The sad, sad vacant lot at 610 Lexington Avenue was once destined to hold a Norman Foster-designed tower with New York's first Shangri-La hotel and condos, but developer Aby Rosen's plan was wholly scrapped after a foreclosure scare in 2011. But now, six years after that pipe dream began, it looks like Midtown is gonna get a tower after all. The firm filling Foster's shoes is SLCE Architects, whose past award-winning projects have included the likes of the Bloomberg building (just uptown at 731 Lexington) and the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center. Renderings of the glassy tower from SLCE's website are above, plus new filings with the Department of Buildings give a hint as to what's going to be in the 65-story structure planned for the southwest corner of 53rd Street.
Expect typical hotel amenities, like a bar, restaurant, pool, fitness room, spa, and business lounge, according to a a recently amended filing with the Department of Buildings. The hotel's common spaces and rooms will span from a ground-level lobby up to the 52nd floor, and above that will be apartments (with just two per level) till the 63rd floor. No residence in the penthouse, oddly. We don't yet know who the new hotel tenant will be, according to a rep from Rosen's RFR Holding quoted anonymously in the Post last week.
After the whole almost foreclosing fiasco, here's how it's all getting financed. After a lot of debt passed through a lot of hands, Rosen and business partner Michael Fuchs have recapitalized the property by securing a new group of funders, who are taking over an old loan. Could actual ground get broken soon? Who knows, but in the meantime, Rosen found a creative way to make use of his empty site?last fall, he requested a DOB permit to build a sukkah there, which is a tent of sorts used to celebrate the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot. Okay, Rosen, we know where you're hosting your seder now.
· Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs recapitalize their 610 Lexington Ave. stalled development site [NYP]
· 610 Lexington Avenue coverage [Curbed]
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