We said last month that recent Hell's Kitchen Development Du JourGriffin Court would be launching sales on March 9, and a StreetEasy check reveals the building has indeed begun sales. Way to be on the ball! In fact, it looks like every apartment in the 95-unit two-building complex has been listed. The FXFowle-designed Griffin Court has quite the array of door prizes, like a free iPad or 42" flat-screen TV for buyers and their brokers who sign contracts by the end of March, and developer-paid transfer taxes and Mansion Tax for the first 15 buyers. But exactly how much change do buyers need to fork over to get those goodies? Prices range from $735,000 for a 636-square-foot studio to $3,860,000 for a 1,829-square-foot three-bedroom. Some units come with private rooftop cabanas, like the $1.95 million #2M. Hey, as long as the free iPads work up there!
We got a hint earlier this week that the hotel portion of the Related Companies' mixed-use hotel/rental tower at 440 West 42nd Street would be a Yotel, the first U.S. installment of the European pod hotel chain. The 669-room hotel does, indeed, appear to be happening as rumored. A tipster sends in the above shot with a note: "Looks like the Yotel design you posted for 440 W 42nd is accurate—the nauseating, foamy-looking hexagons have started going up. I can already envision that Yotel neon sign blaring 24 hours and doing to me what Kenny Roger's Roasters did to Kramer." The 170-square-foot rooms behind the foamy hexagons are supposed to be $200-$250 per night. And may be some of the few places in the neighborhood where those hexagons aren't visible, in which case, interesting marketing strategy! After the jump, a reminder of what the building has in mind.
The pieces keep getting added to the Related Companies' 60-story mixed-use tower now under construction at 42nd Street and Tenth Avenue, even if the developer is still playing coy about the building's final look. Already the future home of the Signature Theatre Company and its Frank Gehry-designed spaces, the hotel/rental tower is now filling in the blanks on the hotel part. The building will house a 669-room Yotel, the first U.S. property from the company that operates pod hotels near several European airports. Rooms will be a snug 170 square feet and cost between $200-$250 per night. The Rockwell Group and London's Softroom will design the Yotel New York, and a 2011 opening is expected. HotelChatter is all in a tizzy over the planned restaurant, spa, lounge and the "largest outdoor terrace space for an NYC hotel," and they also scored a rendering that features a heck of a lot of detail on the nearby Zebra Building, but still doesn't show much of the tower itself. The other Yotels look pretty crazy, but will Hell's Kitchen's Yotel be more happening than its gaytel?
· Yotel To Open Legit, Full-Service Hotel in Times Square in 2011 [HotelChatter]
· 440 West 42nd Street coverage [Curbed]
In search of a cozy place with a view of plenty of new towers rising? An old bit of tawny brick at 411 West 39th Street might do the trick. Sitting along the ramps to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, this five-story walk-up just had two floors added on top, making for six full-floor apartments with room for retail below. The sixth-floor unit, measuring about 1,300-square-feet, has a terraces facing south at what one day should be Hudson Yards, and another to the north looking Related's tower going up at 440 West 42nd Street. What does the future hold for our Hellish friend?
The owner here is the Meskouris clan, who have four other buildings at the northwest corner of West 39th Street and Ninth Avenue. Nothing here is listed yet, but bargain-priced rentals are found in other Meskouris buildings on the block, and they might give some indication of what's in store when #411 hits the market. At the corner is the HK Restaurant, started by a younger Meskouris a few years back. Restaurants are in the family's blood: They're the proprietors of the Jackson Hole burger joints found around town, most notably at the classic Airline Diner in Queens, where a gang of Goodfellas grabbed themselves some goodies that fell off the back of a truck. Some links to other family properties with rentals to spare:
· 407 West 39th Street [StreetEasy]
· 523 Ninth Avenue [StreetEasy]
· 525 Ninth Avenue [StreetEasy]
MIDTOWN—Glassy facade facelifts of office towers were all the rage when commercial rents were soaring, but economic meltdown has a way of slamming the breaks on costly renovations. Still, Vornado appears to be going ahead with the makeover of 330 Madison Avenue, if the renderings and signage that recently popped up around the building are any indication. Then again it's been about 10 months since plans were announced and all we have to show for it are a few signs, so we'll see. [CurbedWire Staff]
HELL'S KITCHEN—"For the last at least 5 years," a Curbed reader writes, "there has been a mega Sanitation Department building under construction that spans 56th Street at the West Side Highway. On most weekends 56th St is closed off between 12th and 11th Avenues for construction on this building causing massive delays on the southbound West Side Highway approaching the light at 56th Street. Plus every car that does go under this building dodges pot holes, construction debris etc. This seems to be the project that never will end?" Our expertise on Towers o' Garbage is limited to what's going on down in Hudson Square, so we can't offer any intel. Anyone wanna talk trash? [CurbedWire Inbox]
It's been a long and rocky road for the three-story former homeless shelter and budget hotel at 510 West 42nd Street, and that includes the stones that were yanked off the building's kitschy facade late last year. Those sudden renovations, as well as the involvement of some big names, stirred our interest in the vacant dumpy building, and the Postlater confirmed an ownership change and a new lease on life for the ex-Travelodge. Today the Daily News reports that the property will stay a hotel following a $20 million renovation by Parkview Developers, but here's the twist: The name will be The Out NYC, and it's going to be the city's first gay boutique hotel.
