As Saturday gets underway, check out a selection of some of the top stories on Curbed this week.
1) Four Different Places: Olafur Eliasson freakin' waterfalls were finally turned on. Some people loved them. Some disliked them. A bunch said, "meh." A lot of Curbed readers think they look like "glorified fountains."
2) Chelsea: Finally, a set of new High Line renderings, especially these really cool ones of Phase II of everybody's favorite elevated park.
3) Chelesa: Will the 18th Street Plaza on the High Line be built? Well, the money has to be found, but it sure looks cool.
4) Williamsburg: The architects made some tweaks here and there, shaved the glass box on the roof and got a thumbs up on the modifications to the landmarked Domino plant on Kent Avenue. What do you mean the 40 story towers around it aren't in the renderings? Really?
5) Prospect Heights: The Atlantic Yards development moved a step closer to reality when the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on the eminent domain issue.
6) Coney Island: When was the last time you saw a city Scoping Hearing that wouldn't put people into a deep coma? The one about the Coney plan this week was one for the record books.
There are two sides to this big West Chelsea loft. On one hand, it's mere steps away from Phase 2 of the High Line, coming at you in mind-blowing fashion ~2009. On the other hand, it's on 23rd Street, nobody's favorite thoroughfare. Take a little from Column A, a little from Column B, mix it together, and you get a price that comes out to about $1,000/sqft. Simple, right? Many guesses went high, banking on the promising future of the High Line District. The one correct answer came from a High Line hater, who said, ""I don't care what anyone says, this area won't be that great in a few years. Therefore I predict it is overpriced and will take a cut before it sells: $2.25 million but it will sell for $1.9." And a couple others referenced Carlos Mencia, for which there is no excuse.
· Listing: 521 West 23rd Street [Elliman]
· Curbed PriceSpotter: Hi, High Line [Curbed]
PriceSpotter is Curbed's asking price guessing game. We provide you with some details and pictures from an apartment listing, and you take a crack at the price in the comments. Tomorrow we reveal the answer. And hey, no cheating!
What/Where: 2BR, 2BA condo on 23rd Street btwn Tenth/Eleventh Square Feet: 2,126 Maintenance: $788 The Skinny: With the release of the new High Line renderings, West Chelsea is on our brains. Specifically, it's the newly revealed Phase 2 illustrations that have us so fired up. Want. To. Live. There. And we want a loft, because that's how real West Chelsea peeps get down. Wouldn't you know it, one just popped up. High Line view, 14' ceilings, exposed brick, laundry room in apartment. Yum. Only a part-time doorman, however, which kind of deflates the feeling of superiority. Still, how much?
· Curbed PriceSpotter archives [Curbed]
This morning, for the first time since 2005, we were blessed with new images of The High Line. Coming at you now in a series of three posts, a look at what's arriving soon to West Chelsea's elevated rail tracks. Brace, as they say.
It's not part of the official press materials, but a new book distributed at today's High Line press event contains a tantalizing glimpse of something called the 18th Street Plaza. Set between Tenth Avenue and the High Line itself—and currently a parking lot—the plaza features a broad stairwell, open space on ground level, and, most excellently, a cantilevered snack bar straight out of The Jetsons. Per official word, the 18th Street Plaza would be built subsequent to Phase One, pending funding and approvals. Cross your fingers.
This morning, for the first time since 2005, we were blessed with new images of The High Line. Coming at you now in a series of three posts, a look at what's arriving soon to West Chelsea's elevated rail tracks. Brace, as they say.
Phase Two is the highlight of today's High Line rendering release, and not just because the public has basically seen nothing from this stretch since it was wild fields. To situate you, Phase Two picks up where Phase One leaves off at 20th Street, runs straight as an arrow to 30th Street, where it turns to circle the railyards in a portion of the segment insiders like to call Phase Three. This section won't open to the public until 2009 at the earliest, but oh, is it going to be worth the wait.
Where to begin? Uh, how about with these two words: Woodland Flyover, seen above in all its insane glory. Oh, and did we mention the 26th Street viewing spur, where High Line pedestrians become commodified elements of a faux-billboard, or the 30th Street cut-out, which really has to be seen to be understood? It's all in the photogallery above, with helpful captions to aid in reading comprehension. Note that for this segment of the High Line, existing architecture hugs the rails more closely, which the architects considered in crafting the various microclimates. Function follows form, or somesuch.
