WEST VILLAGE—Sure, our last check-in with Asymptote's somewhat slow-moving condo building at 166 Perry Street wasn't all that long ago, but who doesn't want another look at all that bendy glass? The mini-Meier, if you recall, will have quite the lobby. [CurbedWire Inbox]
BANKVILLE—Think bank backlash is something new? Writes a tipster: "I just found an interesting quote about the proliferation of banks in the city back in the day. From Page 60 of Ada Louise Huxtable's Will They Ever Finish Bruckner Boulevard? (New York: Macmillan Company, 1970): "...en masse they make streetscapes of suffocating dullness. There is, in fact, a kind of creeping bank disease laying a cold, dead hand on New York..." [CurbedWire Inbox]
To call HL23—a space-age condo building from a man named Alf—an "anticipated addition" to the crop of real estate development surrounding the High Line would be like calling burritos merely "yummy" or the Knicks only "disappointing." Just check out the team involved: architect Neil Denari, interior designer Thomas Juul-Hansen and façade specialists Front, last seen consulting on Jean Nouvel's 100 Eleventh Avenue, Asymptote's 166 Perry Street and FLAnk's 385 West 12th Street and 441 East 57th Street. Yesterday we had a look at some of the 15-story West Chelsea building's interiors, and now we've dug up some more. To keep all the craziness in one central location, we've compiled all the HL23 renderings into one glorious mindfuck of a gallery. Have a gander at our favorite new High Line building since The Standard, which was our favorite new High Line building since the High Line Building, which was our favorite new High Line building since the Caledonia, which was our favorite new High Line building since High Line 519, which was...
· HL23 [Official Site]
· HL23 Interiors Revealed; Peace on Earth At Hand [Curbed]
· High Line Makes Room for Alf [Curbed]
Two reader inquiries today concerning new Manhattan developments. Intel in the comments, please.
1) Chelsea: "does anyone know what the deal is with onyx? a single brick has not moved in that building for months and they are not allowing any of the buyers into the building to see the apartments. they are not giving any information on when the building is going to be ready (although no one expected it to finish in june as indicated by the developer). it is almost 90% sold but it feels as if something fishy is going on."
2) West Village: "I live in the area, and it has been weeks since I've seen any work being done at 166 Perry Street(left). Please investigate."
Location: btwn Washington St./West Side Highway in Richard Meier's Far West Village Size: Eight stories and 24 units, including two penthouses with private lap pools Prices: $2 million to $11.5 million Architects: Asymptote Architecture Developer: Perry Street Development Corporation Sales & Marketing: Corcoran/Sunshine Lowdown: Yesterday we received an email from our friends at Streeteasy that went a little something like this: "Corcoran has just posted one listing for the anticipated new development 166 Perry Street. It is odd they only put up one; they may have mistakenly made it available." Hardly a mistake. This was the ticking before the time bomb went off, because today our old friend 166 Perry is unveiled in the Times, Sun, Dezeen and probably a million more places. The first residential building by husband-and-wife avant-gardists Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture is heavy on the archibabble:
laser cut and patterned operable metal scrims, translucent glass floating walls, sculptural forms concealing kitchen functions, and other features deployed throughout open floor plans will provide optimal transparency, flexibility of use, and access to the atmosphere beyond the building.
There might be no need for those pesky, ugly kitchen functions, because since this is the same development team behind Richard Meier's glass towers, 166 Perry residents will have room service and "pantry stocking services" from Jean-George Vongerichten's Perry St. restaurant. How avant-garde! Reservations are already being taken.
Let us take you on a little photo tour.>>
The teaser site for 166 Perry Street has gone live, which is usually a frustrating thing. We want pictures of hotly-anticipated developments, not flash animation, damn it! But, ah, we've already seen what the building will look like, of course—via a book! (Of all places!) The website does let us know that the development will have 24 units, and a special Curbed tipster adds some color:
166 Perry Street is the first major building by cult figure theorist/virtual architect Hani Rashi and his wife LiseAnne Couture of Asymptote (designers of the curvy white Carlos Meile boutique on W. 14, the new Alessi shop on Greene Street, the virtual Guggenheim, NYSE's 3-D trading floor, etc.).
Developers are the team who created the two original Richard Meier-designed 173-176 Perry Street towers next door. Interesting that they are trying a different strategy this time -- young turk experimental architect versus white-haired eminence -- for the third building in the trio.
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Two reader inquiries today concerning new Manhattan developments. Intel in the comments, please. 