So what makes a hotel "gay?" Well, besides the location within an on-the-rise gayborhood, we're not quite sure. Oh, but there is this:
One of the keys to the hotel's success may be the planned 10,000-square-foot, 750-patron dance club. Reiser and Weiderpass are working with gay nightlife king John Blair, who holds the cabaret license for the old xl nightclub that closed several years ago on W.16thSt. in Chelsea, the Gay City News reported.
A big gay dance club inside the hotel? This ain't your momma's Midtown crash pad! The 123-room hotel will also have a spa, restaurant, café and shops, and Community Board 4 will vote on the project in two weeks. Closing another loop, The Out NYC appears to be the Spanish-backed Hell's Kitchen gay hotel that Gawker passed along word of last month. Maybe the bears will ditch Balazs for good and bring their honey jars uptown? Yeesh, what a dirty mind you have! We meant disposable income.
· Hell's Kitchen to become home of city's first gay boutique hotel, complete with major dance club [NYDN]
· 510 West 42nd Street coverage [Curbed]
Location: 800 Tenth Avenue, btwn 53rd/54th Streets Size: Two eight-story buildings with 95 studio- to three-bedroom condos Prices: $735,000 to $3.86 million Architect: FXFowle Developer: Alchemy Properties Sales & Marketing: Alchemy Properties Lowdown: Would you believe that our last seven Development Du Jours have all been in Harlem or Williamsburg/Greenpoint? Well, in what could be an early sign of confidence returning to the market (or maybe just a rolling of the dice), a developer is launching a new project in a non-"fringe" neighborhood—and they're coming prepared! Griffin Court launches sales on March 9, but a soft-opening for brokers and buyers is happening right now. Buyers and their brokers who sign contracts by the end of March will each get a choice of a free iPad or a 42" flat-screen TV. Oh, and Alchemy is covering city and state transfer taxes as well as the dreaded Mansion Tax for the first 15 buyers. So those are the door prizes, but what about the actual building?
Griffin Court is actually two buildings, creating lots of wall space along Tenth Avenue that will be filled by a work of art yet to be determined (we hear an announcement is coming in the next month or two). The development's flashy centerpiece is its residents-only, two-story, 8,700-square-foot courtyard, which looks like some sort of extreme adventure course in renderings but will no doubt be perfect for chillaxing once finished.
As for the 95 units, they range in size from 636 square feet to 1,829 square feet. The innards veer towards the high end, including mahogany-stained oak floors, limestone and marble bathrooms (with radiant-heated flooring), Poggenpohl cabinetry and appliances from Bosch and Viking. Building amenities include 24-hour concierge, gym, a storage space for each unit and a "sophisticated video-intercom system." Some residences include balconies or big terraces, and there are private rooftop cabanas available for purchase. We can't help but imagine that if the residents of Hell's Kitchen could have always retired to private cabanas after a long day, then West Side Story would have a much happier ending.