This morning, for the first time since 2005, we were blessed with new images of The High Line. Coming at you now in a series of three posts, a look at what's arriving soon to West Chelsea's elevated rail tracks. Brace, as they say.
Phase One of The High Line runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 20th Street. We've seen some renderings from this stretch before (particularly the Gansevoort-to-15th bit), but nothing like what came to light today. Above, for instance, we have the new sundeck water feature at the 14th Street bend, which features half an inch of running water for barefoot frolicking (and, when the weather's cold, becomes just part of the planking). Click into the photogallery above for the full Phase One overview, including images that make André Balazs' Standard Hotel seem suddenly, dare we say it, passé.
At today's announcement, by the way, Friends of the High Line honcho Robert Hammond re-asserted that Phase One is "on schedule and on budget to open by the end of this year." Be that as it may, it does represent an evolution from the initially expected Fall '08 opening, and leads one to wonder if they might be better served waiting until the tender young blossoms of Spring '09 to cue the masses. Time will tell.
Tomorrow morning, Friends of the High Line, Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro will unveil some new design renderings of the High Line, the first release of images since 2005. The entire High Line design will be laid bare, including the Tenth Avenue Square, Woodland Flyover and 30th Street Cut-out. But until then, here's something to whet your appetite: the first High Line bench has been installed. Sure, it doesn't carry the same drama as the reveal of The Chair, but it still has us daydreaming about spending long afternoons on the High Line hanging out with Renzo and André. No, not Piano and Balazs—Renzo and Andre is what we named our poodles.
· First Bench [Flickr/Logan Antill]
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Rendering/Reality [Curbed]
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Way Ahead of the Whitney [Curbed]
The developers behind Highline 519, the 14-story Lindy Roy-designed condo building at 519 West 23rd Street, have responded to fellow developer Alf Naman's lawsuit against them with some legal maneuvering of their own. Quick catch-up: Naman, building the Neil Denari-designed HL23 next door, needs Highline 519's permission to begin serious construction following a little stop work order spat. That permission has been slow to come, and after the developers allegedly tried to get some money out of him, Naman sued them, the building's condo association and the Buildings Department. Naman claims the construction delays are jeopardizing the much-hyped project, endorsed by entities such as the Museum of the City of New York and Kanye West. At a court hearing last week, developers Sleepy Hudson and Highline Park said the placement of HL23's mobile construction crane would endanger Highline 519's residents and harm the building financially. They are seeking to block construction unless the crane can be operated safely, with Highline 519's contractor saying in court documents, "Neither the Department of Buildings nor the courts should permit an admitted law breaker to go forward with his project as if nothing has happened merely because the developer claims that he performed his illegal act in a safe manner." Snippy! The Real Deal got Naman's response: "The crane is entirely on our property. We are not using a tower crane. Basically, there is no reason they should be concerned."
· HL23's High Line neighbors object to crane [TRD]
· High Line Drama: HL23 Developer Sues Over Alleged Shakedown [Curbed]
To all those who wondered how the highly anticipated HL23—developer Alf Naman's collabo with architect Neil Denari on 14 stories of luxurious glassy living just five feet from the High Line—would co-exist with its West 23rd Street neighbor, architect Lindy Roy's Highline 519, the answer is ... not well! The Real Deal reports that Naman is suing the Buildings Department, Highline 519 developers Highline Park and Sleepy Hudson and the building's condo association over a partial stop work order that has lingered at HL23 and prevents everything but foundation work. The stop work order, in place since April 30, was slapped on HL23 for performing shoring work under Highline 519 without permission. The DOB said it would be lifted when the neighbors give the green light, but Naman now alleges in the suit that at a meeting in April, a rep from Highline Park asked for $850,000 in exchange for permission. The president of the general contractor that worked on Highline 519 was at the meeting, and tells The Real Deal, "The truth is there was no request made or demand made for money." The lawsuit also alleges that the stoppage has endangered construction financing for HL23. Whoa. The next court date is set for tomorrow. Folks, we have entered the wild wild West Chelsea!
