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High Line Construction Chronicles: Standard Anything But Tuesday, August 28, 2007, by Queens Crap http://curbed.com/straddle.jpg Hotelier Andreé Balasz' Standard Hotel that's rising astride the High Line in the Meatpacking District will be anything but standard—even when compared to some of Manhattan's latest daring architectural excursions. It'd been a few months since Curbed stopped by to check it out, but come Andrew Fine, who reveals how the project is taking shape (above). Eventually, it will look like this: http://curbed.com/2007_01_standardhighline.jpg Or at least, that's what we think it will look like; Balasz has never released final renderings of the building, but what's taking shape sure looks a lot like this rendering. Andrew Fine summed it up: "One word, wow!" And that just about sums it up for me, too. More pics... http://afinecompany.blogspot.com/200...-standard.html |
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More Standard Porn: The High Line's Perpetual Lap Dance Wednesday, August 29, 2007, by Joey Friends: Today is Hotel Day at Curbed HQ, meaning that over the course of our whirlwind Wednesday adventure, you will be reading several items regarding ... hotels. Blame it on our transient nature. Hope you enjoy! http://curbed.com/2007_8_standardanglea.jpg Following yesterday's photo update of Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel in the Upper MePa, a Curbed reader sends along a couple more shots of the High Line-straddling hotspot-to-be. There's something a little terrifying about the way the Standard just dangles up there, waiting to collapse on the heads of all those taking in a nice Sunday afternoon with a little stroll on the High Line (those who will be allowed to, anyway). Maybe that's just our batophobia. Another thing that could be just us is the Standard Hotel look-alike that immediately popped into our heads after having a glance at yesterday's picture. http://curbed.com/2007_8_standardwars.jpg At left, the Standard Hotel. At right, the Star Wars AT-AT All-Terrain Walker. Separated at birth? |
LOL at the Emperial Walker comparison! I was just thinking over and over again that the building is horrid and yet here we go -- the best comparison out there
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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...the-high-line/
Taking a Sneak Peek at the High Line http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...line.large.jpg Touring the High Line. By Jennifer 8. Lee October 8, 2007 As part of the voyeuristic Open House New York over the weekend, the public was allowed for the first time to (legally) walk along a section of the High Line, 1.5-mile derelict strip of elevated train tracks along the West Side of Manhattan that has become an urban architectural Cinderella story, starting with demolition and ending (as many New York stories do) with glitzy brand-name real estate development. City Room tagged along with 700 other people in half-hour tours to walk through the lush, weedy overgrowth along the northern segment of the High Line, from West 30th to West 34th Streets. That section, which has not been turned over to the city, is still owned by the CSX railroad corporation and its future remains in flux. The southern section of the High Line, from Gansevoort Street to West 20th, is currently under development and is scheduled to open as a park for the public next year. (Those parts of the High Line currently look as charming as an expressway on-ramp.) Impressions: First you had to sign two disclaimers, including one that warned about poisonous plants. There is also a lot of toxic stuff there, from a construction era when environmental consciousness was not particularly high. The crumbling wooden ties are soaked in creosote and the handrails along the side were originally covered with lead paint. That said, the long stretch of rambunctious weeds, Manhattan skyline and crumbling industrial past is even more stunning in person than it is in pictures. The renovation involves removing everything (plant life, iron rails, wooden ties) to repair the damaged concrete underneath the High Line. In an effort to preserve the native horticulture, seeds from the wild plants along the High Line were taken last fall and stored in the Greenbelt Native Plant Center on Staten Island, a sort of Noah’s Ark for the plant kingdom, to be replanted later. Or as City Room saw it, it’s sort of like freezing embryos. |
http://gothamist.com/2007/10/22/highline_update.php
Highline Update: Now with Cool Benches http://gothamist.com/attachments/jak...hlinebench.jpg October 22, 2007 Wow-- things are really changing fast up on the Highline. Since we last visited a couple of weeks ago, new benches have been installed, and holes seem to have been cut for new stairwells leading down to the street. The entire platform bed south of 30th Street has been cleared of brush and coated with a new layer of concrete, giving the rail-bed an eerie surface-of-the-moon look. The buildings along the line have also grown-- especially the new Standard Hotel near 12th Street. More photos... http://gothamist.com/2007/10/22/highline_update.php |
http://curbed.com/archives/2007/10/3..._mews.php#more
Getting Glassed: The Standard, Soho Mews http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_10_StandardSohoMews.jpg Tuesday, October 30, 2007, by Joey In certain circles, Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel on the High Line is the most important building to ever be constructed in Manhattan. To others, architect Charles Gwathmey's stately and refined Soho Mews is a breath of fresh air in the condo scene. Today, both sides can get excited and exist in harmony, because the two anticipated buildings are getting their glass on. Hooray! http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_10_standard2.jpg |
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http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_11_standard.jpg [The Standard cometh; photo via Danny L./Curbed Photo Pool] |
http://chelseanow.com/cn_62/preservingthehigh.html
Preserving the High Line’s northern section http://chelseanow.com/cn_62/gukkub.gif Robert Hammond, co-founder of Friends of the High Line By Lawrence Lerner November 30 - December 6, 2007 In 1999, Robert Hammond and Josh David founded Friends of the High Line (FHL), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and reuse of the High Line, a 1.5-mile-long historic elevated rail structure that runs through Chelsea and other neighborhoods on the West Side of Manhattan. The pair, bolstered by widespread support, managed to get the city onboard and in 2005 save the southern section of the High Line, between Gansevoort and 30th Sts., which is currently being transformed into a park in two phases, due to open in September 2008 and 2009, respectively. But with the proposed Jets stadium plan recently defeated and the future of the Western Rail Yards in doubt in 2005, the city and High Line owner CSX Transportation left the High Line’s northern section—which loops around the Hudson Rail Yards between 10th and 12th Avenues from 30th to 33rd Streets—out of the deal and vulnerable to demolition by developers, the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which owns the rail yards. Now that developers, bids for the yards have been made public, we sat down with Hammond to get his thoughts on the prospects for this northern section of the High Line. From the beginning, you had an uphill battle to save the High Line from demolition. What’s been FHL’s approach? Yeah, I thought we had only a slight chance at first. But we never wanted to be a group that had to throw itself in front of a bulldozer. We felt that if it came to that, you’ve already lost. All along, we wanted to make arguments beyond just, ‘Save it.’ We wanted the High Line to make sense from both economic and urban planning standpoint—and come up with an alternative use for the rail line—not let it be just about preservation, because ultimately, we see this as a great resource and an opportunity, this mile and a half of elevated Manhattan. Who were your allies in the fight to save the southern section, and now as you attempt to preserve the northern section? The core base is our supporters, along with the city, the City Council and elected officials like Christine Quinn, Scott Stinger, Tom Duane, Jerry Nadler, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton. And the state and MTA have come around. The Bloomberg administration has been a big supporter, which has been key. We probably wouldn’t be having this conversation if the city wasn’t behind this. Who in the Bloomberg administration has been key? [Deputy Mayor Daniel] Doctoroff has said he wants to keep the High Line. But there was concern at first, since this came about in the wake of 9/11, and the Bloomberg didn’t have enough money to pay for the parks the city had. Dan didn’t want to see pretty pictures; he wanted hard numbers back in 2002. That’s when we did our first economic feasibility study to show it made planning and economic sense for the city. Dan got more and more excited when he saw the economic potential for the High Line. Tell us more about that study, since it has a bearing on your arguments for preserving the northern section now amid the recently released Hudson Yards bids. We did a study that said that over a 20-year period, the city would get more tax revenue than it would cost to rebuild it, even though the city wouldn’t be required to pay for all of the construction. John looked that the natural increment in value that will happen in the neighborhood, assuming it’s rezoned and real estate values go up, and he looked at how much the city would reap from that. Then he factored in the addition of the High Line and found three areas of benefit: It creates more light and air for properties adjacent to it; when you’re close to parks and open space, your property values go up between 10 and 14 percent over nearby properties; and third, it made good urban planning sense, because the High Line makes for a better neighborhood, and I think it’s encouraged developers to use interesting architects nearby. What specifically have you found regarding real estate values and benefits to the city? We also talked to consultants who said the way to create real value is to create a marketable district, like the Gramercy Park neighborhood. Apartments listed in that area fetch a premium. Likewise, we’ve seen listings for “High Line apartments” that have no view of the High Line but are close enough to reap that benefit. Last year’s Lonely Planet travel guide has five references to the High Line, and it’s not even open. It becomes a destination, something people want to work and live near and visit. In 2002, we estimated it would bring incremental tax revenue of nearly $200 million. John updated that study, and the conservative figure is now over $400 million. Dan [Doctoroff] did a study that said the High Line has already created $950 million in real estate value. That can only bode well for the northern section of the High Line and Hudson Yards. Now, you’ve made a strong economic argument. What about the High Line from an urban planning standpoint? The High Line is not a wheat field in Kansas. To me, the power of the High Line is that it’s in the city. There are a million miles of train tracks in this country with wildflowers growing on them. But it’s only on the High Line that you can see the Empire State Building and meander through a corridor of buildings that are in constant flux, with new buildings next to old ones. It will not be a static experience. And it’s not a park with a key; it’s a public park for people of all income levels. Trace the main arguments for demolition of the northern section of the High Line. The MTA was concerned that preserving the High Line was going to add complexity to the Hudson Yards development and make it cost more, and they needed to get maximum return on the land, which is public. We argued to the MTA that it would add some complexity and cost more, but not of the magnitude they were predicting, where it would really impact the project. So, we did another study to show why it made economic sense. The main issues fall under three categories: construction feasibility and related cost, real estate values and retail/parking potential, and urban planning/historic preservation. With construction, MTA and developers argued that you couldn’t get machines necessary to build the pilings for the rail yards platform underneath the High Line, but we showed that you certainly can. And they could also use the High Line itself as a staging area for cranes and other machinery—that is, both above and below it. How about retail and parking? Well, the MTA also argued that they could tear down the High Line and rebuild something better, since it would be easier for developers to construct the platform and buildings, and that way you could get two floors of retail space underneath the new structure, instead of one, and make it easier to build around it because it would require fewer columns than the High Line has. Our argument is that underneath the High Line makes for a much more interesting retail space, lending itself to high-end boutiques. Sure, it makes it much more difficult to put big-box stores underneath because of all the columns, but there is lots of space in the Hudson Yards development for big-box, and the developers proposals show that. The MTA also wanted to put parking under the High Line and said you couldn’t do that because of its deep pilings underneath the columns. We estimated that you’d lose about 20 percent of the parking spots by preserving the High Line, since a new structure would require shorter pilings, leaving more space for parking. But you could still put in below-grade parking with the High Line in place, and you could do two levels of parking just inside the 30th St. side of the High Line, where there’s 160 feet between the High Line and the rail Yards. We also think that to tear down the High Line for parking would be, well, a big mistake. And urban planning? That 160-feet buffer I referred to means that the High Line creates an important set-back along 30th Street. Remember, developers are going to want to build out where they can to make their money back. If you tore town the High Line and built right up to 30th Street, you’d create avenue-like density on a side street, which, from an urban planning perspective, would be disastrous. Along the same lines, the MTA also argued that because the rail yards platform running along 12th Avenue would be higher than the High Line, it would be difficult to connect the two and would be better for the platform to go right up to the road. We argued that the High Line would actually act as a soft-edge buffer to the road and be much more visually appealing and decrease density by creating another set-back, and you’d have two viewing platforms from which to look out onto the Hudson River. And it would be easy to mediate the two with ramps. Ultimately most of the developers agreed with us—and it shows in their plans. Furthermore, along 12th Avenue side, you could connect the High Line with Hudson River Park by creating walking causeways over the road. All the plans showed this, too, since the city always wanted that as well. Then there’s the connection a contiguous High line makes with the other neighborhoods it runs through. All of this makes good urban planning sense. What’s your historic preservation argument? It’s pretty simple: We’re going to have over 12 million square feet of new development in Hudson Yards. Let’s keep something that’s actually original. This is a rail yard; don’t we want evidence of the rails there? The High Line is a reminder of the history there. Finally, the last thing we want to do is let the High Line go the way of the old Penn Station. We have a chance to get it right this time, and we should capture that opportunity. Are there any big outstanding issues you’d like to see resolved in the Hudson Yards bidding process? Right now, MTA has no plans to divulge any of their financials behind the bids. So, we don’t know the difference between the bids that include the High Line and those that don’t for each developer, which may sway the MTA’s decision. Also, we would want to know the thinking behind the numbers. You can ascribe a cost to a plan, but we want to look through those numbers to make sure they’re right and are using accurate information on the High Line. We’ve seen this movie before, when we were saving the southern portion: People made many specious arguments, some involving numbers. And people tend to believe developers more than us, thinking we’re dreamers trying to save the High Line, even though we’ve proven we’re more than that. So, we’d like complete transparency. How do you size up the new Hudson Yards proposals just unveiled? The good news is that the MTA and state have said they support saving the High Line, and I think most of the developers see the High Line as an asset, as reflected in their proposals and their conversations with us. But just because they show it in their plans doesn’t mean they’ll preserve the High Line. There’s no requirement in the RFP for that, so we want the MTA to mandate this. Extell, Related and Brookfield’s proposals kept the High Line in its entirety. The first two build right up to it and connect to it; Brookfield leaves some space and lets the High Line stand apart. I think it’s interesting that Extell and Brookfield didn’t conform to the RFP’s zoning guidelines. Every developer and architect has told us that the RFP was a bad example of urban planning, in general, to try and work under. The open space stipulated by the RFP would create a dark wind tunnel. Hopefully, MTA will be open to those proposals that deviated from their