At 821 feet, the recently-topped out 56 Leonard is the tallest building in Tribeca (at least for now), and while it may not be part of the supertall club, the views from that height are still pretty fantastic. The development team at Alexico Group sent over a photo from the tippy top of the Jenga-like building looking north toward Midtown, with river to river views. A rep says that the "cocoon" is coming down over the next few weeks, and "the most thrilling segment of the building" will finally be revealed.
For awhile, nearly everyone (or at least those who care about these kind of things) agreed that 56 Leonard, designed by Herzog & de Meuron as a zig-zagging glassy tower o' boxes, was the most exciting addition to the skyline. But as construction progressed and the bulk of the tower revealed itself, we were left wondering where those alluring protrusions were. One commenter on Tribeca Citizen said, "The building itself is turning out to be a straight-up high rise with balconies applied to the facade in a gently alternating pattern—nothing like the strongly offset layers that the original design promised. The original design was fantastic; this is banal and a huge disappointment."
But perhaps we're just being impatient. Several have pointed out that the most exciting part of the building is at the top, which we still haven't seen. Some Curbed commenters aren't so cynical. "This building is gorgeous. If that means I'm 'buying into the bs,' so be it," said GotAnyChange, while iluvnyc gushed, "I am going to venture out on a (concrete) limb and say it's going to be dazzling, iconic and as pretty to look at as to look out of."
· Jenga Tower 56 Leonard Has Finally Topped Out [Curbed]
· All 56 Leonard coverage [Curbed]
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