All stories about "Harlem Park"

Construction Watch: Waiting on Harlem Park

As Property Grunt is quick to point out, Harlem Park—the game-changing office tower being developed by Vornado at 125th Street and Park Avenue—was supposed to break ground in April. And back in March, we noted some activity on the site. But Property Grunt checked out the land that will one day hold Harlem's Box (now the Batter's Box, we guess), and there ain't a backhoe or surly cat-calling construction crew in sight. So what gives? PropGrunt runs through a bunch of theories, including that Vornado is getting cold feet, but the holdup is probably related to the zoning variances that still need to be hammered out for this 330-foot oddity to get the green light. Still, for a project that's supposed to spur a new wave of commercial development in Harlem as Midtown office rents keep going up, Harlem Park sure is making us sweat a little.
· Vornado getting cold feet? [Property Grunt]
· Harlem Park coverage [Curbed]
· Harlem Park [Official Site]

Anger at Harlem Rezoning, But 'Every Little Makes a Bittle'

When the controversial rezoning of 125th Street was pushed through the City Planning Commission yesterday, we remarked, "It goes without saying that reactions will be coming." And how! Today, the topic explodes onto the pages of the local tabloids, sharing major space with some other story about hookers or something. The Post's website even reduces the issue down to one helpful graphic. Then: Apollo. Soon: Box. Both the Daily News and the Post focus on the sensitive racial undertones of the conflict, no longer undertones as some anti-rezoning activists' lashed out during the proceedings that the CPC is trying to force black people off of 125th Street in favor of luxury housing. One architectural historian and rezoning opponent targeted chairwoman Amanda Burden, yelling, "You're a rich, rich, rich horrible person. You're destroying our communities," among other things. But after all the bashing, the Post did manage to find one Harlemite in favor of the plan, and he sums up his opinion thusly: "I think it will boost the economy and become a great place for up and coming artists, entrepreneurs, writers, choreographers, fashion and entertainment people. People up here have a hustler's spirit, and they all grind no matter what happens. It will build up revenue for small entrepreneurs. Every little makes a bittle."
· New-look Harlem Clears a Big Hurdle [NYP]
· Outcry as Harlem rezone plan advances [NYDN]
· Special CurbedWire: 125th St. Rezoning Approved [Curbed]

CurbedWire: Baseball's Box, Stuy Town Goes to the Dogs

EAST HARLEM—Just a bat toss away from Jared Kushner's crumbling building near Park Avenue and 124th Street, the MLB-housing Harlem Park is getting ready to rise. A tipster snapped the above picture and writes, "Just wanted to let you guys know that Harlem Park looks to be moving along closer to groundbreaking. There have been trucks in the space doing soil samples the last couple days." Play ball, or something. [CurbedWire Inbox]

STUYVESANT TOWN—A number of Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village renters forwarded us the memo regarding a change in the massive complex's pet policy. One tipster wrote: "I thought I'd let you all know of the latest ST/PCV development. After a pay-membership gym, opening up 'Garage 1' as pay/public parking, they're now allowing pets! Read: Dogs. Cats occupy many, many apts as they were allowed 'under the radar' by previous management. According to the info, market-rate tenants must pay a $250 per pet fee at the time of pet registration. Is this yet another move by Tishman to generate revenue and fill empty spaces? Recent City Council newsletter read that as many as 5 buildings worth of homes are currently vacant. Regardless, a sad day for residents who appreciate the lack of dog activity in and around the complex." [CurbedWire Inbox]

MLB Wants to Climb Inside Harlem's Box

For months, we've wondered what companies Vornado was luring to Harlem Park, the mind-exploding new office building planned for 125th Street and Park Avenue. Since it would be the first Class A office tower built in Harlem in decades, we assumed Vornado was swinging for the fences. And how! Charles Bagli reports in the Times that at yesterday's Planning Commission hearing on the controversial 125th Street rezoning proposal, Vornado revealed that Major League Baseball will base its new cable network out of the building. Vornado is also negotiating with the Inner City Broadcasting Network radio conglomerate to take some of space. The rezone would limit building height to 290 feet on the north side of 125th Street, and Harlem Park is slated for 305 feet, including 40 additional feet for satellite equipment and antennas. Vornado would need a height variance for the 21-story building, or, if denied, they could pull the plug on the whole thing and deny the people of Harlem the big stack of boxes they so richly deserve. And that, friends, would be a tragic swing-and-a-miss.
· Office Tower to Rise in Harlem for Baseball TV Network [NYT]
· 125th St. development wants to break proposed height limit [TRD]
· Harlem's Box Actively Recruiting [Curbed]

Al Gore: Destined to Climb Into Harlem's Box

Yesterday, Crain's reported that Al Gore's investment firm is on the hunt for office space in Manhattan. Of course, it's not a simple search:

Not surprisingly, there are some considerations that go beyond the rental rate. Generation Investment Management insists that the space must meet standards for energy efficiency and environmental friendliness set by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Sally Wilson of CB Richard Ellis Inc.