plan. The Durst plan calls for demolition of the High Line all along 12th Avenue and the spur over 10th Avenue; all they keep is part of the line running along 30th Street. Tishman-Speyer keeps all of it except the spur; I hope they’ll reconsider that. Brookfield is the only one that doesn’t have buildings spanning over the High Line at 12th Ave and 30th Street. It’s a plan that allows sun into the open space. And Extell’s designer, Steven Holl, has a real sensitivity for the High Line: His office has overlooked the High Line for 20 years. Which proposal does FHL like the most? We’re going to do a study of all five proposals and how they interact with the High Line. I also want to hear the upcoming architect presentations [at Cooper Union on Dec. 3] before commenting on that. The point that we want to make is that a lot of these innovative ideas can be incorporated into whoever’s plan is chosen. We don’t want to pick a favorite developer. We want to work with whoever is chosen and encourage them and the MTA to pick the best ideas from all the projects. And remember, the selection is not the end of the process; it’s the beginning, since this will all go under public review. And none of the developers wants to cut us out of the conversation. They want to work with us, so that’s good news as well. Will you be relieved when the fight if finally over and FHL can shift full-time into conservancy mode? What will you do with yourselves? Yeah, part of me will miss the battle. But then we’ll have to concentrate on the real thing: maintaining the High Line and keeping it safe. That’s why we’ve started a membership program—to help fund ongoing maintenance and operations—just like Central Park Conservancy. It’s a less dramatic battle but equally important, since no park that isn’t maintained and kept safe with Park Enforcement Police will thrive. What portion of maintenance and security will FHL pay? Central Park Conservancy pays 70 percent of the costs for that park. We’re going to have to pay our fair share as well. So, we’ll need to keep raising money for a long time to come. |
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=119155&page=3
Jay-Z Gets $66M Site for Five-Star Hotel http://www.globest.com/newspics/nyc_511w21st2.jpg By Natalie Dolce December 12, 2007 Entertainment mogul Jay-Z has earmarked a Chelsea development site as the location for J Hotel, an upscale five-star 150,000-sf luxury hotel. The hotel will be the flagship for his new hospitality brand, which he intends to roll out in select cities following this New York City debut. J Hotel, in the heart of the gallery district between 10th and 11th avenues at 510 W. 22nd St., also known as 511 W. 21st St., will be a prominent new addition to the burgeoning High Line neighborhood, according to Eastern Consolidated, who exclusively represented the seller. An Eastern Consolidated spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that they cannot disclose the identify of the seller at this time; however, they did note that the seller is a private locally based investor who has owned the property for a long time. Eastern Consolidated director David Johnson, with executive directors Ronald Solarz and Eric Anton, represented the seller of the prime block-thru site, and also procured the buyers. The site was purchased by Jay-Z partners Charles Blaichman of CB Developers and Abram Shnay, along with son Scott Shnay, of SK Development Group in two separate transactions, namely the acquisition of the base site for $51 million, followed by the acquisition of the air rights for $15.4 million, totaling $66.4 million. “West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenue is arguably the heart and soul of the West Chelsea High Line district and is a perfect location for an upscale life style-oriented five-star hotel,” notes Solarz. According to Johnson, “we were able to obtain a benchmark price for M-zoned land in the High Line district.” Currently the site is occupied by a five-story 88,000-sf warehouse and parking facility net leased to Time Warner Cable Inc., which will vacate. Joseph Hershkowitz of Frenkel, Hershkowitz & Shafran represented the seller, and the buyers were represented by Larry Drath of Holman & Drath LLP. |
Seems Jay-Z got a taste for the development buisness from his involment in the Nets/AtlanticYards. Don't think I've seen a transition like that before: rapper->developer.
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Construction from a few months ago.
Photos by -Monica- http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1059/...ad401a24_b.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1025/...176d7d7f_b.jpg |
More construction by Michael Surtees
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/...1d1dd008_b.jpg The northern spur - currently part of the west side railyard bids... Photo from jennacar http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/...85f3b34d_o.jpg |
Goodness gracious! :eek: I had no idea that the high line project (which I admire greatly, and am absolutely thrilled about) was so far along, as was I unaware of the incredibly awesome Standard's progress. I am so excited for the high line's opening next year. It'll be really incredible. I can just see it now. :eeekk:
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http://curbed.com/archives/2007/12/1...ndard.php#more High Line Construction Chronicles: Step into the Standard http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_standard2.jpg December 19, 2007 by Joey Starting next fall, Andre Balazs' upside-down hotel/social hub will have thousands of tourists, park-lovers and curious onlookers streaming under it on a daily basis. In early November, Curbed Photo Pool contributor NYCviaRachel got an early peek at what those people will see. Behold, the Standard Hotel, as seen from the High Line! Both still works in progress, but enough to get the pulse racing. Actually, the whole set of photos from the High Line tour is really cool, especially the shots of all the graffiti and assorted weirdness along the elevated path. Important Standard Hotel fact: as of now, Andre Balazs has not worked it out with the city to have an entrance to the park from the hotel. Repeat: no High Line entrance for the Standard Hotel. Andre, cut the necessary checks and get this sorted out, mmk? http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_standard1.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycviar...7603485998832/ |
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/ny...l?ref=nyregion
In Winds of Winter, Midair Park Takes Shape http://graphics8.nytimes.com/package...E/21182517.JPG The project threads its way through 10 other developments, including a new tunnel through what will be the Standard Hotel at Washington and Little West 12th Streets. By GLENN COLLINS January 2, 2008 The sleek, computer-driven architectural previews of New York’s first midair park, the High Line, depict pedestrians navigating a public promenade that is on track to be celebrated next fall. Like space-age schematics, they offer a futuristic refuge: a pristine ribbon of green providing exquisite views of Manhattan. But the High Line has been something quite different, a flaking, rusting industrial ruin that needed to be transformed to match the digital renderings. And someone has been doing all that work. So right now the High Line is one hairy construction site. The defunct elevated railway — which stretches from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street on the Far West Side — is a secret world these days, barred to the meatpacking district crowds that mob the new Apple Store and swarm to a high-end shopping festival in a once-scruffy quarter that real estate advertisements now call “the prestigious High Line District.” Fifty hard hats in safety orange — including ironworkers, carpenters, painters and garden-variety laborers — perform a fast-tracked logistical ballet 30 feet up on the line, as steel and concrete are delivered just in time to be grappled into place. Bridges freeze before roadways, of course, and thus it is on the High Line, which shimmers with icicles at times while vibrating with hard winds from the Hudson. Safety railings sing in the gales, and it is not uncommon for snow and sleet to blow upward, swirling in updrafts shaped by the patchwork of low-rise buildings underneath. Not unlike the hardy wildflowers, shrubs and even apple trees that adapted to the lost world of the track bed, workers have already embraced the onset of winter. “The cold is great — bring it on,” said John Forbes, 43, an ironworker. “We really don’t mind cold. It’s heat that’s the killer.” He referred to the summer’s labor on the unshaded railway radiating hotly from its 8-inch-thick concrete slab. Of course, high wind — as on a recent afternoon punctuated with chilly gusts of 40 miles an hour — forces managers to shut down the construction cranes. A freeze curtails the concrete pours and painting forays, while ice and snow divert topside workers to their shovels before they can scurry to tasks on the line’s dry undersurface. The project that has been promoted as the new Central Park for downtown is, currently, a mile-long obstacle course. The rail bed threads its way not only through High Line construction but also 10 other developments, including a new tunnel through the Standard Hotel at Washington and Little West 12th Streets. “It’s very, very tight up here,” said Mike Balbo, 27, back on the High Line. He was behind the wheel of a 9-ton payloader ferrying job debris. “Just fitting this on the road is hard.” Bob Marriott, general superintendent for Kiska Construction Corporation, the general contractor, said, “We’ve been trying to complete our repairs and our painting without massively disrupting the businesses and tenants below.” Save for a parcel near Gansevoort Street, the city owns none of the real estate underneath the High Line aside from streets and sidewalks. “You do not want to drop things from on high,” said Gerard Zimmermann, 40, a chief inspector for Kiska. The roadbed’s elevation is nothing, of course, to workers accustomed to dancing on high steel. “For me this is pretty easy,” said Mr. Zimmermann, who has walked atop the George Washington and Verrazano-Narrows Bridges. Nevertheless, the airborne landscape poses safety issues and other, more personal constraints. For example, since sanitation contractors do not deign to scale 30-foot heights, the workers must descend from the line “because companies will only clean portable bathrooms downstairs on the street level,” said Garrett Scalza, 30, who was supervising a group of carpenters near Gansevoort Street. And since the High Line extends through residential areas, “We can’t make noise early or late, or work on the weekends,” Mr. Zimmermann said. Given their total exposure, High Line workers are especially vulnerable from on high. “It’s pretty safe up here except when there’s construction above us,” said Sathar Ansari, 32, a site safety manager. “Other contractors, by accident, have dropped plywood and other debris, but luckily no one was hurt.” Despite extreme heat and fierce cold, so far workers have experienced only minor injuries, save for one carpenter who tripped and fell three feet and lost five days of work. Near Gansevoort Street, laborers are already installing the concrete planking surface destined to be a walkway for visitors. Cast in Quebec and weighing 600 to 800 pounds, the planks — some 7,600 of them — are hefted by forklifts “and then we muscle them into place with crowbars,” said Emilio Arostegui, 40, who leads a labor crew. They are jigsaw puzzle pieces of a structural system of pedestrian promenades that extend like concrete fingers into the planting beds that will restore the park greenery using 6,300 cubic yards of soil. Workers up on the line are laboring to complete the first, $71 million phase of the $170 million High Line construction, a section from Gansevoort Street up to 20th Street. “Next fall’s opening is breathing down our neck,” said Peter Mullan, director of planning for Friends of the High Line, a nonprofit group that helped block attempts to demolish the viaduct and helped design its renovation. The structure is owned by the city south of 30th Street under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Friends of the High Line. The city’s Economic Development Corporation is overseeing construction on the site along with the mayor’s office and the Department of City Planning. The remainder of the city-owned roadbed is scheduled to become a park by 2009. Another half-mile section rings the railyards north of 30th Street and 12th Avenue, and five bidders are competing to develop the property; only three want to preserve that part of the High Line. “There has never been another project like it, there is no model, and it involves a tangle of jurisdictions,” said Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor for economic development. He said he designated the High Line the first project in his new Office of Capital Project Development to spearhead construction “on an extremely accelerated schedule requiring precise coordination among multiple city agencies.” He added, “It is on budget and essentially on time.” Enemies of the High Line once claimed that the corridor, built from 1928 to 1934, was disintegrating in a rain of concrete. But despite its appearance, engineers have found it to be mostly well preserved and massively strong, “built to support locomotives, designed for 10 times the load it will carry as a park,” said Michael Bradley, the High Line’s project planning administrator for the parks department. Already, workers have ripped out the High Line’s original roadbed down to the concrete slab, removing gravel, tracks, ties, soil and the urban wilderness of vegetation that had seeded itself there. This was mandatory, Mr. Mullan said, since toxic chemical contaminants had leaked from the freight trains, the last of which bowled through with a load of frozen turkeys in 1980. Flaking old lead paint on the structure has been sandblasted down to the steel and is being covered with 18,000 gallons of paint. And workers are conserving the rail line’s Art Decoish configurations of bolted steel plates that have been termed “industrial folk art.” “We are changing out steel beams, preparing the structure to carry a park instead of freight trains,” said Tom Ryan, 41, an ironworker who leads a restoration crew. “There are a million rivets on the High Line, and I’ve only replaced 10,000,” he said, deadpan. The original freight rails — which had been temporarily relocated to the northerly reaches of the trestle — are now being reinstalled to the south as design elements only. Workers have just put in the first rail junction, called a frog “because that’s what a frog looks like after it’s been run over by a locomotive,” Mr. Ryan said. By their industrious presence, the workers have relocated the pigeons that once found their earthly paradise at the underside of the trestle, producing decades of D’oh! dry cleaning moments for unlucky pedestrians. “Pigeons know to stay away from people in hard hats,” said Mike Forbes, 35, an on-site construction draftsman. Mr. Zimmermann added, “I think they headed to the nearest park.” Since acidic pigeon waste corrodes the steelwork, laborers have been installing permanent, harmless anti-pigeon shields — angled plates welded atop girders — as well as strategically stretched flexible steel wires to deter birds’ happy landings. “The thing is, the pigeons keep coming back,” said Mr. Marriott, adding that birds have already made modifications to the High Line not envisioned by the designers, Field Operations and Diller Scofidio & Renfro of Manhattan. “They’ve created new nests in the temporary pigeon netting that was installed” as a prelude to the permanent pigeon shields, he said. On the line, there is a perpetual incongruity between the grit above and the glitz below. As winds scoured the High Line tunnel through the Chelsea Market on a recent afternoon, Fernando Espino, 36, was shoveling construction debris on the concrete slab above the roof of the Morimoto restaurant, while unseen diners below tasted truffled tofu and summoned the Iron Chef’s sake sommelier. Workers have long been inured to the spectacle of meat hanging on hooks in the same meatpacking neighborhood where supermodels slink to fashion shoots, where Beyoncé shops and Cameron Diaz heads to her scheduled hair appointment. Another wave of wind roiled from the river and crashed into the High Line. “It’s not a problem for me, in 30- to 45-mile-an-hour winds,” said John Forbes, the ironworker, who is 6-foot-5 and weighs 380 pounds. “I’m not going to blow away. I’m an andiron.” |
curbed.com
Construction Watch: The Standard Welcoming Voyeurs http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_1_sta...nstruction.jpg In terms of triumphs of humanity, the order is as such: 1) moon landing 2) the pyramids 3) E=mc2 4) the Standard Hotel 5) the four-minute mile. So we were trying to think of the best way to present the earth-shattering news that the website for Andre Balazs' High Line hotel has been updated with a construction photo that AUTOMATICALLY REFRESHES EVERY 15 MINUTES, but then we just showed the site to the most obsessed person we know, and he replied, "Sometimes, I wonder if we deserve the Standard." We'll leave it at that. http://www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city/ |
Posted on curbed.com
Friday, February 22, 2008 Eater Tastings: Standard Gets Liquored Up, Shake Shack Dethroned, More! http://eater.com/uploads/standardrestaurant.jpg Andre Balazs's Standard Hotel over the High Line went before Community Board 2 last night and was approved for three bars and two restaurants, including a party palace up on the 18th floor. Yes, yes, a thousand times YES! |
i am so psyched about this!