· HL23 developer sues DOB over stop work order [TRD]
· HL23 coverage [Curbed]
The hottest starchitect in the universe, this year's Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel and creator of the jaw droppingly awesome Tower Verre on West 53rd, has another killer project on the rise at 100 Eleventh Avenue in West Chelsea. The first couple of floors of the futuristic Vision Machine (or Mashine for our ruble-spending friends) have been poured and the concrete is beginning to pile up on West 19th Street between the High Line and the Hudson River. The 23-story tower will be the shining beacon at the end of this project-filled block, which promises to be the frontrunner for Block of the Year for 2008. Across the street is a groundbreaker from fellow starchy Frank Gehry, the billowing IAC headquarters. The same block will soon house condo-ites aplenty in the 26-unit big 'n boxy 520 West Chelsea from Selldorf Architects and the now-it's-a-big-hole but one-day-will-be a stack o' metal boxes from Shigeru Ban. Smart kids have already started saving their pennies.
· Starchitect Power! Nouvel's MoMA Tower Wins Over LPC [Curbed]
· On Art and Starchitecture in Far West Chelsea [Curbed]
· Development Du Jour: 520 West Chelsea [Curbed]
MePa—The warm and fuzzy lovefest surrounding Renzo Piano's Whitney downtown expansion continues with a unanimous vote for the plan from Community Board 2. Per an email: "The Whitney Museum's downtown expansion plans took another step forward last night with a unanimous vote in favor from Community Board 2. The new building, deigned by architect Renzo Piano, will be built at the base of the High Line, on Gansevoort and Washington Streets." [CurbedWire Inbox]
CARROLL GARDENS—It's not a lovefest by a longshot, but the steady march to make an important zoning change that would make it harder to put big additions on buildings and limit the size of new ones continues. (The change would redefine very narrow streets as actually being narrow rather than wide because of big gardens out front.) The "narrow streets" text amendment has passed the local Community Board and just got a thumbs up from the Borough President. Next stop is the City Planning Commission and, then, the City Council. [CurbedWire Inbox]
1) Writer Lynn Harris, a self-loathing Park Slopeian, sizes up the reasons for all the "Slope Rage" burning up the the Internet in what is a very long-awaited take on Brooklyn's favorite punching bag: "Today, Park Slope is a brand, a concept. Fourth Avenue — the Champs-Élysées of auto parts! — is home to the vile Novo Park Slope condo-monstrosity and the ridiculous boutique Hotel Le Bleu, whose Web site reveals its high prices (up to $369), but not its location on a bleak slip between a taxi garage and a Staples. (What are the odds that its cocktail bar will serve as the gin joint of choice for the fabulous fictional Slopers in the drama about the neighborhood that is being developed, seriously, by Darren Star of “Sex and the City”?)" ["Park Slope: Where Is the Love?"/Lynn Harris]
2) Much like Williamsburg's La Marqueta, East Harlem's own classic La Marqueta is twisting in the wind, and the future of this once-bustling community fixture isn't very clear. The latest plan is to create a permanent open-air market with an eight-block stretch of kiosks filled with local vendors, but every plan to save the complex over the years has fallen apart. [The City/Alex Mindlin]
3) A look into the trend of building residents coming together online to network, complain and order window treatments as a group. The Gantry in LIC has a tight-knit little group, and Stuy Town is about to go digital. ['They're All Connected'/Lisa Keys]
UPPER WEST SIDE—One glance at the rendering for Related's twin-towered The Harrison leads to a question: what the heck is that building in the middle? It's the Amsterdam Inn, a budget hotel between 76th and 77th Streets that also houses the Westside Brewing Co., the same establishment that was in the news recently regarding the destructive qualities of neighboring construction. A tipster writes: "The Amsterdam Inn wouldn’t sell out to Related. But rumor has it the Inn owner may actually go ahead and convert it into a real boutique hotel. West Side Brewery’s lease was up in February but they got extended to September. Not sure what happens then." A boutique hotel, just what this city needs! [CurbedWire Inbox]
CHELSEA/MEPA NORTH—An all Related CurbedWire! The rental portion of the developer's new Caledonia building, which is almost on top of the High Line, features one of the most anticipated affordable housing lotteries ever seen. Writes one entrant: "I got my wait list notification for Related's Caledonia housing lotto in the mail today. Very jealous of the people who will get these cheap apartments and those ahead of me on the list but, honestly, kind of happy with my very low wait list number." Careful where you do that yoga. [CurbedWire Inbox]
The big shocker on our trip up to the High Line (earlier chapters here and here) was the unveiling of the chair. What is the chair? Well, the dictionary function on our MacBook defines "chair" as "a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs," and indeed this chair meets some of those requirements, but it offers so much more. Like, for example, being attached to the freakin' High Line! No good train track should go unused, so the brains at the High Line have decided to install some loungers on wheels. High Liners will be able to slide them together for impromptu sexy sunbathing parties, or spread them apart for some quiet time in which to ponder the looming Standard hotel. This one is just a prototype, so the final results may vary, but your brain now has permission to explode.
