What Lower Manhattan will look like after Silverstein's buildings are completed; the Woolworth Building with its ornate green roof is on the left, 99 Church is the tall building to it right (and to the left of what is an illuminated Church street); to the right is the WTC site, with Freedom Tower and the other three towers; image from dbox/Silverstein Properties
Developer Larry Silverstein announced yesterday that he will build an 80-story building at 99 Church Street, in place of the former Moody's headquarters, just a block away from the World Trade Center site. Twenty-two floors will be for a Four Seasons hotel; the other floors will include 143 condominiums, making it the "tallest residential structure" in the city.
It will be so tall that it will tower over one of the city's first skyscrapers, the Woolworth Building. Architect Robert A.M. Stern, who is designing the building, said that although creating such a tall structure next to the Woolworth "made me very nervous," 99 Church would be "very respectful."
The current view looking south at Lower Manhattan; image from dbox/Silverstein Properties
Curbed notes that Stern really loves limestone (Stern also designed 15 Central Park West) and that the building is LEED-certified. The hotel's entrance will be on Barclay, the condo entrance will be on Park Place. The Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park will still have a few years as the only luxury hotel in the neighborhood - 99 Church is expected to be completed in 2011.
Alliance of Downtown New York president Elizabeth Berger said, “Larry Silverstein helped jump-start lower Manhattan by rebuilding 7 World Trade Center. Larry’s ongoing development of the World Trade Center site and his new project at 99 Church St. are reasons why Lower Manhattan is a global model for urban centers of the 21st century."
