NEW YORK | Fordham University Development | 598 FT - 533 FT | 54 & 48 FLOORS

[vandelay]

Very exciting to see the block being restored after a horribly misguided urban renewal scheme. Condolences to the Avery though.

Any ideas who the architect(s) might be for the individual buildings?

I hope Ramsa gets the nod since they have good academic and residential experience in New York, but I have a feeling it'll be something mediocre like Handel.

Some academic Stern buildings in NYC:
brooklyn law school:

Columbia:

Bronx Community College:

[NYguy]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...xpansion-plan/

Council Approves Fordham’s Expansion Plan

By Christine Haughney
June 30, 2000


Fordham University’s decade-long efforts to expand its West Side campus moved forward on Tuesday, as the City Council voted to approve the $1.6 billion plan.

The vote clears the way for the university to add six buildings and 1.5 million square feet in new classroom and dorm space in the shadow of Lincoln Center over the next 23 years. In the first phase, the university plans to build a law school with dorms on the upper floors, followed by a new student center, dorm and an interim park. By the time the expansion is completed in 2032, the university will also have added a new business school and several other graduate school buildings.

“We are pleased, naturally, that the City Council recognizes the importance of Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus to the local community and to the city,” the university’s president, the Rev. Joseph McShane, said in a statement.

For years, the university has been searching for a solution to overcrowding, and it introduced the expansion plans four years ago. In November, the Department of City Planning gave the university approval to move forward, but at a January community board hearing, roughly 150 community residents showed up to oppose the project’s size and density. The board unanimously voted to reject the plan.

By February, the university had agreed to a modified plan that cut out parking spaces and moved some classrooms underground. The university also agreed to include local residents in the planning process.

Helen Rosenthal, chairwoman of Community Board 7 and an earlier critic of the plan, praised politicians for “their efforts to advance the community’s desire for lower buildings, design review, and access to public open space.” She added that “we look forward to working with them as they take consideration of their neighbors into account.”
____________________________________________________

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...FREE/906309972

City Council OKs Fordham’s Lincoln Center expansion
Mayor Bloomberg is also expected to approve a plan to add six new buildings to the university’s Manhattan campus.

By Theresa Agovino
June 30, 2009

The New York City Council, as expected, on Tuesday voted to approve Fordham University's expansion plan which will add six new buildings to its Lincoln Center campus.

The vote was practically guaranteed since earlier this month Gale Brewer, D-Manhattan, who represents the Upper West side neighborhood, extracted some concessions from the school to win her support. She negotiated to reduce the heights of the buildings that Fordham will erect. She also got the school to agree to build a public atrium on Columbus Avenue and an escalator to lift people to elevated public open space. The full council typically votes to support the member who represented the district with proposed project.

All that’s left for the plan to move forward is approval from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which is also expected.

"This vote is a testament to the leadership of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilwoman Gale Brewer," said Joseph McShane, S.J., president of Fordham., in a statement.

The first phase of the plan includes construction of a new law school, including a dormitory on its upper floors. The remainder of the initial phase includes a new student center, dormitory and interim public park/plaza on Columbus Avenue.

Eventually, the school will build a Graduate School of Business Administration with dormitory space; a Graduate Schools of Social Services and Education with dormitory space; a new space for the Quinn Library; and a Theatre for the Dramatic Arts.

The school first proposed the development in 2005 to expand its campus between West 60th and West 62nd streets and Amsterdam and Columbus avenues. Neighborhood residents and elected officials objected to the size and scope of the project. Fordham said the expansion would accommodate the growing number of students at the campus.

The campus was built to serve 3,500 students but now serves more than twice as many. The expansion, which will take place over 25 years, will allow the campus to accommodate more than 10,000 students.

[NYguy]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ous-neighbors/

Fordham Slams Gate to Litigious Neighbors







By MIKE REICHER
December 8, 2009


Fordham University revoked a lease that allowed residents of the Alfred Condominium on West 61st Street to walk through its property.Watch where you step. That’s the message from Fordham University to residents of the Alfred Condominium, a 38-story luxury tower on West 61st Street near Amsterdam Avenue that is surrounded on three sides by the school’s Lincoln Center campus.

Last weekend Fordham terminated a 20-year lease that lets residents of the Alfred cut through its campus to West 62nd Street along a private walkway. The move was announced just weeks after the Alfred’s board of managers sued the university and the city to stop Fordham’s ambitious expansion plans. Those plans include 50- to 60-story buildings on either side of the existing condo tower.

The apparent tit for tat between a private university and its Upper West Side neighbors is a nuisance for those involved and a curiosity for others.

“I know the Alfred is going to be tarred as Nimby,” said Elliott Meisel, the lawyer for the condo owners. “But the interests of the Alfred far, far transcend the limited views or even the inconveniences.”

The walkway, across a greensward, remains open for now, but once the gate closes — Fordham won’t say when — residents will have to walk around the block, along Amsterdam Avenue, past the location of the building’s trash pickup, to get to West 62nd Street and points northeast (like Lincoln Center).

“The walkway’s nice, and in bad weather it’s really nice,” said Sidney Goldfisher, 83, president of the Alfred’s board of managers.

The Alfred is nearly landlocked because it sits in what is termed an “outparcel.” Its portion of the Fordham block had a high school when the campus was built in the late 1950s, so it was not developed with the rest of the campus.

Today the condo tower rises well above the mostly low-slung buildings of the law school and other graduate programs. On this westward-looking campus map, the Alfred is the tall, skinny building just to the right of placemark “5.” The walkway, not shown in the drawing, runs from the Alfred toward the right, northward to unmarked West 62nd Street. The Google map at 161 West 61st Street shows the Alfred’s position better, but also does not show the walkway.

The condo owners argue in the lawsuit, filed in October, that Fordham’s expansion plans, which include residential towers, are too dense and violate the intent of the school’s 1957 urban renewal agreement with the city. The agreement states that Fordham will use the land only for academic purposes.

Fordham declined to comment on the lawsuit or on the walkway.

Where the current walkway is located, a new law school and dormitory is planned, but Fordham agreed to include a path somewhere else leading from 62nd Street to the Alfred. That agreement was made with Borough President Scott M. Stringer’s office when plans were being drawn, but it was not included in the master plan voted on by the city, and some Alfred residents said they were concerned that Fordham may not make good on its word.The City Council and the city planning commission approved Fordham’s expansion plan in March.

“We have always had the path; that was sort of a given,” said Mr. Goldfisher. He said some residents were furious to hear that Fordham had canceled the lease far in advance of construction. “I think it’s vindictive,” he said. The university has not yet announced a date or a timeframe for building.

What it has announced, on its Web site, is a defense against some of the issues in the lawsuit. Fordham maintains that the 1957 urban renewal plan has expired and that the university is obligated only to follow current zoning regulations. Those more recent rules permit denser building on the land.

“It’s a little much,” said Dave Cirilli, a 10-year resident of the Alfred. “It’s like they’re trying to squeeze every dollar out of the land, trying to use every square foot.” On the other hand, Mr. Cirilli, 33, said he looked forward to the increased property values that new development might bring and the buffer that new buildings will create between the Alfred and noisy Damrosch Park.

The Lincoln Center campus was built on land, containing thousands of tenement apartments, seized by the city under eminent domain during Robert Moses’s slum clearance programs. Fordham agreed to use the land for academic purposes and built under the lower density guidelines of the time. But much has changed in the area since 1961, when the campus opened. The Time Warner Center, with its two 750-foot tall towers, was built nearby in 2003.

Until Fordham builds its new towers — or if it does — the Alfred residents may have to forgo their convenient walkway. “Is it the end of the world?” Mr. Cirilli said. “No, I’ll just walk another half block.”

[photoLith]

Wow, I hope this project goes through, it looks very very well... ambitious, Im sure the NIMBY bastardos will kill it though.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by photolitherland

Wow, I hope this project goes through, it looks very very well... ambitious, Im sure the NIMBY bastardos will kill it though.

The rezoning has already passed, so I have no idea how NIMBYs could stop it.

