There is no more anticipated building in New York City than 80 South Street designed by Santiago Calatrava for Frank J. Sciame.
There has been considerable speculation that the project, which was announced a couple of years ago, might not get built because its apartment units were perhaps a bit expensive.
The mixed-use project includes ten 4-story townhouses stacked atop one another with the top "townhouse-in-the-sky" unit carrying a reported sales price of $59 million.
Given the fact that the units would have about 10,000 square feet of space and spectacular views of the nearby South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, the prices were very high but not altogether ridiculous in light of recent sales in the luxury market.
The tower is planned to rise 835 feet high and to be topped by a mast that will reach 1,000 feet. The project's website went up in the fall of 2005.
Mr. Calatrava, who was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last year, has designed the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and construction started recently on his design for the tallest building in the United States, a 115-story building close to Lake Michigan in Chicago.
In response to a query from CityRealty.com after a Community Board 1 public meeting last night at Southbridge Towers on plans by General Growth Corporation to redevelop the South Street Seaport, Gregg Pasquarelli, a partner with SHoP Architects, who works for General Growth and is also the architect for the city's planned East River Waterfront plan, said that the 80 South Street skyscraper project was "still alive."
When asked for more information, he repeated that it was "still alive," but offered no details.
Calatrava's design for the tower was been widely acclaimed and it and the Frank O. Gehry mixed-use tower for Forest City Rattner nearby at 8 Spruce Street have been viewed by some observers as important as the towers planned for Ground Zero on the other side of Lower Manhattan at least in terms of their impact on the city's skyline.
Many speakers from the community at the board meeting over the seaport plans expressed concerns that the area needed schools and community facilities rather than tall buildings.
Mr. Pasquarelli said that General Growth Properties had no specific plan yet and was studying various scenarios. The Calatrava tower appeared in one of his slide presentations. One scenario shown indicated that a new mixed-use tower at the seaport might be as tall as 350 feet.
SHoP Architects has also designed the Rector Street Bridge at Battery Park City, the stunning Porter House on Ninth Avenue at 15th Street, and other projects such as 127 Madison Avenue and 290 Mulberry Street.
There has been considerable speculation that the project, which was announced a couple of years ago, might not get built because its apartment units were perhaps a bit expensive.
The mixed-use project includes ten 4-story townhouses stacked atop one another with the top "townhouse-in-the-sky" unit carrying a reported sales price of $59 million.
Given the fact that the units would have about 10,000 square feet of space and spectacular views of the nearby South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, the prices were very high but not altogether ridiculous in light of recent sales in the luxury market.
The tower is planned to rise 835 feet high and to be topped by a mast that will reach 1,000 feet. The project's website went up in the fall of 2005.
Mr. Calatrava, who was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last year, has designed the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and construction started recently on his design for the tallest building in the United States, a 115-story building close to Lake Michigan in Chicago.
In response to a query from CityRealty.com after a Community Board 1 public meeting last night at Southbridge Towers on plans by General Growth Corporation to redevelop the South Street Seaport, Gregg Pasquarelli, a partner with SHoP Architects, who works for General Growth and is also the architect for the city's planned East River Waterfront plan, said that the 80 South Street skyscraper project was "still alive."
When asked for more information, he repeated that it was "still alive," but offered no details.
Calatrava's design for the tower was been widely acclaimed and it and the Frank O. Gehry mixed-use tower for Forest City Rattner nearby at 8 Spruce Street have been viewed by some observers as important as the towers planned for Ground Zero on the other side of Lower Manhattan at least in terms of their impact on the city's skyline.
Many speakers from the community at the board meeting over the seaport plans expressed concerns that the area needed schools and community facilities rather than tall buildings.
Mr. Pasquarelli said that General Growth Properties had no specific plan yet and was studying various scenarios. The Calatrava tower appeared in one of his slide presentations. One scenario shown indicated that a new mixed-use tower at the seaport might be as tall as 350 feet.
SHoP Architects has also designed the Rector Street Bridge at Battery Park City, the stunning Porter House on Ninth Avenue at 15th Street, and other projects such as 127 Madison Avenue and 290 Mulberry Street.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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