This here is the new rendering for architect Costas Kondyls' forthcoming project at 99 Church Street in downtown Manhattan. We'd known for awhile that developer Larry Silverstein had planned to tear down the existing office building on the site to construct a 60-story hotel/condo mashup of some sort, but HOLY MOTHER OF GOD we were not expecting this. If early plans hold, the first 20 or so floors will be a boutique hotel, with luxe condos on the higher floors. ("I realized there are just no grand Park Avenue apartments downtown, and I'd like to create that," Silverstein told the Post back in March. Alrighty then.)
The leaked renderings, uncovered on a random website by an intrepid poster in a Wired New York message board thread, is earning early rave reviews over there ("this is easily the best skyscraper proposal in the city barring a rendering of Beekman Place, it's gorgeous! It reminds me of 1 Wall Street only clad in glass and even more sublime. It’s extravagant yet not overdone and it works perfectly in its setting. Costas continues to prove that given a good budget he can produce!"). While we haven't wrapped our heads around it yet, we will note that the building is eerily close to the glorious, ancient Woolworth Building—like on the same freaking block close—and matches it nearly identically in height. How the elaborate crown of this newcomer will play on the skyline remains to be seen, but we'll see soon enough: construction's set to start by year-end.
· 99 Church Street: New Views [bb-group]
· New 58-Story Tower at 99 Church Street [Wired New York]