Every project in NYC has NIMBY lawsuits, basically none of which have any merit. It really isn't newsworthy, and is just a fact of life in NYC.

[scalziand]

Originally Posted by NYguy

“It’s a little much,” said Dave Cirilli, a 10-year resident of the Alfred. “It’s like they’re trying to squeeze every dollar out of the land, trying to use every square foot.”

Why is there anything wrong with that? It should be fine as long as the new towers are setback sufficiently from the Alfred.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by scalziand

Why is there anything wrong with that? It should be fine as long as the new towers are setback sufficiently from the Alfred.

Just typical NIMBY nonsense. Ask Dave Cirilli if he would want to get the most for his property, and I'm sure the answer would be yes.

[NYguy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...rk_real_estate

Fordham Campus Backed by Court

By JOSH BARBANEL
August 20, 2010

Fordham University's plan to expand its Lincoln Center campus and build two luxury residential towers won a key court challenge as a state judge upheld changes that permit much larger and bulkier buildings on the site.

The current Lincoln Center campus, originally built for 3,500 students, now serves close to 8,000 students, according to Fordham officials. The plan calls for adding dormitories, library space, a new theater, a new law school and other academic buildings over the next 25 years.

Fordham is one several area universities to run into opposition from community groups over expansion plans. What makes this case a little different is that the opponents live in the midst of the campus.

The fight has its roots in the 1957 urban-renewal deal, championed by Robert Moses, in which the school received a "superblock" for its campus, running from West 60th to West 62nd streets and from Columbus to Amsterdam avenues.

But excluded from the land sale was Power Memorial Academy, a Catholic high school on the block that closed in 1984 and was later purchased by the developer of a 37-story residence called the Alfred Condominium.

In the lawsuit against Fordham's plan, the Alfred's condominium board charged that the city violated the covenants of the urban-renewal deal when it approved the expansion. For example, it said that under the terms, Fordham was required to use the remaining land on the site for academic uses for at least 40 years after the campus was completed. It also said the original deal limited building heights to 200 feet or 20 stories.

But the two residential towers in the plan are slated to be sold to a private developer and will be much taller, one about 600 feet high, according to Fordham. They will be taller than 15 Central Park West and nearly as tall as the Time Warner Center, which rises 750 feet high at Columbus Circle a few blocks away.

Sidney Goldfischer, the condominium board's president, also had "ethical concerns" about putting luxury housing in an urban-renewal site. "The city evicted 1,100 families from this site to create a college campus, not for low-rise housing," he said.

In a 22-page decision handed down on Monday, Justice Judith Gische rejected the condo's challenge. She said that over the years, the city had changed the terms set out in the original deed turning over the property to Fordham. She ruled that while the condo could challenge the latest land-use changes, it no longer had the right to challenge the earlier decisions by the city to change the rules.

Fordham spokesman Thomas Dunne said the decision was a significant victory for the university. Elliott Meisel, a lawyer representing the condo, said it would likely appeal.

Mr. Meisel said that the city had "rubber-stamped" the Fordham plan without adequate review. "This is an extraordinarily important land-use decision made by the city almost invisible to the public," he said.

Mr. Dunne said Fordham had undertaken an extensive outreach effort to the community.

[JayPro]

Goody. We can spend our emotional energies cheering for small victories like this while we await the larger ones.

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...enter.php#more

Fordham Ready to Lay Down the Law on Lincoln Center



Wednesday, January 19, 2011, by Joey Arak

NYU and Columbia have been hogging all the expansion headlines, but Fordham University has a not-so-little $1.6 billion plan of its own for its Upper West Side campus.

The Jesuit school wants to fill out its superblock next to Lincoln Center with a series of tall new buildings to be constructed over the next 25 years, and last summer Fordham won approval to do just that, despite some heated opposition—including from residents of The Alfred condo building, whose views and vicinity are going to get a bit more crowded.

The first piece of Fordham's puzzle is a 22-story law school building and dorm, which—surprise!—just broke ground. These Jesuits aren't messing around!

And yep, the darn thing undulates!

