72 High Rise Gw FINAL.Indd

Taller than ever, residential buildings kiss the sky New construction breaks height records around the city, more planned BY JEN BENEPE Ecuadorian architect Carlos Zapata de- For residential builders, there’s nowhere to Alex Sapir, president signed the project, which will loom above the of the Sapir Organiza- go but up. adjoining four- and five-story tenements, al- tion, the co-developer Apartment buildings and hotels are get- of the Trump Soho lowing guests a bird’s-eye view of the neigh- ting taller throughout the city and in New Hotel Condominiums, borhood’s rooftops. Zapata’s tall, thin, glass, Jersey as well, as zoning revisions and high- which will be the tallest wood and bronze tower, reminiscent of his rise demand allow buildings to push to great- building in Soho. previous work at Soldier Field in Chicago er heights. As new projects leave the drawing and portions of the Miami Airport, will stand board, old records will be toppled. out in the formerly shabby-chic district. The highest residential building in New Greg Peck, a principal of Peck Moss, said York is the 72-story, 861-foot Trump World 23 stories isn’t high by New York standards, Tower on East 47th Street, which was com- and noted the Four Seasons has 52 stories. pleted in 2001. Forest City Ratner’s planned “We really wanted to create something 75-story, 850-foot Beekman Tower in Lower that was architecturally significant,” Peck Manhattan - sited on what is now a parking said. He said he knows from experience that lot bordered by Spruce and Beekman Streets the higher floors can fetch higher prices, and - won’t be as high, but it will have more floors. rooms in the planned project, laid out by The Frank Gehry-designed project, which Milanese designer Antonio Citterio, will av- broke ground in October, is slated to be com- erage $500 a night. pleted in 2010 (see story on page 70). “New York is all about the beautiful sky- Stratospheric residential development line and the whole idea of an urban hotel is started altering the New York skyline in the to be perched up there with a beautiful view early 1980s, when Donald Trump, no strang- of the city,” Peck said. er to a tall tale, put up the 664-foot Trump Farther Downtown, in the South Street Tower on Fifth Avenue and 56th Street in Seaport area, the Santiago Calatrava-de- 1983. With 58 floors, its height was not sur- signed 80 South Street would rise 835 feet, passed until he developed the Trump World but whether the architecturally ambitious Tower that faces the United Nations on 47th project will actually be built remains a big Street. That building is still the seventh-tall- question mark (see page 70). est residential building in the world, after buildings in Dubai, Australia, Russia and Similar changes in unlikely reaches South Korea, according to Emporis, a build- Tallest residential buildings in the world The skyline in Brooklyn is getting taller, too. ings database (see chart). More than 15 towers of at least 20 stories Rank Building City Height Floors Completed New York City is home to six buildings are planned for Downtown Brooklyn, along Q1 Tower Gold Coast City 1,058 ft 78 2005 that number among the 100 tallest residen- 1 the Williamsburg and Greenpoint water- (Australia) tial buildings in the world. Chicago is the only front, and in Dumbo. Some will be more sto- comparable American city with many very 2 Eureka Tower Melbourne 975 ft 91 2006 ries than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tall buildings, counting 12 in the top 100. 3 Millennium Tower * Dubai 919 ft 60 2007 building, now a high-rising geographic ref- These are still far fewer than steep-sloped erence point in the borough. Some of the tall 4 21st Century Tower Dubai 883 ft 55 2003 Hong Kong, location of 40 high-rise residen- projects include the Frank Gehry-designed tial buildings on the top 100 list. All were 5 Triumph-Palace Moscow 866 ft 54 2005 “Miss Brooklyn” tower, part of the Atlantic built between 1999 and 2005. Other areas 6 Tower Palace Three Seoul 865 ft 73 2004 Yards project, and the 40-story 306 Gold of the world are quickly catching up: Dubai 7 Trump World Tower New York City 861 ft 72 2001 Street and 35-story 313 Gold Street, sister already has nine and is planning many more. towers being developed by Ron Herscho and Beekman Tower* New York City 850 ft 75 2010 China is also in the middle of a major high- 8 Dean Palin. rise building cycle. 