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Way Ahead of the Whitney [Curbed]
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Rendering/Reality [Curbed]
Usually, our games of Rendering/Reality go a little something like this—a more head-to-head matchup of architectural vision pitted against the harsh truth of construction and engineering practices. But for the High Line version, we're doing things a little differently. The park is still in its pre-infancy, seeing as how the tracks have just been put back in place and nary a blade of grass has been planted. Plus, our angles don't quite exactly match the renderings. But the above before-and-afters (or after-and-befores, if you prefer) should give a good sense of what's going on up there over the Meatpacking District and Chelsea, hidden from the prying eyes of the streets.
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Way Ahead of the Whitney [Curbed]
With all the hubbub surrounding the reveal of Renzo Piano's new branch of the Whitney Museum at the southern end of the High Line, it got us thinking about our old friend, the soon-to-be park in the sky. Actually, that's a lie. We're always thinking about the High Line, but it was only now that the good people at the Park Department and Friends of the High Line let us up on the rails to get a closer look at construction progress. If you recall, Phase 1 of the High Line—the snaking chunk between Gansevoort and West 19th Streets—is nearly ready for soil and landscaping in anticipation of a fall/winter opening, but it's not until you're led up a rickety wooden staircase on 19th Street that you realize, whoa, Phase 1 is ready for soil and landscaping! We'll present our findings in three galleries, the first of which is above. Later today: a game of rendering/reality and a look at The Chair. What chair? Oh my, just wait.
· High Line Blog [blog.thehighline.org]
· Curbed's High Line coverage [Curbed]
As if the coming park on the High Line wasn't enough of a draw already to the southern tip of the Meatpacking District, the corner of Gansevoort and Washington Streets will also be getting a huge world-class art museum designed by Italian starchitect Renzo Piano. For those who have always feared the grime-and-glitz of MePa, the High Line and the Whitney suddenly make the neighborhood a desirable location—to roost! The surrounding area, not known for great housing stock, should still hit the stratosphere over the next few years. We scoured the Internets, and here are a handful of open houses just a hop, skip and jump away from the future Whitney and High Line main entrance. Maybe, just maybe, the sellers don't know what's going on?
· Weekend Open House Tour archives [Curbed]
It's a little hard to get a feel for Italian starchitect Renzo Piano's proposed design for a new branch of the Whitney at the southern end of the High Line, because the designs unveiled at last night's community meeting are a little distant and don't really enmesh us in the nitty-gritty of the museum, which will have double the floorspace of the Whitney's Madison Avenue location. One surprise, however, is that Piano decided to do away with his now ubiquitous glass curtain in favor of some sort of stone bunker thingy, when—given the museum's future surroundings at Washington and Gansevoort Streets right along the High Line in the bustling Meatpacking District—it would seem that a wall of glass would be a smart move. But that would take all the attention away from the art, writes the Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff, who already likes what he sees in the "faceted surface" that "seems hewed from a massive block of stone." The archicritic writes: "It makes a powerful statement about the encroaching effects of the global consumer society. Inside, Mr. Piano has created a contemplative sanctuary where art reasserts its primary place in the cultural hierarchy."
