NEW YORK | Redevelopment of the High Line

[pyropius]

The Standard Hotel is Kunstler's Eyesore of the Month:

Ready to check into the new Standard Hotel in New York's Lower West Side Meat Packing district? Instant Blade Runner, just add water. The hotel was intended as an accessory to the city's new High Line "park" -- a weed-filled 1.5 mile-long stretch of abandoned elevated railroad right-of-way. We do everything stupidly now in the United States. Stupidity is the new fashion sensation! And the Standard is the new Ground Zero of Fashion! In this project, mistakes are artfully multiplied and layered -- for instance the assumption that New York City doesn't need railroad tracks anymore. Or the notion that buildings don't have to relate to the street-and-block grid. Instead of repairing the discontinuities of recent decades we just celebrate them and make them worse. That's decadence at its purest.

http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore.html

[NYguy]

http://www.buffalorising.com/2009/01...gh-in-nyc.html




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[NYguy]

http://curbed.com/tags/437-west-13th-street

MePa Mini-Tower Needs a Trim



Friday, May 15, 2009

The sleek, glassy 12-story office building that developers the Romanoff brothers want to build across the street from the Standard hotel in the Meatpacking District has hit a roadblock—a roadblock named Amanda Burden.

The City Planning Commission boss has directly asked the Board of Standards and Appeals to deny the zoning variances sought at 437 West 13th Street, and she says the building should not be allowed to cantilever over the High Line as planned. The A-Bomb gets what the A-Bomb wants. Better shrink that sucker, bros.

[NYguy]

Grand opening date?

Posted on curbed.com

High Line Rumormongering

—The opening date of the High Line is a more closely-guarded secret than warhead launch codes and the Pinkberry recipe, perhaps because—per Friends of the High Line—the park is still waiting on the final nod from the mayor's office. That being said, whispers indicate that June 8 may be the date. However, FHL's First Party on the High Line benefit is June 15, so maybe the public debut will be pushed back to preserve the pioneering spirit of the party (and sell more of those $1k tickets).

[NYguy]

http://blog.thehighline.org/2008/04/...n-early-april/

[NYguy]

Live Webcam...
http://www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city/

(morning)

[Jonovision]

That looks amazing!

[NYguy]

Pics from the base of the Standard...

alexandraforbes

[NYguy]

taliesin

[NYguy]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-line-project/

$10 Million Gift for High Line Project

By Robin Pogrebin
June 1, 2009


Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


The High Line, a defunct railway that runs above Manhattan, is being transformed into a public park.The media mogul Barry Diller and the fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg have made a $10 million challenge grant to the High Line, the former elevated railway along the Hudson River that is being converted into a landscaped walkway. “I fell in love with the project, with the place,” Ms. Von Furstenberg said in a telephone interview. “It’s a beautiful green ribbon that will travel from Gansevoort to the Javits Center.”

The donation ranks among the four largest ever given by individuals to New York City parks, said the parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe. “There’s something about New York and parks that brings out extraordinary generosity,” he said.

The gift, which was to be announced at an event on the High Line on Monday night, brings the fundraising to $34 million in a $50 million capital campaign. It will be allotted in $2 million annual increments over five years with Friends of the High Line, a nonprofit group that manages the project, required to match each installment.

The first phase of the High Line, which runs from Gansevoort Street in the meatpacking district to 20th Street, is due to open some time this month. The meandering path 30 feet above the street — with plantings and water areas designed by Field Operations, a landscape architecture company, and Diller Scofidio & Renfro, the architectural firm — will ultimately extend all the way to 34th Street.

Under an operating agreement modeled on the Central Park Conservancy’s and signed last week, the Friends of the High Line will cover operating costs, which are expected to be $2 million to $4 million a year. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will provide security.

This marks the second major donation to the High Line from Mr. Diller and Ms. Von Furstenberg, who provided a $5 million gift in 2005. Both have offices near the High Line, Ms. Von Furstenberg on 14th Street and Mr. Diller’s IAC headquarters at 18th Street. “They were involved in supporting the High Line from the beginning,” said Joshua David, a co-founder of Friends of the High Line.