· Griffin Court [griffincourtcondo.com]
· Mural Contest Offers Ray of Hope, Kitsch to Hell's Kitchen [Curbed]
MIDTOWN—West 34th Street is always in need of cosmetic upgrades, and commercial megalandlord SL Green just announced it finished one at 333 West 34th Street, an office building the company purchased in 2007. The landlord enlarged and renovated the lobby and created a new 21,000-square-foot retail space, all through "recapturing cafeteria and other underutilized space." There's now an 18-foot-high glass wall wrapping the front of the building, the perfect sheltered and safe hangout to meet the guy you found on Craigslist to buy your Rangers tickets. [CurbedWire Inbox]
HELL'S KITCHEN—More proof from a tipster that Related's massive tower rising at 440 West 42nd Street will look like those leaked renderings: "I spoke to one of the construction guys and he told me the building would have two heights; the west side of the block would be 25 stories and the east side would be a whopping 60 stories tall. Holy moly, that's as big as the Silver Towers." True, but this one's all laid back about getting stoned and stuff. Awww yeah. [CurbedWire Inbox]
Remember those crazy days when wildly ambitious projects were cooked up and revealed by developers on a daily basis? The credit crunch put an abrupt halt to all that, but wait, here's a leftover! It's a proposed 1,350-unit, 1.15-million-square-foot mixed-use development from our friends at the Gotham Organization, intended for a big chunk of land bounded by Tenth and Eleventh Avenues and West 44th and 45th Streets. The proposal received approval from the City Planning Commission on January 27 for the necessary rezoning, putting the project, dare we say, on track for construction. The multi-building design, called Studio City, is a staggered group of glass and brick from SLCE Architects, the centerpiece of which is a 31-story tower along Eleventh Avenue with retail at the base and apartments above.
Between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, where the empty Shamrock Stables now stand, a 14-story section with affordable housing will extend north-south through the site. On West 45th Street, the five-story PS 51 will be converted to residential use, and a new school and playground—expanding capacity from 276 to 630 students—will be constructed along West 44th Street. At the east end of the site a platform will be built over the exposed Amtrak railroad cut and two 14-story residential sections separated by a landscaped open space will go up, all backing onto the full-block Hess gas station along Tenth Avenue.
It's a bit of a no-man's-land, but the Studio City site sits within a hot development corridor, including Silver Towers, Clinton Park and the new Ink48 hotel (formerly known as the Vu Hotel). The spot has been eyed by developers for years, and back in 2002 a different proposal from the Meridian Group for Studio City as a big TV and Film production facility was in the works, but not much beyond the name moved forward. Then in 2008 Gotham proposed their development with plans to rise 44 stories over Eleventh Avenue, but the height met with community opposition. The project was downsized to the current 31 floors. Complaints aside, the neighborhood folks did succeed in getting a bigger school plus a batch of housing "for all income groups." Of the 1,350 residential units going in, 675 will be classified as "affordable." And a fund of $35M will be created to bankroll the school and the affordable housing initiatives. The environmental review still requires approval from the City Council and the mayor's office, but the architects proclaim that "construction in phases is scheduled to commence in 2010." Wishful thinking?
· Projects - Studio City [SLCE Architects]
· West 44th Street and Eleventh Avenue Rezoning Proposal [nyc.gov]
· It Happened One Weekend: Homeless Hell's Kitchen Horses! [Curbed]
HELL'S KITCHEN—Did we speak too soon when we said Related's massive condo/rental tower at 440 West 42nd Street might end up matching the disavowed renderings of the project. A tipster writes: "I keeping a close eye on your coverage since that building's going to block my kick ass view. Attached is an aerial view of the construction. You can see it's not quite matching up to Related's 'leaked' plans." Still looks like the early stuff to us, with that setback above the stone-covered base. Are we seeing things? [CurbedWire Inbox]
HARLEM—Thanks to a wave of new development Frederick Douglass Boulevard has been called Harlem's Gold Coast, and every Gold Coast needs some fabulous, er, groceries. Enter the Best Yet Market, which one very enthusiastic tipster fills us in on: "You may want to check out the new Best Yet Market that opened Thursday afternoon on Fredrick Douglass and 118. Its a great grocery store and will mean all the folks in the new condos on Fred Douglass have a place to shop. Its large with 3 levels. Mezz level has coffee and desert bar with comfortable chairs and couches. It was already busy and folks are talking about it."
"On a 10 point scale, if Le Bon Marche in Paris is an 11, Whole Food Columbus Circle an 8.5, then this is a solid 7. Better than any Gristedes, C-Town in the city. Its better than the narrow and crowed Fairways which has good stuff but the crowds are a pain. It has a much bigger selection than Trader Joes - but more expensive. Price is the only draw back -- things were less expensive than Whole Paycheck but more expensive than Fairway or Trader Joes." [CurbedWire Inbox]
The Related Companies told us that leaked renderings of its 59-story tower at 440 West 42nd Street in Hell's Kitchen weren't accurate, but we're starting to doubt those claims. Cladding is now going up on the Arquitectonica- and SLCE-designed full-block tower (which will have condos and rentals) that matches those renderings. Slabs of sandstoney panels have been attached to the base along 41st and 42nd Streets, echoing the buff-toned brick seen across the street at the infamous Zebra Tower. Above the four-story base, where Frank Gehry is designing spaces for the Signature Theater Company, another seven stories have gone up. There's no glass up yet, so whether the neighborhood will get another tin-can special or something more interesting remains to be seen.
