The East 86th Street corridor, which provided some lively fodder (seasoned with a dash of Whole Foods gossip) for our Rumblings column last month, comes up for the Square Feet treatment in the Times. New developments at Lexington Ave. (by Extell Development Co., rendered at left) and 3rd Ave. (by Related Cos.) are spotlighted, along with the requisite owner-family squabbles and suggestions about what retail street-level denizens might get. "A major bookseller" and a handful of clothing stores are in talks. Nary an organic grocery chain in sight. Guess you'll just have to learn to appreciate the "busy doughnut shop" and "Kosher deli" while Extell tries to maneuver them out.
Meanwhile, fewer worries for the height conscious: "Neither building can go higher than 210 feet, or 20 stories." About which the president of Extell, Gary Barnett, quips: "Truth be known, it's not so easy to get magnificent architecture with 210 feet." Still, magnificent or no, starchitect Robert A. M. Stern's name is being tossed around for the Related project.
· Gentrification Arrives at a Crossroads in Yorkville [NYT]
· Rumblings & Bumblings Responses: Whole Foods for UES? [Curbed]
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