NEW YORK | 50 (10) UN Plaza | 570 FT | 44 FLOORS

[ThatOneGuy]

^^ I wish that one was the final design...

[Busy Bee]

Great rendering. I too love pretty girls in yellow dresses

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by sbarn

I feel that something like the rendering below would look spectacular (note: this is only a vision assembled by myself, not the actual proposal):


Image Source: bvohra
Building Design Source: Archi-Tectonics

That would look great.

[jd3189]

Kinda takes away dominance from Trump.

[njcco]

Originally Posted by jd3189

Kinda takes away dominance from Trump.

Too bad we can't say that about every other aspect of the Donald!

[ThatOneGuy]

TWT is probably my favourite building in NYC, but I don't mind if its dominance is lessened by this new tower.

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/1...ners_tower.php

UN-Neighboring Stalled Site Is Getting Foster & Partners Tower




November 6, 2012
by Sara Polsky

The development site at 50 United Nations Plaza has sat vacant since 2007, when Zeckendorf Development paid $160 million for it. But wishes come true sometimes, and it turns out there's finally something coming to the site!

A groundbreaking for a 44-story condo will be held November 14. As rumored back in December, the condo will be designed by Foster & Partners. (An earlier plan called for a 40-story tower designed by SLCE.) The Foster & Partners design calls for just 87 units, at around 2,500 square feet each, so that the building's diplomat residents could have plenty of space for entertaining. We haven't seen a rendering yet—anyone? Do be in touch.

[Crawford]

I'm glad this will be breaking ground, and hope Norman Foster has a world-class design for this site.

I wish it were taller than the current 44 floors, but I imagine these will be very high floors, and the old, 40-floor proposal was close to 600 ft, so this should be approaching 700 ft. if we're lucky? We'll see.

[NYguy]

Yeah, I don't mind the shorter tower, as long as its something that will be eye-catching, because its in a prominent location. The taller it is, the less it would need to rely on a design to be something noteworthy. A standard 44-story residential tower won't do it. We'll see how much of a roll Foster is on in Manhattan.



high.performer

[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/121109900

Residential tower to rise on stalled site
Zeckendorf Development will break ground on First Avenue next week with a 44-story condominium tower designed by British architect Norman Foster.


By Daniel Geiger
November 8, 2012

Zeckendorf Development, the developer whose residential building at 15 Central Park West has set a series of records for the most expensive apartment sales in the city, will break ground next week on a new building on the east side. Next Wednesday, the family, led by brothers William and Arthur, will begin construction on 50 United Nations Plaza, a new apartment tower the two will develop in a venture with Global Holdings, on First Avenue across from the United Nations.

The partnership has announced few details about the new property, other than that it will be 44 stories and that the noted British architect Norman Foster will design it. The residential condominium will be the first U.S. residential property designed by Mr. Foster, whose New York City credits include the acclaimed Hearst headquarters tower on Eight Avenue.

The builders have been quiet on what the new high-rise will look like and the amenities it will feature, but in promotional materials they boast that it will "set a new standard in luxury living" and will be "a milestone for architectural excellence."

Fifty United Nations Plaza's groundbreaking comes a time when an increasing number of residential projects are underway. In recent days, a partnership between the Carlyle Group and Flank Development purchased a parcel at 71 Smith Street in downtown Brooklyn for around $40 million with plans to build a 310,000 square foot condo building and hotel.

[ThatOneGuy]

I hope it doesn't distract too much from Trump World Tower.

[NYguy]

Can't post it right now, but there's a rendering in the Observer that looks exactly like the one we have.

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Can't post it right now, but there's a rendering in the Observer that looks exactly like the one we have.

http://observer.com/2012/11/presenti...ment-building/
Presenting the Next 15 CPW: Zeckendorfs Unveil 50 UN Plaza, Norman Foster’s First U.S. Apartment Building
By Matt Chaban

Add to that now 50 UN Plaza, a 44-story condo tower on the East Side that will be Lord Norman Foster’s first residential commission in the United States. Mr. Foster is well known for his work on the Hearst Tower, World Trade Center Tower 2 and the new Sperrone Westwater Gallery on the Bowery, as well as a new commission for 425 Park Avenue for L&L Holdings. With this latest commission, he cements his place as an all-around architectural power in the city.

Tomorrow morning, Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, real estate scions like few others, will break ground on the project at 345 East 46th Street, on the corner of First Avenue. The location will afford the project prime river views, as well as a prominent place on the skyline right between the United Nations headquarters and the Trump World Tower. The Observer has obtained an exclusive rendering of the project, which shows a glassy building of in the high-tech vein for which Foster + Partners is best known.

More demure than buildings like Hearst or the so-called Gerkin in London, 50 UN Plaza seems to strike the proper balance of brash understatement the Zeckendorf’s so seem to favor.

The project holds special significance for the Zeckendorf family, since they got their start at the United Nations. William Zeckendorf, Sr., assembled the land that Nelson Rockefeller than bought to build the United Nations complex, and Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf’s maternal grandfather was Trygve Lie, who served as the first secretary general of the United Nations.

A special announcement of a gift to the neighboring Daag Hammarskjold Plaza park is expected at the ground breaking, with Borough President Scott Stringer in attendance, as well as local Councilman Dan Garodnick and Eyal Ofer, head of Global Holdings and a partner in both 50 UN Plaza and 18 Gramercy Park South.

The project will include 87 units, ranging from one-bedrooms as large as 1,100 square feet to three bedrooms as big as 3,000 square feet. There will also be a number of full-floor residences twice that size, as well as a penthouse duplex measuring some 10,000 square feet. Like at 15 Central Park West, one of the marquee features will be a private driveway. It is Lord Foster’s first American apartment tower, following on the success of work he did in Vancouver, at Jameson House, completed in 2004.

The development of 50 UN Plaza is expected to cost $500 million to build, with completion by the end of 2014. If it is even close to the success of 15 Central Park West, which sold $2 million worth of units when it first came on the market (and is worth probably twice that now given a gangbuster market for resales in the famed building), then the Zeckendorfs and their partners should have no problem making an easy return on their investment here.

It looks like have just wrested the crown of New York’s most luxurious development back from Gary Barnett.

While this render does make it more likeable, I was hoping for something better getting built here.

[pico44]

Couldn't Foster have made this interesting in some way? At all? Come one man, Costas Kondylis is going to take a metaphorical acrhitectural dump on your head for everyone to see for a hundred years. Have some pride man!

I mean, I'm sure it'll look nice and all, nice materials and all that; but mmmmeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[NYguy]

Yeah, it is a bit of a let down, at least to look at...

It looks like have just wrested the crown of New York’s most luxurious development back from Gary Barnett.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. There are other developments both under construction and in the works that could hold that title.



http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...roRdtKNONpYomK

November 14, 2012
By Lois Weiss

Zeckendorf Development and Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings break ground this morning on the construction of an 87-unit luxury condominium at 50 United Nations Plaza. The 44-story, 570-foot tall building is opposite the United Nations complex along First Avenue and E. 46th Street just south of Trump World Tower.

While SLCE still appears as architect of record, Norman Foster’s Foster + Partners has taken over for architectural accolades. This is Foster’s first residential building, and it will have a prominent place on the East River skyline.

A new rendering of the facade shows it echoes the half circles of the Corinthian residential condo a few blocks south on First Avenue. Under a new unit plan, the 241,624 square feet will have four apartments per floor up to the 17th floor, two per floor from the 18th to 34th floors, one apiece from 35 to 42, and one duplex penthouse. The old plan had two duplexes on the top four floors.

When it opens, the building will have a restaurant and a fitness center with a pool. There will also be parking for 87 cars — one for every residence — a big plus from the original plans that called for a paltry 17 spaces.

[sbarn]

Holy crap thats ugly. C'mon Foster, you can do better!

[yankeesfan1000]

Was hoping for a redesign, on the plus side it looks less gold than the previous renderings suggested I guess. Still disappointing.

[fimiak]

Disgusting building. The top 50' especially is just horrible. The way the windows protrude from the front of the building screams 80s. The fact that there are no changes to the facade from top to bottom makes everything about it worse. This needs a bigger base or a glass front or something.

I could live with it if they do something about the top and do something to make the base more appealing. Nobody in their right mind is going to think this building is more luxurious than 30 CPW in its current shape.

[khaizer007]

I don't think I've ever been that disapointed which a building with such hype and with such a reputable architect. I mean...wow!...I'm speechless.

[sbarn]

Originally Posted by fimiak

Disgusting building. The top 50' especially is just horrible. The way the windows protrude from the front of the building screams 80s. The fact that there are no changes to the facade from top to bottom makes everything about it worse. This needs a bigger base or a glass front or something.

I could live with it if they do something about the top and do something to make the base more appealing. Nobody in their right mind is going to think this building is more luxurious than 30 CPW in its current shape.

I had the same exact thought.