· Thread: 440 West 42nd Street at 10th Avenue [Wired New York]
· 440 West 42nd Street coverage [Curbed]
Now that the city and Related are best of friends (if you forget about that Kingsbridge Armory business), The Real Deal passes along word that our fearless leaders are chipping in $25 million for Related's long-awaited 440 West 42nd Street project. The former Hell's Kitchen Swimming Hole, to refresh your memory, will be a 59-story complex of affordable and market-rate housing as well as a Frank Gehry-designed theater. The residential stuff is supposed to be done in 2011, and the theater in 2012. [Real Deal]
The 175-square-foot studio on the Upper West Side that the New York Post deemed the smallest in New York City no longer seems so tiny in comparison to the places profiled in a Postfollow-up piece. Three Manhattan studio renters compete for smallest apartment bragging rights. One lives in a 55-square-foot place in Hell's Kitchen (compare: "just one square foot larger than a Rikers Island jail cell") that rents for about $800 a month, the second has a 90-square-foot pad on the Upper West Side for a little more than $700 a month, and the third lives in a 105-square-foot apartment in Greenwich Village for $780 per month. All three renters have to make sacrifices. The Hell's Kitchen resident can't fit over his sink, the Upper West Sider has to sit sideways on the toilet, and the Greenwich Village resident does her dishes in the shower because the kitchen sink is too small. Claustrophobics are advised not to look at the slideshow.
· Small Price to Pay [NYP]
· Couple Pays Six Figures for City's Smallest Apartment [Curbed]
The Post's Lois Weiss does some follow-up digging on our report last week of strange happenings at the old Travel Lodge (pardon us, Travelodge) at 510 West 42nd Street. Turns out hotel maestro Richard Born has leased out the battered Hell's Kitchen property that has been in his family's possession for decades to Parkview Developers, of The 505 fame. The lease is for 50 years, and Weiss speculates that the funky building will go rental or stay hotel. Parkview's Ian Reisner said he'll reveal the plans for the site early next year, so you'll just have to wait patiently, Deuce fans.
· Between the Bricks [NYP, second item]
· 42nd Street Dump Reclaiming Its Hotel Roots? [Curbed]
Hotelier and developer Richard Born, usually a quiet background guy, is making some noise at 510 West 42nd Street. Born, co-chief of the BD Hotels empire with long-time cohort Ira Drukier, has a new project in the works over where Hell's Kitchen butts up against some big plans for Hudson Yards. The property, a three-story former Travel Lodge that runs from 41st Street to 42nd Street west of Tenth Avenue, has been controlled by Born for years. Back in 2006 he shopped it around, hoping to rack up $100M. It looked like a 37-story tower would rise there, but then NYC construction hit the skids. Now, it looks like this oldtimer is getting a new lease on life. Various permits have been filed for building improvements overseen by architect Matt Markowitz, who worked with BD Hotels and Robert De Niro on Tribeca's Greenwich Hotel.
The original structure went up in 1958 and straddles the 25' deep cut for the New York Central Railroad tracks that run up the West Side and transformed this area back in the 1930s. Born's father acquired the site in the late '70s (and in '93 had a legal wrangle with AMTRAK over some crumbling asbestos underneath). When times got really tough in the '80s it was converted from a tourist hotel to an emergency way station for the homeless, which is how it remained for the next 20 years. But that's all in the past. This place is well situated for the future, if and when Hudson Yards starts rising. Plus it's got a great view of the grand St. Raphael's church across West 41st (where guests can both pray and play). When this retrofitted hotel reopens they might need to rename this stretch of 42nd Street "BD Way." The company's Travel Inn is also on the block.