Hey, guess what big new office building is greener than a bucket a Kermit puke, looking for fresh blood and full of all those neighborhood-on-the-rebound PR bonus points that politicians love? Duh. And don't forget, his old boss is in the neighborhood, too. It's a match made in heaven, if Big Al can hold out until the thing gets built.
· Al Gore seeking green office in NYC [Crain's]
· Harlem's Box Actively Recruiting [Curbed]
· What's Crawling Into Harlem's Box? [Curbed]

Harlem's Box Actively Recruiting

Vornado's Harlem Park, the 21-story office tower on 125th Street and Park Avenue first revealed to us in March before going on to further explode our minds all summer, has updated its website with all sorts of new goodies. There's plenty of floorplans and new renderings, including the above, which shows a street-level retail view and doesn't even hint at the insanity lurking above. Still no word on what companies have signed on to take up some of that 540,000 square feet of office space, but that's merely a subplot to the construction of this wonder.
· Harlem Park [harlempark.com]
· Super Bonus Mind-Exploding Harlem Box Rendering! [Curbed]
· What's Crawling Into Harlem's Box? [Curbed]

Super Bonus Mind-Exploding Harlem Box Rendering!

We're sorry, but if the first or most recent one didn't do it, this new Harlem Park rendering absolutely proves that this whole "office building" thing is just a cover for whatever supervillain who plans on using this as his lair. From the BusinessWeek story we didn't find until just now:

Roger Klein, SHCA design principal, says that his firm was mindful of those sentiments. “Instead of trying to do what architects typically do with an office tower, which is to express the verticality of the buildings, we embraced the squat and masculine forms of the Harlem neighborhood,” he explains.

OK, so it's a "squat" and "masculine" supervillain. That should help narrow it down.
· Harlem Gets an Office Tower [BW]
· Harlem's Box Update: Bonus Mind-Exploding Rendering! [Curbed]
· What's Crawling Into Harlem's Box? [Curbed]

Harlem's Box Update: Bonus Mind-Exploding Rendering!

There's not much new in a press release send to the Curbed inbox about Harlem Park, Vornado's forthcoming 21-story office tower slated for 125th Street and Park that we first revealed back in March. Nothing much new, that is, save for the above even more mind-exploding rendering, which does, if we may say so, a sublime job of showing how the structure crafted by the firm of Swanke Hayden Connell Architects blends seamlessly into the Harlem street grid. Or, as the archibabble puts it, "Set on an 85-foot podium, the 18-story main shaft of the tower features a unitized aluminum and glass curtainwall system with integrated vertical terra cotta color fins that create a unique enclosure echoing the predominant masonry construction of surrounding buildings." And how!

More priceless archibabble, including the very special rationale of how the tower 'harmonizes with the masonry neighborhood,' straight ahead. >>

What's Crawling Into Harlem's Box?

When we last left the insanity that is Vornado's Harlem Park project at Park and 125th Street, we didn't have many details other than the mind-exploding rendering (above; explosion!). Along comes Bloomberg (the news outlet, not the dude) to fill in some blanks. The 21-story, 640,000-square-foot tower will be for offices, obvs, making it Harlem's first new office tower in decades. Rents could dip under $50/sf, and about 11% of the building is already leased (whether that's to any private sector tenants remains to be seen). Said a Vornado exec, "We didn't want to build a boring midtown office building. We wanted to do something that fit contextually with the unique nature of the Harlem community.'' Well, it is unique, we'll give him that. Expect the shebang to be done in 2009. Also of note: The Harlem Park website has unveiled a snazzy new logo! Fun!
· Vornado Plans First Harlem Office Tower in Decades [Bloomberg]
· Vornado's Harlem Park Insanity Revealed [Curbed]

Harlem Development Update-o-Rama: Kalahari Zigs!

1) The Khalahari: Blogger Joe Schumacher, who has been obsessively tracking the rise of this massive condo project for years, issues a fresh update: "Brickwork has begun on The Kalahari (right)! Plus their website has been updated. The construction blog with one entry has disappeared. In its place is a form for sales information. Luxury hybrid 2-4 bedroom condo apartments from the mid-$600,000s." [WAPTA?]

2) ESPN Zone: Last Friday, Eater whispered this audacious rumor in its Plywood Report: "The NE corner of 126th and Lenox, just 3 storefronts away from Starbucks, is under redevelopment (old Mutual Life Insurance Building well known by Harlemites). It's under active redevelopment at the moment, total overhaul. A worker tells me it's planned to be an ESPN Sports Zone Bar/Cafe." Uptown Flavor readers have since been debating the rumor, declaring it plausible, if not possible. [Eater, Uptown Flavor]

3) Harlem Park: Following up on Friday's big reveal of Vornado's design for a big-ass boxaholic office tower on the Harlem Park site, a commenter reminds us that we'd run these awesomely vague renderings of the project last fall. Commenter consensus also concludes that the architects are Enrique Norten's TEN Arquitectos. [Curbed]

Vornado's Harlem Park Insanity Revealed

Remember Harlem Park? That bizarro 34-story Marriott/office/condo tower slated to go up on the empty lot at Park and 125th Street that never got built? (Except on the web, natch, where the project "Coming Fall 2006!" lives on in glory.) And remember how, just over a year ago, Vornado snatched up the land, promising an even larger development?

So, yeah, turns out they were serious. Above, check the first rendering we've seen for Vornado's plan for the site—a huge-ass office tower. Nigel from NSNYRE tells Curbed, "I was scanning the commercial MLS where I ran into this beauty. It just got on the market 17 days ago—570,000SF, completion in 2009. Building seems to be being built without an anchor tenant. Office space has been notoriously slow paced around these parts, but Vornado definitely hopes to be the first of a Manhattan expansion north. Bagel leaves, Vornado moves in... did she cry uncle too soon?" Whether the project will continue to be known as Harlem Park remains to be seen, but anyway, uh, holy shit?
· Harlem Park Update: Bigger, Better, and with Change of Existing [Curbed]
· Whither Harlem Park at Park and 125th [Curbed]