Back in the halcyon days of summer 2005, a supermarket tear-down on Broadway and 99th Street went a little awry; in a brilliant cost-savings move, the supermarket opted to demolish itself. Since then, despite concerns from some local residents, construction has moved along at sites, and now we can bask in the renderings of Ariel West and Ariel East (above), the new towers that will fill facing sites on either side of the Great White Way.
Per yesterday's City Section, as rock blasting continues at the sites, locals bask in the fun:
[West Siders for Responsible Development head Miki] Fiegel has discovered that nothing, including playing "Tosca" at high volume, drowns out the noise. "This is a neighborhood full of people in the arts, people who work late," she said. "And when they start at seven in the morning, you can hear it for blocks." Kenny Ziomek, the barrel-chested Teamster foreman for the site, ambled over. "Oh, they love us here," he said with a sarcastic smile. As if on cue, a thunderous pounding started behind him.In the spirit of the age, West Siders for Responsible Development have their own protest blog, and have gathered 2,000 signatures on a petition opposing the construction. Meantime, those confident that the construction will move ahead as planned can buy: 1BRs from $1.3m, and 5BRs up to almost $3m, like this one.
· Listings: Ariel East and Ariel West [Corcoran]
· Stop Extell [stopextell.blogspot.com]
· On a Site With a Past, a Battle Goes On [City Section]
· Ariel West and Ariel East [Wired New York]
· Building Collapse at 100th and Broadway [Curbed]