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The MoMA Monster has officially been decapitated. The City Council's Land Use Committee approved (by a 12-2 vote) the City Planning Commission's height reduction of the building earlier today. Now the Jean Nouvel designed Monster Hines Tower set to be raised next to MoMA, will drop down from the iconic height of 1,250-feet, to 1,050-feet. That's 200 feet below the Empire State Building, and the exact height of the Chrysler Building.
Lee Rosenbaum was in attendance and happened to sit next to Michael Sillerman, attorney for the project, who told him that the project would still go on even with the cut. Earlier this week Nouvel & Co. scoffed at the idea of the moving forward under the new terms, noting that it would take away 16 stories.
Sigh, the NIMBYs win again. Will a new iconic skyscraper ever be raised in this city again?
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"... and the exact height of the Chrystler Building. "
is that the one named for Jesus H?
You can't build to 1250 feet in midtown but Gehry's Beekman Tower was approved at 867 feet in an area where it's about three times as tall as ay other building? This city is f***ed up. Oh right, there's going to be a public school in the Beekman.
Put them goddamn 16 stories back, assholes.
Whatever happened to all the doomsayers who shortly after 9/11 insisted that nobody would ever rent space in a new skyscraper because it would be a potential target?
I don't disagree with you, but this isn't exactly office space for thousands of people. I believe it's more along the lines of hotel/residence for the select few (which I have no problem with other than wishing I could spend a night there); I'm just saying I think the post 9/11 focus was more about buildings with lots of people in them.
For all the whiners who did their best to stifle this project, are all those complaints about losing light and air now moot because the skyscraper is 1050 feet instead of 1250? The obvious answer is no, so why not just let the building rise to 1250? Maybe then we'll have a better chance of suffocating all the assholes who think that living in midtown protects their right to being surrounded by small buildings.
I'm slightly jealous of authoritarian China right about now, public commissions and forums be damned.
what a travesty. ny loses an iconic skyscraper that would bring in tourists and revenues not to mention beauty to the skyline, and the nimbys still have a huge bldg next to them. can they honestly say the 200 feet will somehow improve their quality of life? they gain nothing, but we all lose out....
And when they are dedicating the buildings opening, ground zero will STILL be a hole in the ground.
Unbelievable.
Us nimbys have been suffering from MoMA's arrogance and anti community stance for a very long time. If the permits they seek are granted, you too can have an Empire State or Chrysler size building across from you on a narrow side street rather than an avenue, wherever you may live in the city. That's what happens when zoning laws are manipulated. the way they have been in this situation. The residential area starting on the north side of West 54 Street is a special midtown preservation sub district and this building does not belong here. Put it over near the West side highway and I'd vote for it in a second. Yes, chopping 200 feet makes no difference, we wanted it to be the same size as the CBS building, way smaller. And we may get there yet. THere are many gorgeous smaller buildings-the new Cooper Union building, the New Museum, the IAC, some of the buildings near the Highline. I thought designers were supposed to be creative. Only those who build tall are talented? Think about it.
Why is a big beautiful building a bad thing? People on any other block in this nation would love to have that building.
Go. Live. In. Kansas.
I'm looking out my office window at your 'residential area' right now. It's one block wide. It's also complete BS to use the CBS building as your standard when there's a tower 20 stories higher right next to it.
"Special midtown preservation sub-district"? Give me a break. Your 'sub-district' is comprised of 3 buildings of no particular architectural significance.
Last count was 12 Landmarks, 17, 13+15, 11, 9, 7, 5 West 54 Street, the University Club, Peninsula Hotel, 10 West 56 Street, 30 West 56 Street, Argentine Embassy on W 56 St, 2 in LPC application process, one on the National Register of Historic Places, two resubmits to LPC. (The CBS building is also a Landmark, although not in the special preservation subdistrict.) Do your homework.