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Really does N.Y. need all those buildings??
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This is going to be a cool place.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...JsY&refer=muse
Hot High Line Park Brings Breakthrough Condo by Denari: Review http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?p...d=i8NCgMlpOczs http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?p...d=i9fzhcpo7GmY The HL23 condominium tower, designed by architect Neil Denari and to be built in Chelsea's High Line Park in New York, as seen in an undated artist's rendering. Prices range from $2.65 million for a two-bedroom, 1,870 square-foot unit to $10 million for the two-floor penthouse. By James S. Russell Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) Manhattan's west Chelsea, where meatpacking plants once sat next to leather bars and prostitutes trolled under an elevated rail line, is now the city's hottest real-estate market and a laboratory for new architecture. As the High Line Park takes shape atop that long-abandoned freight line, it has inspired a condo boom. Yet only HL23, one of the smallest of the current artsy crop, channels the inner beauty of the High Line and puts it in elegant vertical form. It's a breakthrough by Neil Denari, a Los Angeles architect who's much favored by aficionados yet little known outside his home city. Thank the park -- which won't even open till late this year -- for shifting a longtime neighborhood transformation into overdrive. The rusting viaduct hosted an unknown urban meadow on its long-abandoned tracks as it cut through 17 blocks. The crazy contrast between dandelioned green and industrial grit caught everyone's imagination. Though a couple of big design names (Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban) are attached to a few of the two dozen nearby condo projects in various stages of planning or construction, none so specifically extends the old freight line's aura as the HL23 condominium. Denari compares his design to a plant reaching for a shaft of sunlight from out of a crack in the sidewalk. The 13-story building rises out of a skinny, seemingly unbuildable 25-foot- wide slot of land. It unfurls in faceted planes of glass and metal, held in place by diagonal braces that look like sinews. The diminutive tower seems to wave gently, bending just a bit east over the old elevated railroad, while the south-facing side tilts back at the top. Look-at-Me Condos It's suave when many of its neighboring galleries, self- consciously chic stores, celebrity restaurants and look-at-me condos catch the eye with nervous, tacked-on touches. Denari makes his design look preordained -- which is amazing, considering that every angle and setback was worked out according to what zoning would permit. With its elegantly tooled diagonal braces and shiny, embossed metal-panel surface, HL23 is as fluidly feline as a sports car. Denari eases the planar facets of the structure into one another with gentle curves. In wrapping the metal panels around expanses of glass, you see the finesse of a great auto- body designer like Pininfarina. Italian Influence Denari has honed this style over 20 years, primarily in stores (L.A. Eyeworks) and interiors of sleek theatricality (Endeavor Talent Agency). On a tour of the Chelsea site, he said he was influenced by Italian design of the 1960s and 1970s and especially by one of its stars, Joe Colombo, whose boldly futuristic, industrial-style chairs and lamps were leavened by rounded corners and a sly Pop Art sensibility. Since HL23 is neither tall nor sold with the pet spas and fancy fitness rooms that larger projects offer, it differentiates itself primarily by design. Denari opens diagonal vistas through the blocks that others wouldn't see. With one unit per floor (11 total), many of the rooms have multiple exposures. Perhaps the biggest risk the project takes is employing a level of architectural detail rarely permitted by the corner- cutting culture of real-estate development -- like the pattern of ceramic dots fused onto the glass that echoes the line of the diagonal braces inside. It lends a subtle visual depth. With prices ranging from $2.65 million for a two-bedroom, 1,870 square-foot unit to $10 million for the two-floor penthouse, developers Naiman and Heher are gambling that Denari's discreet bravura will win over buyers usually wooed by lifestyle bathrooms and layouts crammed with boxy little rooms. Recent condos by big-name architects have at last put design quality in Manhattan's hidebound real-estate equation. HL23's most radical move may be to do it without a big name and spectacular views. (James S. Russell is Bloomberg's U.S. architecture critic. The opinions expressed are his own.) |
^^^ That's an outstanding design! When do we start?! :hyper:
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HL23 Interiors Revealed; Peace on Earth At Hand http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...8764c784_o.jpg Wednesday, February 27, 2008, by Lockhart Folks, if you're anything like us, you sit around all day thinking, "When are architect Neil Denari and developer Alf Naman going to release additional renderings of their wondrous creation, HL23?" Today, new develoment blog Triple Mint hears our prayers and serves up the goodness, including a provocative view of how HL23 plays with its next-door neighbor, the already complete High Line 519 development by architect Lindy Roy. Oh, the freaking glory. West Chelsea, you continue to amaze. http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...822f4f95_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...9ac84ed7_o.jpg |
That Standard rises over the High Line, with Midtown in the background...
