Private restaurant supporters and private restaurant protesters be damned—the real victim of the Union Square renovation is the 50-foot-tall, 80-year-old Siberian Elm that was hacked down this morning. Luckily, broker-blogger Andrew Fine was on hand: "I have managed to secure a 7' long branch of the tree which could probably produce 15 or so saplings. So, if anyone is interested in preserving history and giving a 2nd life to this beauty, email me and we'll make arrangements. You might want to do this soon, since I have no idea how to root a sapling." [A Fine Blog]
Who says Stuyvesant Town hasn't changed? Of course, the Stuy Town Lux Living blog is already all over this.
· Peter Cooper & Stuyvesant Town Hamptons Shuttle [Urban Sherpa]
· Curbed Inside: Stuy Town Goes Modern (No, Really!) [Curbed]
· Curbed Inside: Peter Cooper Village's Modern Makeover [Curbed]
[Photos: Will Femia]
The stripping away of the white brick slapped onto the steel frame of the old Tiffany & Co. building on Union Square West was done mostly behind a funeral shroud. But now that the luxury condo conversion has progressed to the point where the fancy model is making potential buyers swoon, the curious public has been granted a long-awaited look at all that heavy metal. The steel arches will be wrapped in glass, like a museum artifact with its own valet parking, and some glass is now visible. HOT, but we're still not sold on that rooftop addition.
· 15 Union Square West [15usw.com]
· Curbed's 15 Union Square West coverage [Curbed]
Earlier, we took a tour of the two new model units in Stuyvesant Town, the so-called "Modern" style of renovation developed over the course of a year by designers at Cetra/Ruddy for new market-rate rentals in the megacomplex that will be priced slightly higher than "Classics." Cetra/Ruddy also outfitted a 2BR model unit in Stuy Town's brother to the north, Peter Cooper Village, where apartments are bigger and rents currently start at $3,275 for 1BRs, and $4,450 for 2BRs (there are also flatscreen monitors in the lobbies, but Stuy Town buildings will be getting those soon). Factor in an additional 5%-6% in monthly rent for a Modern unit at Peter Cooper Village, and yeah, these get expensive. We decided to break out the PCV model into a separate gallery because it's pretty different than Stuy Town's housing stock. For example, the bedroom above. That's a king size bed in there, and there's still room for a sitting area, additional furniture and the shame you're harboring because your rent-stabilized neighbors are probably paying 1/10th of what you are. But they won't be getting the custom sconces! Have a looksie.
· Peter Cooper Village [petercoopernyc.com]
· Curbed Inside: Stuy Town Goes Modern (No, Really!) [Curbed]
Curbed Inside visits the interior of a structure with an eye towards revealing the design and architecture. Got a place for us to check out? Drop a line.
Change is not looked at very fondly at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the largely rent-stabilized megacomplex on the East Side between 14th and 23rd Streets. New owner Tishman Speyer, which bought the 110 buildings for $5 billion in 2006, knows this all too well. Start landscaping, and parody blogs get launched. Tweak the pet policy, and the oldtimers get downright ornery. But Tishman's goal is to make money off this thing, so the company has not been afraid to do what it takes. Since taking over the property, 3,800 market-rate rental apartments have been renovated in an effort to draw in young professionals who can afford the $2,750/month and up rents. But it hasn't worked, at least not to the extent Tishman would like, so they headed back to the drawing board.
And thus, the Top Secret project began. >>A disgruntled Stuyvesant Town resident has started a dripping-with-sarcasm parody blog called Stuyvesant Town's Lux Living that, and we're as surprised as you, is actually pretty funny. No quality of life issue is left unskewered, from the landscaping, to the new flatscreen monitors in the lobbies of Peter Cooper Village buildings, to the surrounding retail options. We assume the Tishman Speyer assassin is already en route. [Stuyvesant Town's Lux Living]
Wait, did Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe say that 14 trees at Union Square would have to be removed because they are "dying," only to then file court papers saying just two of five Siberian Elms would be removed in the controversial renovation, and for public safety? The mind cannot contain such madness! [Washington Square Park]
After a judge lifted a temporary restraining yesterday, work has resumed on the less-controversial bits of the Union Square makeover. The heavy equipment is roaring, but tree removal and work on the north end pavilion is still forbidden as the lawsuit over a private restaurant on park land continues to wind its way through the courts. Meanwhile, e-mails are streaming in questioning restaurateur Danny Meyer's motives on Union Square. Wait, people out there don't want a Shake Shack South? Madmen! [A Fine Blog; previously]
A judge decided against extending the restraining order on renovation work at Union Square, clearing the way for continued construction. However, the judge in the case has not ruled on the restaurant topic, and he did issue a temporary retraining order preventing the cutting down of trees and work on the pavilion. [NY1; previously]
The judge who issued a temporary restraining order blocking renovation work on the north end of Union Square will decide today whether to allow the lawsuit to continue. For those who need a refresher, the plaintiffs—a coalition of local organizations—are upset that a new restaurant will be built into the park's pavilion, instead of it being used for park space. [Sun; previously]
1) They won't let us in the building, but the Times' new development sizer-upper Suzanne Slesin had no trouble getting a look at 15 Union Square West. Everyone has been talking about what the designers did with the tall arched windows of the original Tiffany and Co. building, and now we finally see it. The dog-run views must be mesmerizing. And adorable! [Window Shopping/Suzanne Slesin]
2) Some may think that The Ludlow, the massive luxury rental building on the Lower East Side, is targeting "fratty douchebag investment bankers" with their marketing, but you'll be surprised to find out that the building's first ever tenant was a woman in her 40s. How she got around the snipers, we're not quite sure. [Habitats/Dan Shaw]
3) Corcoran Sunshine just spent $100,000 to produce 85,000 copies of a glorified sales brochure for Riverhouse that explains how eco-friendly the building is (look for it in a garbage can near you). Also, 15 units in the eco-madness Toren have sold this month. [Posting/C.J. Hughes]
4) Living in Midtown may seem like a nightmare to most people, but not to a computer geek and his wife who moved to New York from Boston to take a job at Google. Being a nerd, here's part of his hunting strategy: "Mr. Bolay listed each building’s walking time to work, assuming one minute per street block and three minutes per avenue block, and calculated the value of his travel time according to his salary." No wonder Long Island City didn't make the cut. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
5) The Department of City Planning announced a rezoning plan for five neighborhoods on the Rockaway Peninsula, including Far Rockaway, the Hamptons of the '30s long since ruined by crappy development. No more high-rises casting shadows on the beach? It could be too little too late. [The City/James Angelos]
A judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Parks and Recreation Department from "engaging in any physical destruction, site preparation and/or construction" on the north end of Union Square Park yesterday. The halting of the renovation was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of organizations upset that a new restaurant will be built into the park's pavilion. A hearing is set for Monday to determine whether a preliminary injunction should be issued (which would delay the work even longer). Team Bloomberg is confident they will triumph in the matter, and the $21 million project will continue. [NYT; previously]
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