· Richard Born coverage [Curbed]
· BD Hotels coverage [Curbed]
WILLIAMSBURG—Curbed legend 184 Kent has gotten a wee bit of signage for its upcoming opening as luxury rentals, a tipster reports. The gutted and renovated and reborn waterfront warehouse was supposed to be ready around now, but we're hearing that January may be the magic month for the first move-ins. [CurbedWire Inbox]
UPPER EAST SIDE—The latest high-profile development to have a little run-in with the union rat is Manhattan House, the condo conversion of the strip of massive post-war rental buildings on East 66th Street. What we love about this particular rat is it seems the protesters took a coffee break and just left the big guy out there to fend for itself. It was last seen scrounging in the dumpster behind Daniel for scraps. [CurbedWire Inbox]
HELL'S KITCHEN—Big things are happening at Hudson Hill, the 462 West 58th Street condo project that wowed us way back when with its "Facade Blowout" sale. The offering plan has been declared effective, the building received its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, closings have kicked off and sales have hit the 40% mark. Two words: Blow. OUT. [CurbedWire Inbox]
Everyone says it's a renters' market, but is it true? We're all about digging up the answers to those kinds of deep questions, so we went searching for big-time rental deals, incentives, and giveaways. Because our interns already hate us, we didn't force them to call up every landlord in the city. We just got in touch with some of the heavyweight companies and notable rental buildings. Know of other current deals? Kindly drop 'em in the comments. Landlords, we'll also update the list with your offers if you shoot 'em our way.
Company: Silverstein Properties Building:Silver Towers (Hell's Kitchen) Deal: 2 months free on a 14-month lease, 3 months on a 26-month lease.
Company:Columbus Square Buildings: 808 Columbus Avenue, 801 Amsterdam Avenue (Upper West Side) Deal: At 808 Columbus, 3 months free on a 17-month lease; at 801 Amsterdam it varies depending on the unit, but most 1BRs get 4 months free on a 15-month lease. Renters also get a gift package that includes free amenity access.
Company: Rockrose Building:Archive Deal: 1 month free on a 13-month lease and 1 month toward the broker's fee.
Company:Rose Associates Buildings: 184 Kent (Downtown Brooklyn), 34 Berry (Downtown Brooklyn), 88 Leonard (Tribeca), and more Deal: One month's free rent to new tenants and one month's rent to brokers as a fee.
Company:Glenwood Management Buildings: The Fairmont (UES), Emerald Green (Midtown West), Liberty Plaza (FiDi), and others Deal: Payment of broker's fee and 1 month free rent.
Company:Sky Management Buildings: 163 Mulberry Street, 329 West 14th Street, 419 East 72nd Street (UES), 204 West 81st Street (UWS), and others Deal: Free rent, prorated based on the length of the lease, starting at one month free for a one-year lease.
Company:TF Cornerstone Buildings: 45 Wall Street (FiDi), 200 West 26th Street (West Chelsea), 455 West 37th Street (Midtown West), 4720 Center Boulevard (LIC) Deals: 2 months free on a 14-month lease at 45 Wall Street; 1 month free on a 13-month lease at 200 West 26th Street, 2 months free on a 14-month lease at 455 West 37th Street, and 1 month free on a 13-month lease at 4720 Center Boulevard.
Building:Dwell95 (FiDi) Deal: 1 month free and 1 month's fee to brokers, plus a $500 Amex giftcard to tenants.
Company:Time Equities Building: 80 Nassau Street (Tribeca) Deals: No fees and one month's free rent.
Building:80 DeKalb (Fort Greene) Deal: 2 months free on a 14-month lease, 3 months on a 26-month lease.
Company: Rosebud Associates Building: The Anthem (Murray Hill) Deal: 1 month free, 1 month's free to brokers, and "I-pod integrated in-wall stereo system from I-Holmes. which include speakers in every room, including bathrooms!"
With Curbed's new look and all, we figured what better time to look into...the past. We're not ready to close the book on the decade just yet—a dizzying era that gave us wonders such as the real estate boom (born: 2001, pronounced dead: Oct. 1, 2008) and, wouldn't you know it, Curbed itself! So we're rolling out a retrospective series covering all types of '00s insanity. Top of the Aughts stories will occasionally pop up through the end of the year, but this first is the biggie.
It's no secret we've been planning a look at the decade's best new additions to the New York City built environment. We heard from Curbed readers and consulted a large panel of well known local architects, architecture critics, and experts. We tallied the votes, wrestled with the order, then cast this list. Disagree with the selections? The order? Did we leave something out? Make your voice heard in the comments. And now, without further ado...
10) Hearst Tower Location: 300 West 57th Street, Hell's Kitchen Architects: Foster + Partners Year completed: 2006 The skinny: Norman Foster's headquarters for the Hearst Corporation—a tower of triangular steel and glass rising out of the preserved six-story facade of the old Hearst building—has overcome some early knocks ("A DNA strand?!") to become the unlikely choice for most appreciated final gasp of a dying industry. Take that, Times Tower!
