Well, off to Wikipedia first then
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coordinates: 40°44′26″N 73°59′17″W
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History
When the building was originally announced, it was to be 47-stories and called "The Saya"; the name was changed to One Madison Park around the time that construction began in 2006 and then to One Madison after it was taken over by the Related Companies. The building as constructed has 50 stories.[2]
At one point, a 22-story building designed by noted architect Rem Koolhaas was to be the "companion" to One Madison Square, on 22nd Street,[3] but later plans called for an 11-story building designed by Cetra/Ruddy, the firm that designed One Madison; although at the time construction began in January 2013, permits had reportedly been issued for a 6-story building,[4] which will include the entrance lobby and two duplex apartments.[3] The companion building was to be the primary entrance for tenants.[5]
Koolhaas designed the interiors of many of the condominium's amenities, which was planned to include a private screening room, an upscale restaurant run by chef Charlie Trotter,[6] a spa and fitness room, and a wine cellar.[7] The building, which contains 91 residential units,[2] is topped by an 8,300-square-foot (770 m2) triplex penthouse, for which the original asking price was $45 million,[8] which, when the building was first put on the market in 2007, included an outdoor terrace, a butler and a one-bedroom apartment for him on a lower floor.[6]
As of April 2010, the building had topped out, but was still not complete, having run into financial difficulties. Sales of residential units had stopped, but the appointment of a receiver on April 15 allowed sales to start again.[9] The building continued to be mired in financial and legal problems, including multiple lawsuits and allegations of fraud,[7] and was forced into bankruptcy by some of its creditors in June 2010.[10]
The building is currently owned by a consortium of creditors, including Related Companies, the CIM Group and HFZ Capital Group, who are completing construction and are expected to launch sales in early 2013.[11][12][10]
Architecture
The building was designed by the architectural firm Cetra/Ruddy.[13]Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the New York Times, called One Madison Park "a dazzling addition to a street that includes two of the city’s most celebrated skyscrapers: Pierre LeBrun’s 1909 Metropolitan Life Tower, across the street, and Daniel Burnham's 1903 Flatiron building, a half block west. It jolts the neighborhood into the present."[13] In the New York Observer, Dana Rubinstein was somewhat less enthusiastic. Conceding that the tower was "not ugly", she wrote that the building is "in its overpowering, hubristic way, kind of pretty."[7] One local resident called it "the turd in the punchbowl of Madison Square,"[7] but architect Dan Kaplan is quoted on a Wall Street Journal weblog as saying that the building is an "elegant, thin stalk", and represents a continuation of a long-held vision of Manhattan. Kaplan does say, however, that the sliver building "turn[s] its back, a little bit, on the park".[14]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered