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The landmarks committee of Community Board 8 voted last night to approve revisions to the plans to convert the former Stanhope Hotel at 995 Fifth Avenue to condominium apartments.

Because the full board does not meet in August, the committee's recommendations will be forwarded next week to the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission for a "certificate of appropriateness." Because the building lies within the Metropolitan Museum of Art Historic District, any exterior changes to buildings within the district must be approved by the landmarks commission.

The building was designed by Rosario Candela, one of the most important architects of luxury pre-war apartment buildings in the city.

Extell Management, which is headed by Gary Barnett, made a presentation to the committee last night that indicated that it has recently further recessed a roof-top addition from the building so that it will be barely noticeable from the street or Central Park. Furthermore, it indicated it will not only clean and restore the building's facade but also remove the existing discrete, through-the-wall air-conditioning units as well as the exposed rooftop watertank. The building will have new central air-conditioning and the masonry repairs will match the color of the existing facade.

The sidewalk caf?hat operated on the Fifth Avenue frontage of the hotel for many years has been removed and will be replaced by planting beds in the new plan.
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.