The totally bonkers 40-story apartment tower planned at 400 Park Avenue South has been kicking around since the first half of the last decade, and in recent years has been tossed onto the pile of fantastical renderings that will never see the light of day. That was then! Now New York is enmeshed in the biggest Christian invasion since the Crusades, and French starchitect Christian de Portzamparc's glassy giant might actually have a pulse. (C-deP also has Carnegie 57 and Riverside Center on the boards.)
The site is a parking lot at 28th Street and the adjacent eight-story building at 396 Park Avenue South. Developers Albert and Roy Kalimian bought up mucho air rights along Madison Avenue to set the stage for the 436-unit building (which would also have retail and a new 6 train entrance) before the project went into hibernation. Now the parking lot is closed and a demolition permit has been approved for 396 Park Ave. South. There's oodles more evidence that the Fortress of Glassitude (working title; we're open to suggestions!) is on the way.
A Curbed tipster dropped by the site and did a bit of snooping:
Spoke to a Owner Rep at the location (wouldn't give his name) says existing 8 story building to be fully demolished by late fall. New Residential Development to be built in its place. Parking lot by 28th Street is closed (Sign says it will reopen in December, but owner rep says new building to be entire block).Of course a cheaper, non-Frenchie building might be the new plan, but interestingly the original building permit?filed in 2005 by architect-of-record Handel Architects?was disapproved only this past October, indicating fresh filing action (and maybe some imminent fine-tuning). A Wired New York contributor also noticed that 400 Park Avenue South, which has been on Portzamparc's website forever, now mentions a 2010 start and a 2012 completion. Kaboom! With the Gansevoort Park hotel opening one block up, this stretch of Park Avenue South is getting interesting in a hurry. Anyone else got intel?
· Projects: 400 Park Avenue South [Atlelier Christian de Portzamparc]
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