Google Earth aerial of Solow's development site; CityRealty
How do you assemble a major site of 57th Street?
Patience, patience, patience. For more than a decade, legendary New York developer Sheldon Solow has been cobbling together a prime site on West 57th near Fifth Avenue across from his premier office tower at 9 West 57th Street. Now, with demolition permits filed, there will finally be some activity along the vacant stretch, located steps away from the most valuable retail corner in the world.
An expanse of recently-erected scaffolding stamped with the Solow Building Company name shows that the billionaire octogenarian has amassed a 6-building parcel amounting to a whopping 240-feet of street frontage; in comparison, Extell’s One 57 has 160 feet along 57th street.
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View of Solow's scaffolded development site from 6-22 West 57th Street; CityRealty
CityRealty
CityRealty
Solow’s assemblage spans from 6-22 West 57th Street and 19-21 West 56th Street and comprises some well-maintained limestone gems that we’re a bit saddened to lose. They include the Henri Bendel Building at 12 West 57th, 20-22 W. 57th, which Solow bought for $60 million in 2007, and the much-contested 16-18 West 57th, which Solow bought from Brazilian firm JHSF for $128 million last year. Additionally, over on 56th Street, Solow purchased the former American Cancer Society Building in 2007.
APF Properties’ through-block 24 West 57th seems to have eluded the chopping block, but according to the Post, the building has 30,000 square feet of air rights that could be transferred over.
In 2013, it was reported that developer Shvo was in talks to purchase 16-18 West 57th Street from Extell. Posted on Shvo's website is this rendering, titled the Pinnacle, whose location has yet to be confirmed.
B+B Capital's Frank Williams Architects design for 16-18 West 57th Street. B+B then sold the site to JHSF who then sold to Solow for $128M
While the clandestine developer has released no clues of what will happen at the site, the filed demolition permits put to bed any rumors that Solow is holding onto the properties to thwart anyone else from building a tower that would block views from 9 West 57th Street. Previous reports have pegged the site’s as-of-right potential north of 350,250 buildable square feet.
Next door to the site, Michael Shvo and Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin of Amanresorts are moving ahead with plans for an “ultra-luxury” hotel and condo conversion of the Crown Building. Across 57th Street, Solow recently filed permits to build a 19-Story residential building at 7 West 57th Street and Vornado Realty Trust has cleared the former Rizzoli Bookstore site at 29-31 West 57th Street.
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