The total cost of the walkway’s first section is $86.2 million, Mr. David said, and the second phase — which extends to 30th Street — is expected to cost $66 million. The budget for the third section, which wraps around Hudson Yards, has yet to be determined.

[NYguy]

Posted on curbed.com

High Line Teasing Us

A Curbed commenter who works across the street from the High Line is backing up the rumored June 15 opening date for the park. Why wait that long? A visit to the staircase at Gansevoort and Washington this afternoon found construction workers milling about but no barriers to prevent eager High Liners from making a run at glory. Tell 'em Curbed sent ya!

[NYguy]

http://blog.ounodesign.com/2009/06/0...new-york-city/

[NYguy]

Things have been really busy. More from curbed.com

High Line Opens! (To Martha Stewart and Friends, Naturally)



The secret of the opening date of the High Line is buried somewhere alongside Jimmy Hoffa, but last night the elevated park finally opened up the plywood surrounding its staircase at Washington and Gansevoort Streets in the Meatpacking District—but not to just anyone. No, this was a special occasion, and the Stairway to Heaven was ascended by Martha Stewart, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg (who announced a new $10 million donation to Friends of the High Line) and a who's who of the fashion world for a sneak-preview gala.

No paparazzi, but via the BlackBerry of a special Curbed tipster in attendance—oh, who are we kidding, it's Fred Wilson!—we've scored another look at the soon-to-open first phase (Gansevoort up to 20th Street) of the park. It looks a lot more polished than our last visit up to the old rail bed, so what's the hold up? We want the Line! We want the Line! (This is where you start shaking a fist and chanting.)

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[NYguy]

http://curbed.com/archives/2009/06/0...wd_control.php

High Line to Open Tuesday, Sets Rules for Crowd Control




June 4, 2009, by Joey

Those worried about limited accessibility to the imminently-open High Line (UPDATE: It's opening Tuesday, AMNY reports!) might just be on to something. Last night the Parks Department's High Line project administrator, Michael Bradley, laid out the park rules to Community Board 2. Daily Intel was there, and reports that there's a plan in place to limit High Line occupancy to 1,700 people at one time if things get a bit too overcrowded. And because this is the Meatpacking District, of course there's a club-like wristband policy as well:

During peak periods, access to the facility would be limited to the southernmost entrance at Gansevoort Street and interested visitors would receive wristbands permitting admission to the park at allotted hours. Eventually, Bradley said, a live web link will allow people to check the park’s availability prior to making the trek west.

The 1,700-person limit won't be immediately enforced whenever the park decides to open, but its specter lurks just in case things get out of hand. Oh, and will all those boldface High Line supporters get VIP access? "Not unless you get a job with the Parks Department," Bradley insists. Look for gardening overalls to dot DVF's fall collection.

3:15pm UPDATE: The latest Friends of the High Line newsletter has gone out and it confirms the June 9 date for the opening of the Gansevoort to West 20th Street section of the park. The hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and here are some other notes: "To ensure public safety during the first days and weeks that the High Line is open, visitors on the High Line will flow from south to north. Please plan on entering the park at the Gansevoort Street access point, unless you are in need of an elevator. Elevator service is available at 16th Street, with another elevator opening in July at 14th Street. You may exit the park at any of the access points (Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th Streets)."

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...n_as_grit.html

Old railway on West Side will open as gritty, $172M elevated park



BY Joe Kemp and Erin Einhorn
Sunday, June 7th 2009

After 10 years, New Yorkers who want to be above it all will at last get to enjoy the city's first mid-air park this week.

"It's one of the most unique parks in the world," gushed Robert Hammond, one of two West Siders who first dreamed of a soaring trail of green along an old elevated freight line. "You experience the city in a completely different way."

The first nine-block section of the 30-to-60-foot-wide High Line will open three stories above the street for the first time on Tuesday - a path that, for now, will stretch from Gansevoort St. in the Meatpacking District to 20th St. in Chelsea.

A second phase, extending to 30th St., opens next year.