9 Sorrento 1 Hong Kong 841 ft 75 2003 Trump’s impulse for height is now being 10 Emirates Marina Serviced Apts. & Spa Dubai 840 ft 59 2006 Extell builds tall stretched across the Hudson River as well. On the Upper West Side, the Ariel East and (Source: Emporis Buildings database with additional research by The Real Deal; *not yet completed) In Jersey City, the 55-story Trump Plazas I Ariel West buildings being built by Extell and II will be the tallest residential buildings industry expert in high-rise buildings, said towards Downtown,” he said Development on 99th and 100th streets and in Jersey City when they’re completed. taller buildings make more economic sense Because the planned building is in a Broadway are the tallest structures in the They’ll have a fine view of developer K. because of increasing worldwide competi- manufacturing zone, the hotel-condo’s neighborhood. Ariel East is expected to rise Hovnanian’s new 44-story residential tow- tion for new construction and the resulting rooms will have time restrictions on the 39 stories and Ariel West, 34 stories. er at 77 Hudson Street, another tall project increase in construction costs. number of days that the owner can occu- Ariel East, with 63 apartments priced slated for Jersey City. For 77 Hudson, Graham said they ar- py the unit, approximately 120 days out of from $1.1 to $6 million, towers above its Tom Graham, who heads up construction rived at 44 floors only because it made sense the year, according to Sapir. The rest of the neighbors on upper Broadway. The taller at 77 Hudson, said clients have a “voracious for the project: “it could be 20 floors or 50,” time, the owner can rent his or her unit as floors have gone faster, and at higher prices, appetite” for height. Graham said before any he said, “but after awhile if you go higher, it a fully furnished hotel room. said Raizy Haas, senior vice president of de- building’s design is finalized, company ex- becomes uneconomical,” because the extra Because it’s a commercial building, the ho- velopment for the company. “We found the ecutives ride to each expected apartment floors cost more to build. tel will have to meet more extensive code re- most expensive apartments, which are at the level using a hot air balloon and assess the quirements than a purely residential project, high levels, are the first to go, and that has view 360 degrees around the location with High-rise hotels move Downtown including an extensive sprinkler system, more been consistent since Sept. 11,” she said. a camera. These steps help determine the When it comes to hotels, developers have stairways and higher standards for its exits. Haas said one of the 2,500-square-foot price, Graham noted. been building higher for a while - New York apartments has a view of Yankee Stadium With land prices accelerating all over the City has 17 of the tallest 100 hotels around Lower East Side and East Village to the north, Central Park to the east, the New York-New Jersey region, it certainly the world, ranging from 39 to 59 stories. The tallest structures on the Lower East Side George Washington Bridge to the north, and pays for developers to build as high as they Alex Sapir, president of the Sapir Orga- and in the East Village are both 21 stories - the New Jersey coastline to the west. feasibly can. nization, is the co-developer of the Trump the Hotel on Rivington and the Related Com- Another Extell tower completed this year, But the path skyward will still encoun- Soho Hotel Condominiums, which would be panies’ Astor Place project, respectively. the Orion condo building on West 42nd ter both practical and market-driven limi- the tallest building in Soho at 45 stories if it But that record could be shattered. Street, is 604 feet tall. Its 58 stories make it tations, and developers must walk a fine line gets built. The city was expected to approve In the East Village, the Peck Moss Hotel the tallest residential structure in that neigh- to determine them. construction permits last month. Group is planning a 23-story hotel be- borhood. It also makes the top 100 residen- Marilyn Davenport, senior vice president “High rises have always been associated tween Fifth and Sixth streets, diagonally tial buildings worldwide list, coming in at at the Real Estate Board of New York and an with New York, but now the trend is moving across from Cooper Square. No. 75, according to Emporis. TRD 72 December 2006 www.TheRealDeal.com PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL TOOLAN .

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