Ever since the Daily Intel dropped the bombshell that Daniel Libeskind might be partnering up with Yitzhak Tshuva's Elad Properties to build the tallest residential building in Manhattan on top of the landmark One Madison clocktower (which is actually Five Madison Avenue), the Internets have been churning. However, can all those additional stories really be built on top of that sucker? It's not what you would call a big footprint, and it was just sold to a different Israeli. Today, Reuters follows up and reports that Elad is investing $450 million to build 75 floors on top of an existing 20-story building, and many Curbed readers speculate that the building is 11 Madison Avenue (right, via Property Shark), which was supposed to be a 100-story skyscraper before that whole Great Depression thing happened.
11 Madison is actually 30 stories, but as far as starchitects who swoop in and build giant new towers on top of old things, this fits the bill in a very Norman Foster/Hearst Building way, as one emailer put it. But hold up: Elad doesn't own 11 Madison, the Trump Soho-developing Tamir Sapir does. And he bought the thing for $675 million three years ago, so unless he feels like taking a hit or parnering up, 11 Madison seems somewhat unlikely as well.
The clocktower's price was $200 million when it traded hands, so maybe Lev Leviev is selling to Elad, but again, it's not clear how the landmark structure can be preserved with such a giant addition on top. Elad does own the nearby Grand Madison, but that's doing it's own condo thing. So what's going on here? Rumors, please!
· Israeli firm plans Manhattan's highest residence [Reuters]
· Have We Found Libeskind's Manhattan Tower at Madison Square Park? [Daily Intel]