The park, which slips through buildings in places and curls around the densely packed neighborhood of industrial buildings and gleaming new apartment towers, was championed at celebrity-studded fund-raisers that drew stars including David Bowie, Kevin Bacon and Edward Norton.

But the biggest supporters are the taxpayers.

The $172 million price tag for the first phases includes $130 million from the city and $20 million from the federal government. That's $8 million per block.

Most of the rest of the budget comes from private donors.

"It's a large number," said city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, whose agency controls the park. "Many of us were skeptical that this could happen ... but it makes sense when you realize how little open space there was in this part of Manhattan."

The High Line had been rusting since 1980, when it carried its last train after nearly 50 years in operation.

Benepe said he dismissed the crazy suspended park idea when he first heard it, but - stunned by views of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River - he eventually came around.

"Slowly it dawned on me that it could happen, that it might happen, that it had a chance of happening and now we've come to the day when the first phase is done," Benepe said.

Neighbors say they can't wait.

"We're thrilled," said LeCee Johnson, 56, who lives beside the High Line. "This was ugly. It was just sitting there ... but it turned out lovely."

She wasn't fazed by the price tag

"We should spend money on things that benefit," she said. "We need more spaces like this."

After all the struggle - the difficulty of hauling concrete and construction materials up to the High Line on cranes, the careful effort to remove lead paint and other toxins - parkgoers will find a space that's more urban gritty than English garden.

The Daily News slipped onto the elevated park last week and saw mostly unmanicured concrete paths weaving through sections of rescued railroad tracks, gravel and wildflowers. Visitors can access the park at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th Sts.

There are benches, rolling lounge chairs, water fountains and a section of path that dips below the iron trestle for striking views of street life on 10th Ave.

Designers went for an industrial look to invoke the neighborhood's commercial past and for plants that invoked the ones that burst naturally through the rust in the 1990s.

"I'm excited," said resident Lexie Helgerson, 24. "Any part of the city that gives you more access to nature is definitely positive ... I like the idea of restoring an old part of the city."

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...manhattan.html


The High Line, a long-unused set of elevated train tracks that runs up Manhattan's west side,
is now New York's newest park. The first phase of the project, which runs between W. 20th and Gansevoort St.,
is set to open to the public on June 9, 2009.


The last train ran on the High Line in 1980, and the tracks haven't been used since that time,
allowing weeds and even wildflowers to sprout - which have now been cultivated as a
public green space. Above, the portion that runs roughly between W. 18th and W. 15th St.


Instead of carloads of meat, produce and manufactured goods, oversized lounge chairs
will now roll along the train tracks.


Rows of greenery sprout along the High Line near Chelsea Market.


Looking south along the High Line from W. 30th St., a portion not yet open to the public.


The elevated tracks weave between buildings along 10th Ave. near 14th St.


Benches sit along the pedestrian walkway.


The beginning of the High Line, at Gansevoort St. and W. 12th.


The High Line crosses 10th Ave. near W. 19th St.


Looking north from W. 20th St. on the portion of the High Line that has not yet been converted for public use...


... showing just how far the project on the south half of the High Line (seen from W. 20th St.) has come.

[NYguy]

Edward Sudentas

[NYguy]

http://nyfi.observer.com/planning-de...erwork-winners

Standard Hotel, Times Square TKTS Booth Among M.A.S.'s MASterwork Winners



By Joe Pompeo
Monday, June 8

The Municipal Art Society today announced the winners of its 2009 MASterwork Awards, an annnual recognition of "excellence in architecture and urban design," giving Chelsea's Standard Hotel (next door neighbor of the High Line) the top honor of best new building.

BEST NEW BUILDING
The Standard Hotel

The completion of the distinctive Standard Hotel is a marvelous gesture to its equally iconic downstairs neighbor, the High Line — which after sparking the architectural renaissance of the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea — opens to the public this year. Propped upon concrete sculptural piers that raise the building 57 feet off the street, the Standard Hotel respects the gritty quality of the formerly industrial neighborhood and allows natural light to reach the High Line.

[NYguy]

imjustsayin

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[Jonovision]

That looks amazing! Great photos!