Roman & Williams , the upstart interior design firm (the Standard Hotel, the Ace Hotel, Gwyneth Paltrow’s place ) co-founded by Hollywood set designers Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, has deftly avoided backlash from the preservation crowd. When they designed their first ground-up building, in history-rich Nolita, R&W came up with a building that managed to blend in beautifully with 150-year-old tenements while still looking new and fresh. But 211 Elizabeth was a runt compared to 120 West 57th Street , the firm’s just-announced 30-story hotel in Midtown, and there will no doubt be some lingering hard feelings over what had to die so that this blockbuster could live. The former 120 West 57th Street ( right ) was the longtime home of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services , which went into contract to sell the building in 2007. Demolition work began on the 12-story building, designed by Harry B. Mulliken and built in 1903 (but later altered), to some moaning and groaning , but nothing like what accompanied the razing of the Drake Hotel a few blocks east. The new hotel on the site, slated to open in 2013 , will be a 130,000-square-foot building with a lobby restaurant and bar, 250 rooms and 46 suites. And yep, it’s right next to the 57th Street entrance of Le Parker Meridien. Careful when popping in for a burger during construction. The hotel is being developed by Ark Partners , which owns and operates a handful of New York City hotels under its Willow Hotels subsidiary. The first rendering is still a little bit draped in mystery, but it does remind us of Tribeca’s Artisan Lofts condo conversion, another Roman & Williams design project. The architect-of-record for the hotel will be, brace, Gene Kaufman (as in The Gene Kaufman ), but if he knows what’s good for him , he won’t claim credit for the finished product. Here’s the portion of the press release dealing with the design: Roman and Williams has designed a building whose disciplined and reductive architecture gives it structure and clarity when viewed from afar and from the street. The façade is defined by two muscular shoulders – made of iron-spot black brick – that define, frame and ground the building’s front elevation. Glazed black brick and metal windows – muntined to create the feeling of a beautiful lantern when lit from within – comprise the bulk of the façade. These windows will relate the new hotel to much of the traditional, iconic architecture in the neighborhood. Guest room and public area designs will feature rich woods, understated yet grand décor elements, and a nod to Mid-Century-Modern design. The material palette is restrained, earthy and sensual in the common areas of the hotel, and guest rooms have a functionality and airiness of a loft with simple, functional and well-detailed furnishings. The bathrooms are inspired by those in classic 1930s New York apartment buildings , with marble and tile detailing and custom fittings. With floor-to-ceiling windows, outdoor terraces, soaring high ceilings, sweeping views of Central Park from upper floors and a restaurant and bar under the helm of a to-be-announced noteworthy and acclaimed restaurateur, the new hotel will emerge at the forefront of bespoke upscale hotels in Manhattan. · Ark Partners [arkpartners.com] · Willow Hotels [willowhotels.com] · Roman & Williams [romanandwilliams.com] · 120 West 57th Street – by Harry B. Mulliken : The demise of a beauty [Wired NY]
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Mindboggling Reveals: Roman & Williams Take On Midtown With New 30-Story Hotel
3 BR, 3 BA, 1,932 sq ft Condo Asking: $2,290,000 | Bold & Distinctive 208 WEST 96TH ST [Halstead]
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What do Bernie Madoff and the tenants of the Bowery’s new ultra-shmancy 2 Cooper Square rental building have in common? So many recreation-time rules! That’s the opinion of the EV Grieve tipster who forwarded the memo outlining the regulations for the building’s club level and rooftop pool . Some strict rules make sense now that a hottie vampire lives among the building’s daywalkers, but limiting tenants to two guests per day? Charging $15 each for friends #3 and #4? Banning groups of five or more without a reservation made five days in advance? So not chill! Curse you, crowd control! Click through to Grieve for the equally long list of rules for the building’s club, and remember, no rough play. · ‘Draconian regulations’ for 2 Coop’s pool and club [EV Grieve] · 2 Cooper Square coverage [Curbed]
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Memos From Mgmt: No Pool Parties Allowed at 2 Cooper Square’s Rooftop Retreat