St. Vincent's has been in the news a lot lately, but tonight it will merely play host to another highly-anticipated reveal: architect Renzo Piano's new Whitney Museum at the base of the High Line. The proposed museum will take the place of the above abandoned meatpacking plant (this is MePa, after all) at 820 Washington Street, at Gansevoort Street, and the museum will be twice as big as the Whitneys' Upper East Side location. If you recall, the Whitney swooped in and snatched the site after the Dia Art Foundation backed out of developing it. The museum needs many zoning variances to get approval, hence the upcoming lengthy public review process. Tonight is a town hall meeting of sorts, open to anyone who is interested in art, architecture, the High Line, zoning minutiae and/or margarita futures (MePa Mexican joint Los Dados is directly on the other side of the High Line). The fun kicks off at 7:15 at St. Vincent's Croton Auditorium, 170 West 12th Street. Tell 'em Renzo sent ya!
· Deal in Place for WhitneyMePa [Curbed]
· Whitney Museum May Ride the High Line [Curbed]
MePa—The students wearing hipster-looking chalk shoes today? It was the Chalk Walk, an event sponsored by Friends of the Highline for our favorite soon-to-be elevated urban park. Per our special Curbed correspondent who was on the scene: "If you noticed some big splotchy chalk arrows in MePa today, the culprits were a group of happy and pleasant eighth graders from the Lab School who strapped on Julia Mandle-designed green chalk shoes and dragged their feet from 8th Avenue over to the High Line to promote a future park on the old West Side rail lines. The stunt was coordinated with Friends of the High Line. The kids started out on both sides of 14th Street at 8th Avenue and met at 9th Avenue to regroup and apparently swarm all of the unsuspecting outdoor diners. Spirits were high (and most passers-by seemed charmed) and the chalk shoes were surprisingly sturdy—there was only one tumble during the whole procession, and the victim shook it off admirably. Then, they split into three groups to head to the different future High Line access points at 14th, 18th, and Gansevoort Streets to point their shoes at the construction site, cheer, and sign their names on the sidewalk. No vandalism arrests have been made. Yet." Gallery show to come. [CurbedWire Staff]
Not long ago, Mayor Bloomberg called the redevelopment of the Far West Side "the single most important economic project that this city has undertaken in decades." He was talking about Moynihan Station, Hudson Yards, the Javits Center expansion and the extension of the 7-train. Now, most of those projects are in various stages of disarray (or in the case of Javits, death) and critics have been lining up to pound the rest into submission, citing factors like the credit crunch and poor planning. We've been rounding up these stories under the rubric West Side Doom & Gloom, and Charles Bagli's story on West Side redevelopment in the Times today is by far the gloomiest and doomiest. The argument is made that commercial development will be slow to creep west, especially if Moynihan Station doesn't get done.
That's why, some argue, all resources should be focused on Moynihan—even a smaller version if the Garden stays put—before work begins at Hudson Yards. Oh, and Hudson Yards should be completely rethought, too, because it sucks. Or at least David Childs thinks so. The situation on the West Side is now even more delicate with the addition of Brookfield Properties' Manhattan West. As we speculated, rejected Hudson Yards tenant Condé Nast has been negotiating with Brookfield for one of two office towers planned for the SOM Yards, but that too could be in jeopardy if Moynihan stalls. Ugh! Well, at least the High Line will make its way up there. Maybe.
· West Side Redevelopment Plans in Disarray [NYT]
· Moynihan Station Deathblow: MSG Pulls Out of Plan? [Curbed]
· Yardsmania: From 'Grim Referendum' to 'Damning Indictment' [Curbed]
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.
"An insider says the hotel will soft-open in late Fall and the restaurant will follow in January 2009." Fuck. Yeah.
· Standard NYC To Soft-Open Late Fall 2008 [HotelChatter]
·
Comments
The developers behind Highline 519, the 14-story Lindy Roy-designed condo building at 519 West 23rd Street, have responded to fellow developer Alf Naman's 
To all those who wondered how the highly anticipated HL23—developer Alf Naman's collabo with architect Neil Denari on 14 stories of 