"Nice combination of historic base and modern tower that probably won't look dated in 20 years."—Sai Baba, Curbed commenter
"It has great character and focus. The exoskeleton is such a strong graphic statement that for us still stays within a language of architecture that is restrained. It is not some contorted sculpture but it does have articulation in those large-scale screens that is dramatic and compelling."—Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, Roman & Williams
"Zig-zag deco profile with a contemporary twist."—giorgio righi riva, Curbed commenter
"The dramatic glass and steel faceted tower above the six story Art Deco base create a dynamic visual symbol. A unique vertical column-less design and a design that saves energy."—Robert M. Scarano, Jr., architect
9) Alice Tully Hall Location: 1941 Broadway, Upper West Side Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, FXFOWLE Year completed: 2009 The skinny: One of Lincoln Center's most visible buildings, the Brutalist (and grim, don't forget grim!) performance hall hadn't had a major renovation since opening in 1969. Ol' Alice was sliced and diced inside and out, expanded to the east and lightened up with a three-story glass curtain wall.
"Liz Diller, Ric Scofidio and Charles Renfro were a crapshoot for Lincoln Center, which had eaten so many architects between acts at the Met. With the difficult politics and overfed egos, this had no business being so good."—James Russell, Bloomberg architecture critic
"A great contribution to the street. Shows the power and importance of great design.”—Vin Cipolla, Municipal Art Society president
"A brutal mid-century box becomes welcoming and street-friendly concert hall."—Rick Bell, AIA New York executive director
"Improvements to the Broadway façade are brilliant and definitive."—James Gardner, The Real Deal architecture critic
8) Porter House Location: 66 Ninth Avenue, Meatpacking District Architects: SHoP Year completed: 2003 The skinny: Like something from the future fell out of the sky and landed smack dab in Nightlifeville, Porter House is a cantilevering addition to an old six-story warehouse, the whole package converted to luxury condos. Zinc facade, floor-to-ceiling windows and mounted exterior light boxes that still mess with our minds after too many Ketel Ones & tonics at Pastis.
"An early-boom design project and fan favorite in the office."—FLAnk
"It is magical. It creates a beacon on a dark corner and acts like a huge vertical lantern on 9th Avenue. It is always interesting in a frenetic city to see architects use light as the building. The addition showed deep respect for the existing building."—Roman & Williams
"Intriguing during the day because it looks like a battleship has landed atop a not-very distinguished 19th Century industrial building and downright sensational at night when it converts into the city's grooviest 'lighthouse.' Let New York City realize that great architecture need not be demure and contextual!"—Carter B. Horsley, CityRealty, The City Review.
"The building is an icon for the Meatpacking District, stripey-lights hovering above us while we party in Milk Studios. That iconship would extend deeper into the West Village if the dumb Gansevoort Hotel wasn't in the way."—Chad Smith, architect and Tropolism blogger
7) 40 Bond Location: 40 Bond Street, Noho Architects: Herzog & de Meuron Year completed: 2007 The skinny: HRH Ian Schrager and a couple of Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss sensationalists parachute down onto quiet, cobblestone-lined Bond Street and set off an avant-garde condo eruption in their wake. Okay, so nobody likes the graffiti gates, the Coke bottle building is still the Bond boom's best.
"Love the Coke bottle columns, the way they catch the light. The graffiti garlands are a little desperate, but NYers love spectacle (contrary to the constant whining) and 40 Bond delivers in a neighborly way."—James Russell
"If you can avert your eyes from the building's genuinely hideous faux-graffiti cast-aluminum gates, the building's curvy and oceanic green glass is a wonder to behold."—Max Abelson, New York Observer
"The apartments are unique, and spacious, like livable art galleries, complete with a touch of inflexibility."—Chad Smith
"The green-glass rendition of cast-iron-style 19th century facades is very impressive. The grafitti fence that failed to live up to its great design although the grafitti-inspired embossed walls behind it are oh so subtle."—Carter B. Horsley
6) 7 WTC Location: 7 World Trade Center, Financial District Architects: David Childs/SOM, James Carpenter Design Associates and a bitchin' lobby installation by Jenny Holzer Year completed: 2006 The skinny: How does a 52-story skyscraper practically disappear from the skyline? When it's lost amid the feuds, headaches and hand-wringing over the rebuilding of Ground Zero. Or maybe it's just all that reflective glass. Either way, it's time 7 WTC gets its due.
