Rockefeller University will appeal to its community board tonight for more space, Crain's reports, asking permission to build a platform over the FDR Drive that would house two small buildings. The Upper East Side institution, located on York Avenue in the 60s and dedicated to medical research, wants to construct a canopy over the highway that would span from about 64th to 68th streets, where a two-story research building with a landscaped green roof on top and a conference center would sit. (The school tapped starchitect Rafael Vinoly for the design, of 432 Park fame and more.) Such expansion is not unheard of?Rockefeller is sandwiched between freeway overhangs built by the United Nations and Weill Cornell Medical Center. Rockefeller owns the air rights, but it will need zoning approvals starting from the community board on up to other city agencies, and some fear that allowing cantilevered buildings here, there, and everywhere will threaten the dream of an inviting East Side waterfront. Rockefeller's road to expansion begins tonight, when it will present its plan to the CB's land use committee.
· Rockefeller University eyes platform over FDR [Crain's]
Filed under:
Loading comments...