Jean Nouvel | The New York Observer

MoMA Tower Sails Through Council, On to the Courts

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:49:44 -0400

To the courts!

The City Council approved the controversial MoMA tower yesterday afternoon by a vote of 44-3, which is supposed to be the last step in the approval process, but is really just the last step before the inevitable lawsuit challenging the approval process.

So it's just barely even news that an opposition group said yesterday it's likely to file suit against the Jean Nouvel-designed tower.

The tower is controversial--it rises 1,050 feet over West 53rd...

Seeing Subterfuge in MoMA Tower Design

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:26:10 -0400

Did Jean Nouvel and Hines Interests sabotage their own plans for a new tower near MoMA?

As Eliot Brown recounted in a recent profile of City Planning chair Amanda Burden, the designer and the developer showed up to her office unprepared.

"They hadn't finished the design." Ms. Burden said plainly in her office last week. "They were asking special permission to penetrate an iconic zone of the skyline, and they hadn't finished the design. I was...

Daniel Radcliffe Buys a Sea Captain's $5.65 M. West 12th Street Brownstone

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:08:36 -0400

Harry Potter has a nice new West Village house.

According to city records, a brownstone on West 12th Street that was apparently built 162 years ago by a sea captain, was just sold for $5.65 million to the same limited liability corporation that owns Daniel Radcliffe's apartment at Jean Nouvel's 40 Mercer Street. The 20-year-old actor's mother is listed on the deed.

According to a listing with Sotheby's International Realty, which is the kind of fancy...

Feast of Burden

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:07:57 -0400

If you are a developer adding to the city's skyline, make sure you have the design complete before you go meet with our rather powerful City Planning Commissioner, Amanda Burden.

Hines Interests, that Texas-based firm planning to build a tower next to MoMA, tried to sneak an unfinished plan by Ms. Burden, and it didn't go particularly well.

“They hadn’t finished the design.” Ms. Burden tells Eliot Brown in a long profile in today's Observer. “They...

MoMA Tower Would Like Its 200 Feet Back

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:24:31 -0400

“You have to keep the city alive,” Jean Nouvel pleaded to the City Council yesterday in a heavy French accent. “I try to respect the neighborhood. The building is so slim.”

Mr. Nouvel was asking the City Council to restore 200 feet to the top of his new tower planned to rise next to the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown. Mr. Nouvel's design called for a spindly 1,250-foot tower, but the City Planning Commission,...

‘So Slim!’: Frenchman Begs Council for Reprieve on His Chic Tower

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:23:45 -0400

Jean Nouvel wants his 200 feet back. Mr. Nouvel, the bald Frenchman who won architecture’s esteemed Pritzker Prize in 2008, engaged in a last-ditch effort on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to save the 1,250-foot height of the tower he’s planned to have rise next to the Museum of Modern Art.

Four weeks after City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden put her own giant stamp on the project, chopping the allowed height to 1,050 feet, Mr. Nouvel...

Nouvel/Hines to Ask Council for Their 200 Feet Back on MoMA Tower

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:19:01 -0400

The Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper planned to rise next to MoMA goes before the City Council today for a hearing, where, according to a person informed of the decision, developer Hines Interests plans to request that its original height be restored.

The request comes after City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden chopped 200 feet off the top of the tower, which was to rise to 1,250 feet, the height of the Empire State...

Nouvel/MoMA Tower Opponents Target Quinn in TV Ads

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:02:35 -0400

It seems opponents of the Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper planned to rise next to MoMA are well-funded.

The opponents, mostly neighbors of the 1,050-foot tower-to-be, are hitting the airwaves Monday with a television ad that directly targets Council Speaker Christine Quinn, urging her to oppose the development, planned to be built by the Texas firm Hines. The ad buy comes a day before the City Council holds a hearing on the building,...

Have Mercer! Condo at Nouvel’s Castle Sells at a Loss for $4.22 M.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:18:50 -0400

The world of expensive Manhattan real estate is an outstandingly weird one. When proper Upper East Side brokers don’t get an exclusive listing they were hoping for, sometimes they’ll complain to you: “She’s a bitch with fake blond hair, one kidney and a bad nose job.” On Sept. 29 alone, city records showed that a man named Stuyvesant P. Comfort bought a $5.9 million apartment on Park Avenue, and Mr. Lloyd Plenty paid $4...

Burdened! Jean Novel Tower Expected to Feel Planning Commish’s 200-Foot Chomp

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:18:28 -0400

Amanda Burden apparently doesn’t want to get Ratnered by MoMA.

Burned by a post-approval architect swap at Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project—the Brooklyn developer dropped Frank Gehry and his iconic basketball arena earlier this year—the chairwoman of the City Planning Commission is going to new lengths to see that she’s not the victim of a future bait-and-switch.

The first to experience this new approach are MoMA and Texas developer Hines Interests, which are planning...

Amanda Burden to Chop 200 Feet Off Nouvel’s MoMA Tower

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:12:41 -0400

The Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper planned for next to the Museum of Modern Art is slated to lose 200 feet. The tower, developed by Hines Interests and designed to be one of the city’s tallest towers at a soaring 1,250 feet tall, is expected to receive the haircut from the City Planning Commission on Wednesday.

The commission, led by maverick Amanda Burden, is voting to drop the height on account of concerns about the quality...

The Week of Amanda Burden

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:18:13 -0400

The giant wave of end–of–second–Bloomberg-term land-use approvals is making its way to the halls of 22 Reade Street, as the Department of City Planning, led by the powerful Amanda Burden, is tackling a mass of major planned developments this week.

Here’s a quick rundown of what's on tap:

Jean Nouvel/MoMA/Hines 53rd Street Tower — The planned 1,250-foot tower, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel, is up for a vote before the City Planning Commission on...

Nouvel’s MoMA Tower Could Top 1,000 Feet As of Right

Wed, 20 May 2009 16:23:27 -0400

If recent history is any guide, neighbors will try to use the city's public approval process to block the construction of the 1,250-foot skyscraper that Jean Nouvel wants to build next to the Museum of Modern Art. That seven-month approval process began Monday, and eventually ends with a City Council vote on zoning for the architecturally acclaimed skyscraper.

But, according to documents filed with the Department of City Planning, the developer, Hines, is in...

Council Vote on Related’s Rail Yards Plans by Jan. 1

Tue, 19 May 2009 16:39:07 -0400

If there was a race to get large development projects started in the city’s lengthy land-use review process, Stephen Ross and his Related Companies would be the clear winners.

On Monday, May 18, the Department of City Planning launched a long list of projects and initiatives into the seven-month-plus public approval process, two of them—the West Side rail yards and the Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory—belonging to Related. And based on the maximum length of that process—a...

Landmarks Commission Gives Nod to Nouvel's MoMA Tower

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:04:00 -0400

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel cleared a hurdle today in his effort to build a skyscraper taller than the Chrysler Building next to the Museum of Modern Art, as the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission today voted 7-0 to allow the tower to go forward, according to agency spokeswoman Lisi De Bourbon. Neighboring residents have strongly resisted the idea of a giant new hotel and residential tower going up mid-block on 53rd Street.

Nouvel Tower 'Frightening': Assemblyman Gottfried Joins Anti-Nouvel Crowd

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:20:36 -0400

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried has come out against Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel’s tower planned to rise next to the Museum of Modern Art, joining neighbors and State Senator Liz Krueger in their opposition to the project.

The tower, which has received much praise in the architectural world, needs approval from both the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, the City Planning Commission and the City Council to proceed. At a hearing...

Midtown Residents to Pritzker Winner: Nice Try, Nouvel!

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:20:54 -0400

Like an unknown bar band playing on a weeknight, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel seemed to leave little impression on much of his audience yesterday, speaking at a public hearing to win an approval for his planned 75-story tower by the Museum of Modern Art.

The room at the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission was packed with residents from around the planned mid-block tower on West 53rd Street who, by and large, were vehemently opposed to...

MoMA Tower, a Prime Focus of Pritzker Winner Nouvel, Will Have Hearing Tomorrow

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:33:21 -0400

Jean Nouvel, the newly minted winner of architecture’s Pritzker Prize, will likely face some criticism of his planned 75-story apartment tower (rendering right) next to the Museum of Modern Art tomorrow afternoon, as the development proposal goes before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for a hearing.

Surrounding residents have criticized the tower for its out-of-scale height, and the local community board recommended against the development last month. Though in a twist uncommon to not-in-my-backyard...

How Will Nouvel's Pritzker Play On West Side? [UPDATED]

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:37:29 -0400

Some West Side Manhattanites might not be too thrilled to hear that French architect Jean Nouvel has won the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honor. The award is to be announced today, according to The New York Times.

Mr. Nouvel, 62, has two buildings in New York City: 40 Mercer, a luxury condo building completed last year in Soho; and a proposed 75-story condo and hotel tower slated for 53 West 53rd Street, next-door to the...

Community Board Votes Against MoMA Tower; Development Enthusiasts Counter With Petition

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:13:35 -0400

There’s been a bit of movement on the MoMA tower front since I wrote about it in this week’s paper.

Last night, Manhattan’s full Community Board 5 voted overwhelmingly (21-1, according to the board’s office) to deny the transfer of air rights from two landmarked buildings to the site for Jean Nouvel’s planned 75-story midtown hotel/residential/Museum of Modern Art skyscraper (the community board’s vote is only advisory).

The Landmarks...

Fashion Prince Domenico Vacca Buys $6.1 M. Condo Near MoMA

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:31:43 -0400

Italian mens' fashion designer and reigning red-carpet favorite Domenico Vacca has bought a 39th-floor condo in Musuem Tower, the 52-story apartment complex MoMA built in 1983, city records show.

Mr. Vacca, who is currently based on the Upper East Side at 34 East 64th Street, paid $6.1 million for the 3,100-square-foot apartment in the West 53rd Street tower that was home to the late architect Philip Johnson. Mr. Vacca has three stores...

DUMBO King Wants a Piece Of New Brooklyn Waterfront

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 20:00:00 -0400

David Walentas, the 67-year-old developer credited with putting Dumbo on the map, is planning to bid on land that will be opened by the state and city for residential condo development, right next to the park planned by officials to stretch along the Brooklyn waterfront. He’s twice before attempted to extend his shadow empire all the way to the East River from the windswept, cobblestone spider web of streets under the Manhattan Bridge. And...

Architect Trio Alights to Join Zero All-Stars

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Ground Zero is set to become a Hall of Fame for the all-stars of contemporary architecture now that developer Larry Silverstein has named three of the world's most celebrated architects to design massive towers to line the perimeter of the site. London-based Lord Norman Foster, of Foster and Partners; Tokyo-based Fumihiko Maki, of Maki and Associates; and Jean Nouvel, of Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris will design towers ringing the memorial site planned for...

Luxury Hotel in Meat Market Has Locals Wielding Cleavers

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:00:00 -0400

A local developer is going forward with plans to build a 34-story, 170,000-square-foot luxury hotel designed by the famed French architect Jean Nouvel in the meatpacking district-after a two-year-long battle with neighborhood activists who sought to have the plan scrapped.

Developer Stephen Touhey told The Observer that the hotel, at Washington Street and West 13th Street, can be built as-of-right under current zoning regulations. It's Mr. Touhey's latest effort to revive an original plan that...