New York City is known for its iconic skyline -- one that is changing rapidly, whether New Yorkers like it or not.
Aptly nicknamed "supertalls," a proliferation of buildings towering well over 800 feet have been cropping up in Manhattan and quickly: since 2005, 16 of the city's tallest buildings have broken ground in the borough, with more on the way.
And some neighbors aren't happy.
The area directly south of Central Park has six 1,000 foot-plus buildings complete or in the works, including 432 Park Avenue, currently the world's tallest residential building at 1,396 feet. The Nordstrom Tower on 57th Street plans to overtake it at 1,795 feet by 2018.
"It negatively impacts the infrastructure, because it adds density with no additional investment in the subway system [and] the big issue of the shadows these buildings are casting on Central Park," said Layla Law-Gisiko, who heads Manhattan Community Board 5's "Sunshine Task Force," which is looking into the surge in skyscrapers near the park.
These "supertalls" are possible due to zoning laws last updated in 1961, which don't limit building heights in the Central Park South neighborhoods, among others. Most supertall buildings currently in the works, like the Nordstrom Tower, don't require public input as they are built "as-of-right," and don't need approval from the City Planning Commission or Board of Standards and Appeals.
Transferable air space is also a major force behind the developments, according to Law-Gisiko.
4 comments:
I doubt most buyers in these towers will live in NYC. These apartments will only be used as piet de terres for the super rich, used for short stays.
432 Park Avenue is projected to have a 25% occupancy rate at any one given time, theoretically, an abandoned building, with 65% of the apartments being sold to foreign buyers with 'shell companies' to hide the tax flow, thereby never really knowing who the buyer is. Can you say 'oil criminals?'
Coupled with the fact that the developer gets a 20 year free tax ride on the city's back all payed for by OUR RISING REAL ESTATE AND SALES TAXES to pay for this fiasco, with NO investment in our decayed infrastructure AT ALL BY ANY GREEDY CORPORATION OR INCOMPETENT CITY AGENCY. Times this by the insane amount of so-called 'luxury condo's' going up all over the 5 boroughs and you have one big environmental mess with the working middle class's quality of life being quickly dissolved into nothing.
You have to wonder what's really going on in NYC and who is benefiting from the anarchy. Are we all idiots to let this continue? Take a walk down any street in the 50's and the 60's and try keeping your sanity about you with the incredible amount of noise and filth from all this construction and traffic carbon monoxide invading your nostrils. People want to live here?
I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE CITY.
The NYC skyline should keep changing. We're not Europe, we don't have to preserve the city in amber.
"we don't have to preserve the city in amber."
OH YES WE DO!
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