"When the model was first unveiled, everyone (myself included) feared it would be yet another SOM modernist bore. In fact, David Childs has exhibited great discernment in designing this structure."—James Gardner
"One of the nicest and cleanest glass facades around."—FLAnk
"Demonstrated that simple, rectilinear, reflective-glass towers can be very stunning and very beautiful."—Carter B. Horsley
"For those who remember the World Trade Center site the way it had been, the former building of the same name, 7WTC, was the odd man out. Clunky and road-blocking, it contained a ConEd substation and the Emergency Management command bunker-in-the-sky. The elegant building that replaces it is exemplary for its curtain wall detailing, its environmental qualities, its attention to security and exiting concerns, and, as importantly, its integration of public art. A street friendly building that also points to the way that 21st century skyscrapers can point to the future."—Rick Bell
5) Cooper Union's New Academic Building Location: 41 Cooper Square, East Village Architects: Thom Mayne/Morphosis Year completed: 2009 The skinny: The mothership has landed on the Bowery, and the meshy mindfuck caught oodles of votes in its web. End-of-decade bias at play? Perhaps, but we have a hunch the building's guts will be dissected for decades to come. Plus, bonus points for being interactive!
"The best new academic building in the world? Why not. The school is free and the building free-wheeling skip-stop and fun."—Rick Bell
"The city's most dynamically exciting building, bursting and shredding energy in all directions, a cauldron of imagination for Lilliputian New Yorkers unaccustomed to the wonders of modern architecture."—Carter B. Horsley
"This is real revolution for New York building, and provocative."—giorgio righi riva, Curbed commenter
"Its weird sensuousness plays with our fixed ideas of what buildings are supposed to do on the street. It's a bit asperger-y, splattering architectural expletives in every direction. But you still love it."—James Russell
"The curvy wounds Thom Mayne slashed into the building should look awful (like the poor Westin New York at Times Square), but they don’t."—Max Abelson
4) New Museum Location: 235 Bowery, Lower East Side Architects: SANAA Year completed: 2007 The skinny: Did these seven stories of stacked boxes change the Bowery forever? Does it look 10x better than any piece of art hanging inside? Do we still want this lamp by our bedside? Hell Yes!
"Up until August I lived in a sixth-floor walk-up, which would have been very awful if the roof hadn't had a seriously lovely view of the New Museum. All that anodized aluminum mesh looks very dreamy when the sun sets."—Max Abelson
"I love the New Museum as an object (the way the museum shimmers in the sunlight is great), but other than the lobby (decent) and the crown (a great vantage point and beautiful spot), the interiors of the galleries left me a bit slack. But the education center (designed by Christoff:Finio) is dynamic, intimate, and sophisticated, and might be the best space of the museum."—Andrew Bernheimer, Della Valle Bernheimer
3) Perry Street Towers Location: 173 & 176 Perry Street, West Village Architects: Richard Meier & Partners Year completed: 2002 The skinny: Pick the boom-time real estate trend and Meier's 15-story identical twins kick-started it (the two have always been considered one entity, unlike the less-impressive Charles Street triplet that came later). Starchitect as sales pitch? Check. Oodles and oodles of voyeuriffic glass? Yup. The whole Far West Village thing? That too. And besides, Calvin Klein, Jean-Georges and Wolverine can't all be wrong.
"This was the project that taught the development community that design was not a waste of money."—James Russell
"Modernism comes to Greenwich Village and awakens New Yorkers to the WEST SIDE."—realitycheck, Curbed commenter
"These were the first Manhattan residential structures to be designed to express their structure in a Modern form."—Robert M. Scarano, Jr.
"Elegant and certainly set the stage for the boom's architect/design driven projects."—FLAnk
2) 15 Central Park West Location: 15 Central Park West, Upper West Side Architects: Robert A.M. Stern Architects Year completed: 2008 The skinny: Robert A.M. Stern has spent decades writing books on how the richest New Yorkers once lived, so who better to build something for the richest New Yorkers of today? "Fifteen" is actually two buildings—"Tower" and "House"—and the Limestone Jesus was the biggest blockbuster of the boom and reminded developers about the allure of masonry over glass. A throwback to the grandest apartment houses of yore (motor court! reflecting pool! separate studio apartments for the help!), but with better plumbing and stuff. Over 120 Curbed mentions and counting!