Photo by Alex Moss http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2211/...41d1b2a4_b.jpg |
Has the Nouvel project (100 West 11th) started yet? That's one GORGEOUS modern building that proves that awkward, ugly-looking angular designs aren't the only way to be "progressive". I'm really looking forward to seeing it go up.
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Construction To Begin on Green Residence http://www.globest.com/newspics/nyc_hl23.jpg By Natalie Dolce March 3, 2008 NEW YORK CITY-Freestanding residential tower HL23 will rise from a site on West 23rd Street half beneath the High Line elevated railway bed, now slated for transformation into an urban park. Construction will begin in March on the 14-story building, which will have a reverse-tapering structure. A source familiar with the development tells GlobeSt.com that the developer, locally based 23 High Line LLC, is buying 100% green energy for the building. Alf Naman of High Line confirms, telling GlobeSt.com that they are in contract to purchase green power from a source that is creating energy elsewhere through wind power. Naman also reveals that total hard costs for the construction are $22 million. The design architect for the development, located at 515-517 W. 23rd St., will be Neil M. Denari Architects Inc. of Los Angeles. YRG sustainability consultants will direct the High Line project through the LEED-certification process. The developer, 23 High Line is pursuing certification at the Gold level, which targets 41 of 69 available points. According to a prepared statement, the project is targeting points in all five categories, as well as additional innovation credits for exemplary and innovative performance strategies. As a residential building, special attention has been focused on improving occupant health and well-being by providing a high level of indoor air quality and supplying extensive natural light to the units, the release notes. In addition, strong emphasis was placed on energy efficiency, thereby reducing the demand on our depleting natural resources. Some of the many green strategies being implemented in this project include: providing a high level of ventilation and indoor air quality to creates a healthier indoor environment for residents; specifying products and materials with low Volatile Organic Compound content to further improve indoor air quality and occupant health; using eco-efficient water fixtures and appliances, which reduces water consumption by at least 30%; implementing a construction management plan that focuses on reducing indoor air contaminants and further improves the building’s air quality; extensive natural daylighting and views to the outdoors, which should reduce the need for electric lighting; providing bicycle storage for building occupants; specifying high reflective roofing products, which will reduce the urban heat-island effect; integrating efficient mechanical systems and a tight building envelope, reducing energy consumption by 15% to 25%; using refrigerants that are low ozone depleting and do not contribute to global warming; providing infrastructure for trash chutes and a recycling program within the building; implementing a construction waste management plan that diverts at least 75% of waste from landfills; and using materials with high recycled content. Brown Harris Stevens has been retained as exclusive sales agent for the property. The source tells GlobeSt.com that completion date is scheduled for the end of 2009 and that units will be available for sale once construction begins. The singular form of the 39,200-sf HL23 was made possible by modifications to seven different zoning requirements, granted by the city in support of the design’s contribution to the cityscape. No two homes in the building will be alike. The building will house 11 homes, including nine full-floor residences, a duplex penthouse at the top of the building, and a private garden at the building’s base. The residences at HL23 will range in size from approximately 1,850 sf to 3,600 sf, and in price from $2.7 million to $10.5 million. "Quite frankly, I felt like it was the last great site in urban America, it was so amazing," notes architect Denari in a prepared statement. "In the early 1980s, I lived in New York City and spent a great deal of time in far West Chelsea, imagining and even drawing designs for buildings that would celebrate its gritty, industrial romance and the beautifully decaying form of the High Line. I cannot overstate how satisfying it is for our firm to create a formally challenging, artistic project here more than 25 years later, addressing a practical demand for the people who will live inside the building and a local demand for the public who will experience it from the sidewalks, the High Line, and from other buildings throughout the West Chelsea arts district." |
I haven't been following the whole thread, but I did see the pictures of people up on the line. Is it accessible now? Do they offer tours? How can one get up there?
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not open to the public yet. though if you want to sneak on and take pics...
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Can't wait to watch this thing further develop. In some ways, I'll miss the old, overgrown, abandoned high line. Used to walk along it... it had rough beauty about it and was a quiet escape from the city.
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I do love the skywalk/promenade concept, but it seems so out of place for Manhattan. Will it connect into Central Park?
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http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-hi...,4013767.story
Eye-catching building highlights High Line rebirth By David Freedlander March 6, 2008 The transformation of the High Line from a rotting railway to a postmodern park traveled further down the track Wednesday as plans were unveiled for a new tower slated to open next year. The building, called HL23, is the first project by architectural theorist Neil Denari. It will lean above the elevated park at an angle and taper upward to give the appearance of growing out of the old rail bed. "The site makes what the building is, happen," Denari said. " The High Line is the start of the action. I used to live near there, and I always thought that if you could give me my choice of places to build in the city, I'd take this one." Denari's not the only one. There are now more than 40 projects going up around the elevated railway, and the area is quickly becoming known in architectural circles as a global hotspot for new and interesting buildings. "Because there is no context in this neighborhood, I thought you could do something different," said Alf Naman, the project's developer. The 11 residences at HL23, which gets its name from its location on West 23rd Street between 10th and 11th avenues, will range in size from 1,850 to 3,600 square feet, and cost between $2.65 million and $10.5 million. The project was unveiled Wednesday at Craftsteak, a Chelsea restaurant, to brokers and industry insiders. The 14-story building will be the focus of a June exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York on new architecture and the High Line. Some locals are wondering, though, if development in the area has gone too far. "It's too much, and it's a lot of dust and traffic," said Silvia Baldwin, 58, a 16-year resident of the neighborhood, as she pointed to the forest of construction cranes looming over her West Chelsea street. "I feel like we're losing too many low-income people." John Tyler, 65, a life-long resident of the area, agreed. He used to work on the piers unloading ships and remembered when the neighborhood was mostly tenements and trains ran on the strange tracks that seemed to float in the air. "I wish it didn't change so fast," he said. "What was here they should have left alone. They should just let certain parts of Manhattan be." http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2008-03/36423649.jpg http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2008-03/36423647.jpg |
This is all very exciting. I do like the constrast in these shots (posted on curbed.com
http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_1_sta...nstruction.jpg http://eater.com/uploads/standardrestaurant.jpg http://www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city/ |
^^^Why are there tracks still sitting on the High Line? I thought they were all taken up.
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Has hl23 started construction yet?
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Wow I just checked out this thread for the first time today. This project is going to be one of the most unique and interesting pieces of urban space anywhere. The layout of the "park" will help encourage interaction among those using the space which I think is neat. This sort of begs a question for me though: if the main function of this space is a park, and one of the purposes of which for some people is to get away from "it all" and have some peace and solitude, will this be a desireable place to stroll around in? It certainly would be for me, but maybe not to the majority.
