Over the weekend, a note dropped in our inbox that read, "The members of wirednewyork are highly disturbed by Harry Macklowe's imminent destruction of The Drake and many beautiful townhouses on East 57th Street which are adjacent to The Drake's site." Macklowe's original luxury tower plan called for the knock-down of the old Drake hotel on Park Avenue and 56th Street, and now the 57th Street townhouses (above) have been tossed into the plan to create an L-shaped lot. Well, to say the WiredNY gang is "highly disturbed" is an understatement. Check out this epic thread on the board, which starts in January and includes a letter-writing campaign to the Landmarks Preservation Commission and some token McSam hate. A sense of hopelessness seems to reign, but that doesn't mean the gang doesn't get some shots in:
Macklowe has a proven track record of building garbage. At least when Rosen rapes a site, he hires Foster to create something nice. A 750 foot maximum POS will rise on the Drake's site. The fact that it's nearly 70 stories means nothing. Isn't Orion over 60 stories, and it's well under 700 feet. Even if the Drake's site contains 20 floors of offices, this won't be a 900foot tower. As I stated previously, I hope that it's as short as possible because cheapskate Macklowe will hire SLCE to produce a cheap, glass box, and we don't need a conspicuous POS looming on the skyline.Our apologies to fans of cheap, glass boxes.
· Thread: 50 East 57th (Drake site) [WiredNY]
· Tasty Chocolates Impede Drake Hotel Demo [Curbed]