Hudson Yards Proposals Reviewed

Teams competing for West Side plan design rights gathered to present ideas. Also, vision for Downtown Brooklyn in 2012 unveiled.

New Look for Heart of Kings County

The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership recently unveiled images for the mixed use project involving 23 million sq ft of office, retail and residential space, as well as hotels, a professional sports arena and new cultural facilities.

The images will be used as a way to attract corporate tenants, retailers and investors to the area, according to the non-profit Partnership, who is spearheading the redevelopment of New York City’s third largest business district: downtown Brooklyn.

“By 2012, the district will be one of America’s great downtowns with buildings designed by world renowned architects like Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano, great parks and public places and an NBA team,” said Alan Fishman, co-chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership Board of Directors.

The plans involve more than 50 projects which, DBP hopes, will transform the area. “For the first time, we have a full-scale view of Downtown Brooklyn’s future as a thriving neighborhood supported by a revitalized commercial core made possible by financial commitments from the City and private sector, which further enhances the environment for continued growth,” said Bob Catell, co-chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership Board of Directors.

Although the plan has yet to be finalized, some segments are already under construction. The $9 million project is slated for completion in 2012.

Sydness Architects Designs Glass Tower on East Side

One of the newest additions to Manhattan’s East Side is The Alexander, a 24-story, 88-unit luxury building on Second Avenue and 49th Street.

The curved, glass tower will be set on a five-story podium, designed to respect the residential block’s street wall of masonry-clad buildings. It will be 118,000 gross sq ft. The podium’s first two, all-glass levels will include retail shops with entrances on the avenue, while the residential lobby entrance will be on 49th Street. The three remaining levels of the podium will be terra cotta panels outlining large apartments with terraces that cut into the podium and hold the 19-story glass tower.

The new luxury building will contain one-, two-, three-bedroom condominiums and duplex penthouses on the top floors. Each residence will feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and 11-ft ceilings, which will allow for views uptown and across the East River. On the top of the tower will be the crown, a curving glass wall which will wrap around most of the building and create a protective screen for the penthouse terrace. The units will range in price from $900,000 to $1.8 million.

“We took our design cues from the site,” says Jeff Sydness of Sydness Architects. “The corner location called for an expansive building that could look out over the city, and the neighboring masonry buildings suggested the use of terra cotta on the podium, which continues the street wall. Creating cutouts in the terra cotta panels for balconies provides welcome contrast to the extended, uninflected window walls.”

Continental Finance Corporation has been selected as the developers of The Alexander and Hudson Meridian Construction Group is the construction managers.

Construction began in September and the tower is scheduled to open in 2009.

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