Walking Tour #3 Reflection Prompt History of RED in NYC Several large grid-breaking projects shape the character of midtown Manhattan. Pick one that you've visited on this walking tour and highlight what you think of the way in which it does or doesn't relate to the grid-based area around it. ! Your answers should be no more than 500 words. Please include a photo of your journey with your write-up. ! Submittal Instructions: •! Hard copy: Please bring a hard copy to class on November 28th and place at front of lecture hall before or after lecture. •! Electronically: Please submit before November 28th 9AM on CourseWorks in the Assignment tab prior to the start of class. Please label your assignment PLANA6272_Walking Tour 3_Last Name_FirstName (i.e. PLANA6272_Walking Tour 3_Ascher_Kate). Word or PDF is acceptable. ! ! WALKING(TOUR(#3( History(of(Real(Estate(Development(in(NYC( WALKING TOUR #3 MAP LINK A. Hotel Pennsylvania The Hotel Pennsylvania, located across the street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by Ellsworth Statler. It opened on January 25, 1919 and was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White, which also designed the original Pennsylvania Station located across the street. Source B. Penn Station, Two Penn Plaza & Madison Square Garden Penn Station is the primary train station in New York City and has 21 tracks connected to 7 tunnels. The station is owned by Amtrak although the MTA, NJ Transit, and the Long Island Railroad all use the station. The original Station was inspired by the Gare d'Orsay in Paris and was constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1901 to 1910. After a decline in passenger usage during the 1950s, in exchange for the air-rights above, the original station was demolished in 1963 and replaced in 1969 with the current station with Madison Square Garden and Two Penn Plaza built above it. Source C. New York Times Building The New York Times Building, completed in 2007, was a joint venture of The New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner and ING Real Estate. The site was obtained by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) through eminent domain. With a mandate to acquire and redevelop blighted properties in Times Square, ten existing buildings were condemned by the ESDC and purchased from owners. Once the 80,000 square foot site was assembled, it was leased to The New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner for $85.6 million over 99 years. Additionally, The New York Times Company also received $26.1 million in tax breaks. The 52-story tower was designed by Renzo Piano and cost $850 million. Source D. Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal is a central transit hub for commuter and and long-distance buses. Serving about 8,000 buses and 225,000 people on an average weekday and more than 65 million people a year, the terminal is the largest in the United States and the busiest in the world by volume of traffic. By 1939, growing interstate bus traffic was creating congestion in New York City. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia appointed a committee of City officials to resolve the issue. Solutions that involved consolidating the eight separate bus terminals that served the city into a single larger one were opposed by the smaller terminals. In 1946, Mayor William O'Dwyer supported legislation that prohibited the additional construction of individual bus stations in Midtown. This decision paved the way politically for the Port Authority Bus Terminal to be built. After a two year construction period, the Port Authority Bus Terminal was completed in 1950 and cost $24 million. Source E. 4 Times Square 4 Times Square (the Condé Nast Building) was completed in 2000 as part of the Times Square/42nd Street redevelopment project. The 48-story, 1.6 million square foot building was designed by Fox & Fowle and is owned by the Durst Organization. Major Tenants: - Condé Nast Publications. - Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. - NASDAQ MarketSite. - H&M. Source F. 1 Bryant Park The Bank of America Tower/ 1 Bryant Park was completed in 2009 for a cost of $1 billion. The 55-story building contains 2.1 million square feet of office space serviced by 52 elevators. The building was designed by COOKFOX Architects with a number of environmentally conscious features, earning its LEED Platinum rating, the first skyscraper to do so. - Automatic lighting system that adjusts to daylight levels - Automatic temperature controls - Insulated glazing (windows) that limits heat loss/gain and maximizes natural light - Rainwater capture system - Recycled and recyclable building materials - Concrete manufactured with slag, a byproduct of blast furnaces that reduces the total amount of concrete needed and carbon dioxide emissions during the concrete manufacturing process - Carbon dioxide sensors (regulate fresh air ventilation) - Underfloor air system - Ice battery cooling system (produces and stores ice during off-peak hours and uses it help cool the building during peak load) - Cogeneration plant Despite all of this, New York Magazine in its August 12, 2013 issue exposed the fact that the building uses twice as much energy per square foot as the Empire State Building. Source G. Bryant Park Bryant Park is a 9.6 acre privately-managed public park located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets. Although part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Bryant Park is managed by a private not- for-profit corporation, the Bryant Park Corporation (BPC). The park is cited as a model for the success of public-private partnerships. The area was originally designated as a public space in 1686. It eventually served as a graveyard in 1823 until 1840 when the bodies were relocated elsewhere. This same land was set aside as a park in 1847 and was named Reservoir Square after the nearby Croton Reservoir. The park was renamed Bryant Park after the editor and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant. Although the park was the site of a number of historical moments, during the early 20th century the park fell in to disrepair and was rehabilitated and reopened by Robert Moses in 1934. The park again suffered from neglect and crime during the 1970s. Throughout the late 1970s to early 1990s, Bryant Park underwent a series of renovations to improve its aesthetics, amenities, safety, and relationship to the surrounding neighborhood. The expansion of the adjacent New York Public Library was coordinated with the park’s renovation such that Bryant Park is built entirely over an underground structure which houses the New York Public Library's archives. Although Bryant Park is a public park, BPC accepts no public funds, and operates the park on assessments on surrounding property within the Business Improvement District, fees from concessionaires, and revenues generated by public events. Source H. New York Public Library The organizers of the New York Public Library chose a central site available at the two-block section of Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets, then occupied by the no-longer-needed Croton Reservoir. Dr. John Shaw Billings, the first director of the library, created an initial design that became the basis of the current building. Following a competition among the city's most prominent architects, Carrère and Hastings was selected to design and construct the building. The cornerstone was laid in May 1902. In 1910, the 75 miles of shelves were installed and it took an additional year to move all the 1,000,000 books in. The library cost $9 million to build and the Beaux-Arts design and was the largest marble structure up to that time in the United States. In the 1980s the library expanded to add more than 125,000 square feet and miles of bookshelf space to make room for future acquisitions. This expansion was coordinated with the redevelopment of Bryant Park and was built below the current park. Source I. Grand Central Terminal The current Grand Central Terminal, located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue, was completed in 1913, replacing the pre-existing depot and station. Architectural firms Reed & Stem and Warren & Wetmore collaborated on the terminal’s design. Key features were the Beaux-Arts style, electrified train systems, and the burial of the Park Avenue rail yard. This Park Avenue tunnel encouraged the high-end real estate development that the area is known for today. The terminal was also designed to be able to support a future tower being built on top of it. In the 1940s and 1950s, rail traffic declined as highway and airline incentives increased. With the reduced traffic Grand Central became a target for demolition (similarly to Penn Station) with the idea that it either be replaced by or substantially altered for a tower. After the completion of the adjacent Pan Am Tower (now MetLife), another proposal wanted to use the pre-constructed tower supports and build on top of the terminal but the design would not have preserved the facade or the Main Waiting Room. It was the opposition of Jackie Kennedy and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Committee designating it a landmark that ultimately saved Grand Central. Fun Fact: During his time in office, President Franklin Roosevelt utilized a secret rail line, Track 61, which provided an underground connection between Grand Central and the nearby Waldorf-Astoria hotel. There was even a large freight elevator at the Waldorf’s end of the track, big enough to fit the president’s Pierce Arrow limousine, which allowed FDR to travel to and from New York in secrecy—quite handy for clandestine missions as he led the U.S.