"If I ever stumble upon great wealth and start monogramming my shirts, this is where I’d like to live. Visiting the place for a few hours is like bathing in honey."—Max Abelson
"15 CPW honed into the shelter lust of New World plutocrats seeking old New York luxury with Central Park views to boot."—Shannon Christmas, Curbed reader
"New York old money luxe created anew, if by 'anew' we mean 'built recently' and not 'new looking.' Stern used familiar cozy materials, layouts that were totally amazing in 1926 and proportions and rooms that make all New York apartment dwellers drool."—Chad Smith
1) The Standard Location: 848 Washington Street, Meatpacking District Architects: Todd Schliemann/Polshek Partnership, Roman & Williams (interiors) Year completed: 2009 The skinny: 337 rooms, 19 stories, 4 bars and restaurants (at last count), 2 concrete stilts and 1 quote-unquote scandal's worth of angled glass and steel peering out over the Hudson River, all while coolly lapdancing over the High Line. An awe-inspiring balancing act that morphs into an even more striking sight once the sun goes down and the lights come up in the hotel rooms and on the High Line. Even the fire escape is a stunner. André Balazs FTW!
"Showed you could be big, gutsy and still be loved. Doesn't 'fit in' in some castrated faux historical way, yet doesn't bludgeon the neighbors with its strutting design either. And Balazs gets points for creating the urban legend that guests strip for West Side Highway drivers and High Line peeping Toms."—James Russell
"Perfect. Jealous. Biergarten. (Though blood has been spilled in our office debating the Meatpacking warehouse replica café at its base…)"—FLAnk
"Anything but typical.. A hotel where every room has a view, and—famously—can be viewed, is rare and special. New places to eat and drink go along with some of the best places to sleep, or whatever, in the City. You feel like you are on the High Line even when rain, sleet or, eventually, snow keep you inside and warm."—Rick Bell
"Those concrete stilts are the best pair of gams in town."—Max Abelson
And now, to salute the champion of the decade, bonus glamor shots!
Last night at the Hudson Guild in Chelsea, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and a barrage of other city officials led a town hall meeting on the issue of charter and tour buses idling in the city—a frequentconcern for residents of the Village and elsewhere. The night began tame with officials going over city plans for the fabled future Lower Manhattan bus garage and forcing tour buses to have their patrons wear headsets to prevent noise pollution.
The smackdown began when the locals hit the mic. Residents brought up a number of issues: air quality, idling in front of schools, congestion, noise, even breaking tree branches. Most represented teams were Bleecker Street and Hell’s Kitchen, with naturally different concerns. Bleecker's naps keep getting interrupted, while Hells Kitchen's complaints were more in the backed up and choked up categories.
Grey Bus Lines was blames as the biggest stinkers of the evening, along with on-the-street loaders such as Bolt and Fung Wah. The Bleecker Streeters told of tour buses letting off passengers without bus stops, leaving on heaters and a/c, congesting the streets for 20 minutes at a time, etc. One woman wore a dust mask to protect herself from the noxious gases...of the room.
The tour guides were the real victims of the night (just trying to make a buck, people!), but some were in attendance and didn't help their cause much by, dare we say, looking for a fight? At one point a bus driver referred to his coach as a "padded movable prison cell," because they have nowhere to park and let people off or something? Who knows, he got booed silent shortly thereafter. The Port Authority also got a collective "BOOOO!" for their too-cool-for-school attitude and no-show.
Basically, some misbehaving bus drivers and companies got a good spanking, but as for the long term? Urbanite points out a couple City Council bills on the table, including one requiring companies to submit route plans for city and community review, and another that would require bus passengers to listen to the tours through those headphones. And if all that fails, well, then if you look out the bus to your left you can see a bunch of angry residents shaking their fists. —Greg O'Malley
Now that the city and Related are 
The 
The Post's Lois Weiss does some 
UPPER EAST SIDE—The latest high-profile development to have a little run-in with the union rat is 
Everyone says it's a renters' market, but is it true? We're all about digging up the answers to those kinds of deep questions, so we went searching for big-time rental deals, incentives, and giveaways. Because our interns already hate us, we didn't force them to call up every landlord in the city. We just got in touch with some of the heavyweight companies and notable rental buildings. Know of other current deals? Kindly drop 'em in the comments. Landlords, we'll also update the list with your offers if you 
With Curbed's new look and all, we figured what better time to look into...the past. We're not ready to close the book on the decade just yet—a dizzying era that gave us wonders such as the real estate boom (born: 2001, pronounced dead: 