The $250 million building, designed by Pei Cobb Freed, had a rendering reveal way back in March 2009, but the gallery above has a more detailed look. It fronts on West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, with a curtain wall of cast stone, metal and glass. The wavy look is meant to be an engaging gesture to Lincoln Center, from which this building will be very visible. In other words, the building is all like Hiii!!!

The Fordham Law School will occupy the lower nine stories, and 430 undergraduates will live on top. The 468,000-square-foot building will have a two-story atrium, moot and trial court facility and a 562,000-volume law library. Workers are already on the site, and excavation is set to begin this month. Fordham won't hold a ceremonial groundbreaking until May 2, and the building will be completed in 2014. Will Fordham freshmen make it a ritual to drunkenly jump into the Lincoln Center fountain? God we hope so.

Undergrads can heckle snooty opera attendees from their windows.



How the new building fits in with its surroundings.



The two-story atrium.

[Dac150]

Pretty nice digs for a dorm, and located in such a beautiful part of town too.

[NYguy]

Yet another tower nearing construction.

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110419/uppe...-center-campus

High-Rise Plans Underway at Fordham's Lincoln Center Campus Glenwood Management wants to break ground this year on a 54-story building across from Damrosch Park



By Leslie Albrecht
April 19, 2011

Plans are underway for a new 54-story high-rise near Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus.

Developer Glenwood Management hopes to break ground this year on the 339-unit luxury rental building at 160 W. 62nd St., said Glenwood Executive Vice President Gary Jacob.

The building will rise on the same West 62nd Street block, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, where Fordham is expanding its campus with a 22-story building that will house its law school and 430 residences for students.

Glenwood Management is building a high-rise next to Fordham University's expanding campus near Lincoln Center. (DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht)The new buildings will be directly across the street from Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center.

Douglaston Development planned to build a 57-story skyscraper on the site in 2006, according to Curbed. That project was scrapped in 2009 amid a faltering economy, the New York Observer reported.

After Douglaston dropped out, Glenwood bought the property from Fordham.

"We felt the market was improving and land prices had dropped to a level where it made sense to build a rental project," Jacob said.

Twenty percent of the building's units, or 68, will be set aside as affordable housing, Jacob said. Floor plans will range from studios to three bedrooms.

Glenwood hopes to complete construction in two years, Jacob said.

[babybackribs2314]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...enter.php#more

The Lincoln Center skyline is about to change dramatically. Next door, the expansion of Fordham's Upper West Side campus already includes a new 22-story law school building and dorm, and now the real show is set to begin. After buying a chunk of Fordham's land for $125 million earlier this year, developer Glenwood Management is already gearing up to break ground on a 54-story, 339-unit rental tower, DNAinfo reports. The address is 160 West 62nd Street, right across the street from Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park and its Fashion Week tents. Plans for the skyscraper were filed this month, and though nothing has been approved, we can still preview some of the details.

Sounds like things are rapidly moving into action for this building. No renderings yet, but the skyline between 57th and 64th is changing rapidly from Columbus over to the West Side Highway. Fordham's expansion is going to add a significant residential component to the area, and the development on West End/59th-61st is going to do even more.

[RobertWalpole]

Posted by Lofter1 at WNY
http://wirednewyork.com/forum/attach...4&d=1302842819

[yankeesfan1000]

The amount of development going in NY is almost embarrassing. Hope we get something a little bit more interesting than what's in the render, but if not, eh, could be worse.

[NEWyorkSKYSCRAPER]

I cannot get over how New York deals with skyscrapers. Where im from, a fifty four story skyscraper would be the biggest news in town. In NYC, though, its just another consequence of being the financial capital of the world. I cannot wait until I get to visit New York, hopefully this fall, and see for myself what this city is all about. :]

[tommaso]

Really would like to hear more about this development

[Dylan Leblanc]

Originally Posted by RobertWalpole

Posted by Lofter1 at WNY
http://wirednewyork.com/forum/attach...4&d=1302842819

That is a 57 storey proposal for the site from a few years ago (architect: Pelli Clarke Pelli, developer: Douglaston). From the sounds of things there will be a new design, and there's new developer.