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http://chelseanow.com/cn_76/talkingpoint.html
Paths, plants, blogs: Working on the railroad park http://chelseanow.com/cn_76/work.gif Work is well underway on Section 1 — the southern part — of the High Line park project. Section 1 is expected to open by the end of this year. By Katie Lorah March 07 - 13, 2008 The public space on the High Line is now taking shape above the streets and sidewalks of the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea. Landscape construction has started on Section 1 of the High Line (Gansevoort St. to 20th St.). Workers are installing the park’s pathways, made of long, smooth, concrete planks. These planks are tapered at the ends to allow plants to push up through the gaps, blurring the boundary between the hard surfaces and the planting. Some of these planks curl up from the surface of the pathway to create the High Line’s signature benches. At the same time, the construction crew is reinstalling many of the steel rail tracks, where trains once ran. The tracks were marked for their original location before being put in storage during site preparation. They are now being returned to these locations, incorporated into the plantings, as a reminder of the history and original purpose of the High Line. There will be an access point rising from street level about every two blocks in Section 1. At two of these points — one at Gansevoort St. and one at 14th St. — the stairway will cut directly through the steel structure itself. This will bring visitors up through the massive steel beams and hand-driven rivets of the High Line, coming face to face with the structure itself, before arriving on the landscape on top. Workers recently removed sections of the steel I-beams at both of these locations, creating cutaways for the stairs. Later this spring, a team of horticulturists, led by Dutch planting designer Piet Oudolf, plan to start planting on the High Line. The plantings in the park are inspired by the wild landscape that grew up naturally on the structure after the trains stopped running. There will be a focus on native and drought-resistant plants, with many of the same species of grasses and shrubs that were originally found on the High Line. Section 1 is projected to open by the end of 2008, and Section 2 (20th to 30th Sts.) is projected to open by the end of 2009. Although the High Line up to 30th St. is secure, owned by the city, and on its way to becoming a public park, the future of the High Line north of 30th St. is still uncertain. This section, about one-third of the line, wraps around the West Side Rail Yards, a 26-acre site owned by the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The M.T.A. is planning to lease the rail yards site to a private developer for high-density residential and commercial development. As part of this development, the High Line at the rail yards might be partially or fully demolished. Friends of the High Line is working with city, state and federal elected officials and community leaders to ensure that the High Line is fully preserved at the rail yards. F.H.L. has also started a Rail Yards Blog to monitor activity at this important West Side site: http://railyardsblog.org. Friends of the High Line is now transitioning into a conservancy organization, which will work with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to maintain and operate the park when it is complete. As part of this transition, Friends of the High Line has recently launched a Charter Membership program. Membership dollars will help make sure the High Line is maintained and operated at a high standard, making it a well-loved neighborhood park. Friends of the High Line is planning a full roster of community events in the year leading up to the opening of Section 1. To learn more about becoming a Charter Member, upcoming events and volunteer opportunities, please visit www.thehighline.org. You can also read the High Line Blog at http://blog.thehighline.org. Lorah is media and project manager, Friends of the High Line |
http://chelseanow.com/cn_76/wchelsearaps.html
W. Chelsea raps about Jay-Z hotel venture http://chelseanow.com/cn_76/jayz.gif The property at 511 W. 21 St., which runs through to 510 W. 22nd St., where hip-hop entertainer and new development entrepreneur Jay-Z and partners plan to build a 12-story hotel in the untapped West Chelsea area near the High Line By Charlotte Cowles March 07 - 13, 2008 The stretch of Tenth Ave. between 22nd and 21st Sts. in Chelsea lies in an area where avant-garde art galleries commingle with historic row houses, churches and auto-body shops on Manhattan’s low-rise West Side frontier. But with the flurry of recent development after the rezoning of West Chelsea, the formidable orange brick warehouse at 511 W. 21st St. adjacent to the High Line is set for one of the area’s more ambitious high-rise projects—by one of the city’s more talked-about new developers. This idyllic location is where hip-hop mogul and entrepreneur Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter will make his entree into the luxury development game by partnering with a pair of local developers on a planned five-star hotel set for the site. The initial “J Hotels” project—an anticipated 12-story, 190-unit hotel that will feature a host of luxury amenities and attempt to tap into the area’s arts culture—got under way when Jay-Z and partners Abram Shnay and Charles Blaichman bought the Time Warner-owned site and accompanying air rights for $66 million in December. The development team wanted to construct an “architecturally significant” hotel to complement what they saw as an under-serviced neighborhood, which Shnay said is quickly transitioning from a pure arts district to Manhattan’s hottest new nabe. “There’s nothing like it in all the city,” Shnay told Chelsea Now of his venture, which enlisted world-class architect Rafael Vinoly to design the project, according filings with the city Department of Buildings. “This is pretty ambitious.” Shnay cited the area’s reputation as the center of the art world as the main draw for J Hotels, and dismissed any notion that the group would try to play off the name recognition of its marquee partner. “He’s obviously glamorous and an important person and well-known celebrity,” Shnay admitted of Jay-Z. “This is not being done as some sort of ego thing—this is basically a business investment.” Plans for a hotel, which Shnay acknowledged could change depending in current market conditions, include a restaurant, spa and other retail uses, as well as a possible gallery component. The 12-story structure will be built as-of-right, and he said no variances to the zoning code will need to be sought at the site. Describing the hotel as having a luxury “Four Seasons kind of atmosphere,” Shnay reiterated that any pomp surrounding the project—with red carpets, limos and flashbulbs—would not be self-generated. “We don’t want that whole kind of scene,” he said. The current scene in the neighborhood is a classic mix of old and new Chelsea: 22nd St. is home to some of the area’s pioneering avant-garde art galleries, and an old Catholic church and school stand quietly on the corner of 21st St. and Tenth Avenue. A touristy hotel with any amount of glitz will definitely bring change to the neighborhood, said Karen Heaste, who works at Matthew Marks Gallery on 22nd St. “At the same time, it’s so New York—the change in the neighborhood,” Heaste said. “I don’t want to sound curmudgeonly about it, but I remember when it was just the serious art pioneers who were coming here. I feel like I spend a lot of my time now telling people where they can eat lunch or park their cars instead of having conversations about, you know, the nuts and bolts of modern art.” Heaste, however, seemed optimistic about the entertainer’s presence in the neighborhood. “I know Jay-Z is a collector and a supporter of the arts,” she said, adding she wasn’t so sure hotel patrons would follow his example. “I do hope there’s some concern for the preservation of the neighborhood.” Father Fernando Hernandez, administrator of the Parish of the Guardian Angels on 21st St. and Tenth Ave., hadn’t heard much about the hotel but felt optimistic about the prospect. “Whatever can enhance the community is positive,” he said. “I’m positive about any change that brings people to this area. It used to be that all the nice restaurants were over on Eighth Avenue, and now they’ve spread over to Ninth and 10th, and I really like that.” However, Father Fernando also hoped that the hotel