At a real estate industry lunch yesterday, Ziel Feldman of HFZ Capital shared new details about the development he plans to build next to the High Line. HFZ hasn't yet closed on the lot, which spans from 17th to 18th streets and from Tenth to Eleventh avenues and currently houses a parking lot and a Manhattan Mini-Storage facility. The most exciting part? Who might design the condo-hotel-retail agglomeration Feldman has in mind. On the table are two verrrrry preliminary designs by Bjarke Ingels and Rem Koolhaas, two bold-faced names firmly ensconced on the world's starchitecture scene. The proposed project is some 38 stories, or 400 feet, tallnot large compared to Midtown's megatowers-to-be, but taller than the older buildings in West Chelseea. It's all too early to tell, because Feldman is still in contract on the full-block parcel; reports say he is paying "$600 million to $700 million and [it] comes with the right to develop more than 760,000 square feet."
Feldman presented early renderings from Ingels and Koolhaas at the lunchrevealing "somewhat triangular structures that won't block views"but then reps from the hosts, the Young Men's/Women's Real Estate Association, sent a few frantic e-mails last night ensuring that attendees knew they were for "EDUCATION PURPOSES ONLY and NOT for the Press to take pictures of an [sic] circulate."
No renderings have hit the internet, so reporters have apparently taken the warning to heart. Lois Weiss of the Post describes BIG's design (and remember, Bjarke has experience with pyramids) as "a low building for a hotel and retail and a higher one with more bulk at the top for the tower closest to the water. The project will include a small park while a porte cochere could run between the buildings." Feldman confirms that he wants the lot to house two separate buildings, and also that he wants to build smaller condos because "buyers are worried more about the total costs than the square footage."
Close on the property, Feldman, and then show us a real rendering. It's just nice this piece of prime real estate is finally being developed, after a few false starts in prior years. But will it best Frank Gehry's IAC building directly to the north?
· Monumental developments on the horizon for Eleventh Avenue [NYP]
· The High Line Might Get Yet Another Big, Fancy Building [Curbed]
· This Glassy Tower Could Have Risen by the High Line [Curbed]
· Mapping the Many Development Rising Around the High Line [Curbed]
· All Rem Koolhass coverage [Curbed]
· All Bjarke Ingels coverage [Curbed]
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