[RobertWalpole]

Thanks for the info. Curbed posted that rendering with the latest news.

[RobertWalpole]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/re...ref=realestate

Square Feet | The 30-Minute Interview
Gary Jacob
By VIVIAN MARINO
Published: July 21, 2011

Mr. Jacob, 61, is an executive vice president of the Glenwood Management Corporation, which develops, builds and manages rental apartments, including the Lucerne on the Upper East Side, Barclay Tower in TriBeCa and Emerald Green in Midtown. It recently began construction on its latest building, the Crystal Green. Glenwood was founded in 1961 by Leonard Litwin, the chairman.

Q Exactly how many apartments are in Glenwood’s portfolio?

A I’m not at liberty to share that. Leonard Litwin is very private about that, although you could go on the Web site and pretty much figure out the number of buildings. I go to meetings with him with banks, and they ask, ‘How many units do you have?’ His answer is ‘thousands,’ or ‘many.’

Q How involved is Mr. Litwin, in his mid-90s, in the company?

A He’s still actively involved in everything we do. He comes to the office every day, goes to all of our meetings and has final say on almost everything. He’s actively involved in our new construction projects — he pores over the architectural plans to make sure we have the proper amount of closet space and is very detail-oriented. He certainly won’t retire.

Q Was Mr. Litwin your mentor?

A Absolutely.

Q What are your duties?

A I’m the face to the public of Glenwood. I’m the person who handles all the site acquisitions and financing. His daughter, Carole Pittelman — she’s technically an executive vice president — handles the construction projects and oversees the management division as far as expenses and renovation of units. I work hand in hand with her and Mr. Litwin helping to run the company.

Q So how is business?

A Business is, knock on wood, very good. We did end up taking a dip in rental prices. We had to give concessions, and we were paying the brokers for a few years as rents started going down in 2008. By January 2009 they hit a low point. The rental market has since come back — the demand is there.

Q When the market was booming, did Glenwood ever consider converting to condos?

A We’ve never, ever converted any of our buildings. Leonard Litwin did have some experience building co-ops before I joined the company in 1973. But in my 38 years here we’ve never contemplated building a condo, and we never even thought about converting anything. He really enjoys his buildings. He also feels that over time the value goes up, and he’s been proved right.

Q What’s your vacancy rate portfoliowide?

A We now have the lowest vacancy in three years: it’s 1 percent. It might have been 2.5 percent a year and a half ago.

Q Is the new Emerald Green building fully occupied?

A Yes. We’ve been renting them rapidly, without concessions and without paying broker fees.

Q You have applied for LEED certification there.

A We’re hoping to get a silver certification.

Q What’s the status of the Crystal Green?

A We finished the excavation, and now we’re coming out of the ground to get to the ground-floor level. We should be able to start renting maybe next spring, with completion by next summer.

The Crystal Green will have 199 units on 39th Street, and as part of the same project, we’re building a six-story, six-unit building, which will be very high end, on the 38th Street side. It’ll stand on its own, and we might give those tenants the services of Emerald Green, which is right across the street.

Q Glenwood recently closed on a parcel from Fordham University on Amsterdam Avenue and 62nd Street, with the plan to build another residential tower. What’s the status of that?

A We’re hoping to break ground in October. It’s going to be a 54-story building — very deluxe with lots of glass. This is adjacent to Lincoln Center. Q What else are you working on?

A We’re working on two other projects — also residential rentals, both on the West Side — but it’s too soon to talk about them. We’re in the process of acquisition. One of them is a distressed opportunity; the other one is not.

Q Your focus has been on sustainable construction.

A We believe it’s the right thing to do for the environment. It’s also a good marketing tool, and to some extent tenants ask about it.

Q Glenwood has also invested in electric car chargers.

A We’re outfitting some of our garages with outlets for electric cars. We already have three chargers in Emerald Green. But there aren’t enough electric cars out there yet — I think the auto companies have to catch up — so they’re not getting a lot of use. But we’re ready for it.