would not drive up rent prices in the area. “I do like the mix in this neighborhood,” he said. “I don’t want this to move the galleries out or displace the old folks. I hope the Chelsea flavor is preserved—it’s artsy, kind of different.” Maureen McElduff, the principal of the Catholic school affiliated with the parish, has lived a block away from the hotel site all her life. “I’ll be happy as long as it’s a well-run establishment and as long as they keep us in mind,” she said. “You know, we have children here.” McElduff commented that much of the change she has witnessed in the neighborhood during her lifetime has been positive. “There’s been a lot of revitalization,” she said, adding, “I think some of it is getting out of hand… I’m glad about the restrictions as far as buildings going up. They try to keep it residential, and that’s good.” Some also expressed concern that an influx of hotels and nightclubs on the West Side would drive out the indigenous galleries. Indeed, some of them have already left. “From what I understand a lot of galleries are moving to the Lower East Side,” said Renate Gonzalez, co-owner of the Empire Diner on 22nd St. and Tenth Avenue. “The way the neighborhood is going, it doesn’t surprise me.” The other co-owner of the Empire Diner, Mitchell Woo, struck a more optimistic note. “Some people could be coming to the hotel to see the galleries,” he said. Believing the hotel could benefit all the businesses in the area, he quoted an old Chinese saying: “A rising tide lifts all boats.” While the hotel will not require any zoning variances, former Community Board 4 chairperson Lee Compton said that neither Board 4 nor the committee he chairs, Chelsea Preservation and Planning, had been informed of the project. It’s a trend, Compton noted, he sees increasing in Chelsea. If a new project is as-of-right, he said, such consultation by developers has been happening less and less—unlike in Clinton farther north, or in neighboring Community Board 5, where builders of massive as-of-right projects often stop by the board to let them know what’s going on. “We would more than welcome such a visit about the 21st Street hotel,” Compton added. “We might even be able to help them sort out any vexing details.” Last week, the area rang with hammering noises and teemed with construction workers, but not for the incoming hotel. Gerard Zimmerman, chief inspector for the High Line, said that they were there working on the elevated railway that passes just inches from the future hotel. “They’re turning it into a park up there,” he said of the High Line. “When all this is done, all these buildings around it are going to be worth big bucks. That hotel they’re going to build? It’ll be park-front property.” Zimmerman, who has overseen construction on the High Line for several months, said that the park plans have inspired many developers like Jay-Z and Co. to snatch up property along the old railway. The park will bring green space to the area as well as provide a pedestrian highway straight to the glitzy clubs, destination restaurants and high-end boutiques of the nearby Meatpacking District. “All the meat guys are leaving,” said Zimmerman. “It’s getting too expensive. All the building owners are happy, but the residents and tenants aren’t.” Regardless, the area has begun a natural transformation that will ultimately lead to a more “diverse ecosystem,” which includes hotels, office buildings, residential condos and galleries, said local architect and developer Peter Moore. “It doesn’t benefit West Chelsea to be a gallery ghetto,” said Moore, who just finished construction of his own office building on 27th St. between 10th and 11th Aves. He championed innovative real estate projects like the new hotel as the best approach to take in the evolving “organic mix” of the West Chelsea landscape. “From a neighborhood point of view, congestion is never welcome,” Moore said. “But I think the enthusiasm from creative developers and architects outweighs the problems of growth.” |
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http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/03/24/high-line-23/
High Line 23 Brings New Green Tower to Chelsea Skyline by Ali Kriscenski March 24, 2008 http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/...ighline231.jpg High Line 23, or HL23, is a new green building from Neil M. Denari Architects that is currently under construction and turning heads soon in the Chelsea art gallery district on Manhattan’s west side. The structure is a 14 floor mixed use of gallery space and condominiums with amazing views of the evolving High Line elevated park preservation and green space reuse project. With an impressively small footprint of just 40’ x 99’ and a multitude of green building technologies, HL23’s cantilevered silhouette is made even more exquisite by the expected achievement of LEED Gold certification. http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/...ighline235.jpg The building’s geometry is an ambitious response to the development site’s limited space, maximizing zoning restrictions and expanding the possibilities out over the park. Naturally ventilated and daylit spaces fill 11 residential condominiums fitted with water conserving fixtures, energy efficient appliances and low VOC materials. Reused and recycled materials are incorporated throughout the structure and 75% of construction waste will be reused and recycled to be diverted from landfills. A high-performance building envelope and highly reflective roofing material will decrease HL23’s heat and energy loads, as well as help moderate urban heat island effect. From its tiny footprint, HL23 towers skyward housing 39,000 square feet with homes between 1,850 and 3,600 s.f., including a top floor penthouse that will run $10.5 million. While among the leading architects of his time, Denari will count High Line 23 as his first free-standing building when completed in late 2009 - an enduring green design trend that we certainly hope continues. http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/...ighline232.jpg http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/...ighline233.jpg http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/...ighline234.jpg |
Standard Hotel, mid-March
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/4...hotelucni3.jpg http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2647/p1010956fy3.jpg http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4593/p1010957ve3.jpg http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5...hotelucfq6.jpg http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/7803/p1010959sf9.jpg http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/5374/p1010960db6.jpg |
^ Great pics.
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/04/0...minent.php?o=0 High Line Construction Chronicles: Soil Imminent! http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...7fbed9b2_o.jpg Wednesday, April 2, 2008, by Joey Even though it doesn't quite feel like spring yet, and the thought of gallivanting on an outdoor elevated former railway does not sound like the most appealing activity at the moment, the latest High Line construction update from the High Line Blog is enough to make any sourpuss giddy. There's a lot more walkway to show off since the last time we checked in, and that's not all: landscaping on Phase 1 will soon begin. Let the Friends of the High Line explain: The first shipment of soil is due on site at the beginning of April. Trees and shrubs will be the next to arrive on site, with plantings coming a few months from now. This layered installation process will take shape over the next six months on the High Line. Currently, a filter fabric membrane is being attached to the planking system. This is being installed to ensure that soil stays in the planting beds and prevents debris and other fine particles from entering and clogging the drainage system that runs below the planted areas. Once the filter fabric is in, soil can be brought to the site. Delicious. We already got a look at this season's exciting sand delivery, and now it's time to bring on the soil! http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...41541ccc_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...30b35fb4_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...223a0472_o.jpg |
OMGGGG (convulsions)
It's gettin' thurrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Yes, I think this is the single most exciting opening of the year in the city. |
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