscrapers

By Vitali Ogorodnikov | From Future New York Friday, January 31, 2020

Looking up at 125 Greenwich Street

The Financial District skyline was shaped by a century-and-a-half ebb and flow of cycles of booms, busts, and everything in between. Our latest check-in to Downtown’s winding man-made canyons reveals progress at three high-rise sites a continued where some towers climb while others stubbornly refuse to budge. The supertall tower planned at 45 Broad Street hits another snag in its long-running saga; in the meantime, foundation work is well in progress at towers at 102 John Street, 112 Liberty Street, and 185 Broadway.

The Real Deal recently reported that Madison Equities and Gemdale Properties, the developers behind 45 Broad Street, are placing the project on hold, citing “market conditions.” The report also states that the skyscraper would get a height reduction of 80 feet, taking the tower from 1,115 feet down to 1,035.

The height reduction was reportedly made to meet the requirements of the Federal Aviation Authority; if so, the justification is rather baffling, given that the nearby One World Trade Center rises nearly twice as high. But even with the height chop, the building would still reign as the third-tallest skyscraper and tallest apartment building in Lower Manhattan, and the sixth-tallest apartment building in the city (behind Central Park Tower, 111 West 57th Street, 432 Park Avenue, 9 DeKalb, and 53W53.

The halt in development is the latest in a series of starts and stops. In the mid-2000’s, a roughly 600-foot-tall Nobu Hotel was proposed for the site, but development stalled after the site was cleared, and the project was nixed around the time of the Great Recession of 2008. Plans for a taller residential building were announced around a decade later, when a luxury condo construction craze swept the city. Eventually, the building height rose to supertall levels when the project took on the current form of 45 Broad Street, for which a groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2017.

130 William Street in January 2020 (CityRealty)

77 Greenwich Street and 125 Greenwich Street

Four World Trade Center, Marriott Courtyard WTC, and 125 Greenwich Street

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New York CIty skyscrapers financial district

One Wall Street and pre-war commercial towers showing New York at its best

At the moment, major construction work has yet to begin, and it is unknown how much longer the site will remain fallow. The abovementioned “market conditions” almost certainly refer to the recent slowdown in the ultra-luxury condo market, which covers buildings with high-class designs and high construction price tags such as 45 Broad. In the meantime, the market niche in Downtown is covered by several projects that are nearing completion - the tall and slender tower at 125 Greenwich Street, the harbor-facing, cantilevered glass slab at 77 Greenwich Street, the arch-windowed edifice at 130 William Street, and the opulent Art Deco conversion at One Wall Street.

These four buildings indicate that the future is looking brighter for 45 Broad than it may seem. At the moment, all three buildings are nearly sold out; once the sales are complete, a niche would reopen in the Downtown market for high-rise luxury condos, and the several-year construction schedule for the building would give more time for such demand to grow. Another silver lining is that every time the development at 45 Broad Street was put on hold, the ensuing proposal came out loftier and better-looking; perhaps height-limiting FAA regulations may be loosened by the time the project restarts, especially considering that Foster + Partners’ supertall tower at 2 World Trade Center, located within the same Downtown airspace, was recently revived as the building design.

In happier news, construction continues unabated elsewhere in the Financial District. After all, the “regular” high-end residential market remains stronger than its ultra-luxury counterpart, and Downtown remains a lucrative neighborhood with an ever-growing list of resident-friendly perks (a Whole Foods supermarket is set to open at One Wall Street).

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Site of Moinian's 7 Platt Street/104 John Street (January 2020/CityRealty)

A low-rise building is currently being demolished at 104 John Street, across the street from to be replaced by a 458-foot-tall, 37-story tower with 250 apartments. Site prep work is also in progress further west at 185 Broadway, a 31-story mixed-use building planned by SL Green and FXCollaborative for an L-shaped lot hugging the 112 Liberty Street, also near the World Trade Center, a site has been cleared for a 327-foot, 28-story hotel with 230 rooms.

ZD-1 Diagram for a new hotel slated for112 LIberty Street

112 Liberty Street as of mid-January 2020

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