With a slow and numerically confusing start to sales, a vocal group of disgruntled buyers, and everything from loans to 25 percent discounts needed to keep those buyers in the fold, Trump Soho is trying hard to stay afloat. Its latest strategy: scrounging up more money. The condo-hotel has gotten another $20 million in financing from its lender after restructuring its mortgage, The Real Deal reports. The development and sales teams are probably grateful for the cheer-up, because the building’s StreetEasy page shows that Trump Soho’s first two under-$1 million closings happened in August. The units closed for $922,073 and $869,737 after a string of sales that topped out over $2.2 million. · Trump Soho gets $20M infusion [Real Deal] · Trump Soho coverage [Curbed]
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Glory, Glory Trumpelujah: Trump Soho Stays Alive With Another $20 Million
1 BR, 1 BA 505 sq ft Condo Asking: $425,000 | Sat & Sun, 12‑3pm 10-17 Jackson Avenue [1VernonJackson.com]
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We’ve been following the massive new Clinton Park rental/Mercedes dealership/NYPD horse stable(!) complex since the renderings looked like an 8-bit Nintendo game , so any new-and-improved looks at architect Enrique Norten’s zigzagging Eleventh Avenue creation (developed by Dumbo kingpins Two Trees) get us pumped. The apartments are way off in the distance, but the Mercedes showroom is well underway , and proving that even jaded journalists lust for high-end German engineering, the dealership has scored its second major Times story this year. Where’s our free Maybach, freunde? This time it’s wrapped into a larger trend piece about all the action on Eleventh Avenue’s ” Autobahn Alley ,” but the whole story is just an excuse to get excited about the crazy futuristic design of the Mercedes megastore all over again. Do car dealerships qualify as architecture porn? If not, we might have to make an exception. · The Auto Show Along 11th Avenue Is Expanding [NYT] · A Mercedes Flagship That Sets the Standard [NYT] · Clinton Park coverage [Curbed]
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Car Talk: New Mercedes Mansion is a Hot Piece of German Glass
3 BR, 3 BA, 1,932 sq ft Condo Asking: $2,395,000 | Bold & Distinctive 8 WEST 96TH ST [Halstead]
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Maybe NYU would do a better job with Washington Square Park . After the contractor working on Phase II of the park’s controversial renovation went absolutely bonkers on the Parks Department, blaming construction delays on mishaps like officials ordering the wrong granite paving stones , The Villager set out to discover the truth and catalogue all the problems with the park. Please note that this is much more entertaining if you’re playing this song while reading: For starters, it seems the Parks Department ordered the wrong color Canadian granite, “Molten Black,” for lining the pathways and plaza areas; so it all had to be returned and the right color, “Caledonian,” ordered. In addition, we’re told that the contractor installing the granite has put a lien on the job, and is not working until he’s repaid for the cost of the order screw-up, which he had to foot. In another goof-up being pinned on Parks, the circular granite, low retaining wall around the chess plaza in the park’s southwest corner has to be shifted about 6 feet north, because if completed as it is now, it would run right into a beautiful 150-year-old London Planetree! And that’s not all! We hear that Parks’ plans for the job mistakenly showed a “light post” instead of the humongous tree at that spot. But it’s even worse that that: The entire path that connects the chess plaza to the Lyman Holley monument circle — and which has been lined with the granite retaining walls — also has to be shifted. In addition, we hear the wrong type of children’s swings (not safety compliant) nearly got installed as part of the playground’s renovation. A fundamental part of the problem is reportedly that the computer (CAD) drawings Parks provided for the project were completely out of whack — the layers didn’t line up properly — so it all had to be redrawn by hand . And after all that, the Parks Department says Phase II will be done in December, just two months after the original completion date—though we’re not sure if that new deadline doesn’t line up properly and will have to be redrawn by hand. · Park problems [The Villager, second item ] · Washington Square Park Contractor Rips Parks Department [Curbed]
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Shitshows: Epic Screwups Plague Washington Square Park Renovation
1 BR, 1 BA, 666 sq ft Rental Rent: $3,995/mo. | The Lyric 255 West 94th St, Upper West Side [Related]
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2 BR, 2 BA 1,209 sq ft Condo Asking: $1,330,000 | W Exposure 70 Little West St., #8J [TheVisionaire.com]
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