WEST CHELSEA?We return to the West Chelsea hotbed of starchitecture to check on the status of of a certain Eleventh Avenue construction pit. And it ain't just a construction pit when it represents the birth canal of starchitect Jean Nouvel's uber-hyped 100 Eleventh Avenue. So why the slow going? Maybe because of some hang-ups here and there. For instance, a Curbed tipster writes that "The laboriously slow construction of the Nouvel Chelsea has unearthed an old curved wall. Which was immediately demolished. Its kinda funny watching them. 520 West 19th Street started after them and topped out like three weeks ago. Possibility remains that this is just a scheme to tunnel someone out of the Jail next door." [CurbedWire Inbox]
HUDSON SQUARE?Meanwhile, an emailer notes that the Peter Poon-designed hotel project at 52 Watts "is not making many friends," that there is a partial stop work order on the project and a long list of complaints at the Department of Buildings. Poon also designed the 16-story building for 86-100 Canal Street at the corner of Eldridge and Canal. [CurbedWire Inbox]
DOWNTOWN?What would a day be without an item to indicate the extent to which the real estate bubble survives or has deflated? An emailer notes, with what we think might be some sarcasm, "Apparently all is ok in NYC real estate. Walking into my office I saw the normal massive line of MENSA folks lined up to take the NY state Realtor exam." [CurbedWire Inbox]