Coming soon to a streetscape near you?

From Brownstoner:

Another building is set to sprout up on 4th Avenue in Park Slope.

Renderings spotted outside 269 4th Avenue display a 12-story u-shaped building, with what might be an open courtyard on the ground level.

The most striking feature are two twin cantilevered sections on the top five floors, which loom over the three-story building next door at 265 4th Avenue. The top four floors appear to have balconies, and there will be additional rooftop recreation space open to all residential tenants, according to a permit application filed with the Department of Buildings.

Is this really the direction we want architecture to go in?

Dwarfing the Clock Tower

From Curbed:

A new rendering has surfaced for the massive residential tower taking shape at 29-37 41st Avenue, adjacent Long Island City’s historic Clock Tower, revealing what the Handel Architects-designed rental, dubbed Queens Plaza Park, is bringing to the landscape.

Once the building tops out at 63 stories, it’ll hold the title for the tallest residential building in Queens, though it could quickly be dethroned by a project taking shape at 23-15 44th Drive that could reach a whopping 78 stories.

Bulova waves bye-bye to Boody Street

From the Commercial Observer:

Bulova, a maker of luxury timepieces, has sold its three-acre office campus at 26-15 Brooklyn-Queens Expressway for $25.2 million to Terreno Realty Corporation, according to the watchmaker’s broker Eastern Consolidated.

The company has occupied the one-story 83,000-square-foot building on the site in the Woodside section of Queens for more than three decades and owned it since 2007. The campus also has two parking lots that are a combined 91,000 square feet.

The site has 60,000 square feet of unused air rights, according to Crain’s New York Business, which previously reported that the property was in contract but did not report the price of the sale.

Terreno Realty, a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco which focuses on industrial properties, plans to renovate the building and lease it to industrial users.

Battle over Manhattan air rights floor price

From Crains:

Religious organizations have joined with developers to oppose the city’s intention to set a minimum price for air rights in midtown east. The air rights would be bought by developers from existing land owners and used to build taller office towers if the city goes through with its plan to rezone the neighborhood.

The city wants to enforce a price floor because it stands to gain as much as 40% of the sale of air rights. It can use the money to improve streets and sidewalks as part of the proposed rezoning of the 78 blocks around Grand Central Terminal. Already there are concerns that allowing building owners to sell their air rights will create a glut that will depress prices. Developers would like to pay as little as possible, but the city wants to make sure it doesn’t allow redevelopment to happen without getting funds for upgrades.

“The floor price is a tool that ensures a minimum contribution will be made to east midtown’s public-realm improvement fund as part of each development-rights transfer,” a spokeswoman for the Department of City Planning said.

But even religious organizations in the neighborhood, such as Central Synagogue on Lexington Avenue, oppose the floor. They want to get the highest price they could in order to fund needed repairs to their landmarked buildings. And they support allowing air rights transfers over a larger area to do so—a policy they have long been pushing the city to adopt. But they worry that for small deals or if the market softens, the minimum amount might be higher than the going rate, in which case developers wouldn’t buy. Fewer transactions also would mean less money in the public-improvement fund.

Developer looking to flip LIC Clock Tower site

From Curbed:

What was once supposed to be the site of the tallest tower outside of Manhattan will be no more, at least for now. Developers Property Markets Group and the Hakim Organization want to sell their 1 million square foot parcel of land behind the clocktower building in Long Island City, The Real Deal reports. Plans here called for a 77-story building standing 914-feet tall and with 800 apartments, making it the tallest building outside of Manhattan when it was announced. That record has since gone to the JDS’ in-development supertall in Downtown Brooklyn. In Queens, a planned 964-foot tower would also have overtaken PMG and Hakim’s building, but that project still seems to be in the planning stages.

BSA grants variance for 17-story QB hotel

From LIC Post:

Defying the wishes of Community Board 2 and Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, the Board of Standards and Appeals has given the all clear to a developer to construct a 17-story hotel building at 32-45 Queens Blvd.

The BSA’s approval stems from the YMCA’s application to transfer commercial air rights to Fongtar, a Bronx-based developer that owns a 10,000 square foot lot next door to the YMCA’s Long Island City facility, which intends to construct a hotel.

The YMCA needed the approval of the BSA to modify its existing variance in order for it to sell its air rights. The BSA had to weigh in on the variance since the Queens Boulevard facility was only allowed to be built in the first place as a result of a zoning waiver.

The April 5 approval by the BSA now permits Fongtar to build a hotel three times the size of what would have been allowed on the site without the air rights transfer.

The five BSA board members unanimously approved the YMCA’s application to modify its variance. Meanwhile, in March, every Community Board 2 member rejected it.

Mega hotel will sit next to YMCA

From the LIC Post:

A hotel is likely to go up at 32-45 Queens Blvd. significantly higher than zoning permits, due to a planned deal with the adjacent YMCA.

The hotel will be constructed on a 10,000-square-foot lot, which would ordinarily permit only 20,000 square feet of building space for a hotel. When interviewed by the Sunnyside Post in December, developers said plans were only for a 12-story hotel.

However, the YMCA, located on a 40,000-square-foot property at 32-23 Queens Blvd., plans to merge its zoning lot with the adjacent hotel site.

This maneuver would allow the hotel to stand 17 stories as of right – or 100,000 square feet of building space – according to Jessica Rubenstein, an attorney with Eric Palatnik, representing the YMCA.

Rubinstein also said that the YMCA could transfer its air rights to the hotel, which could bring the total building space up to 140,000 square feet.

The YMCA was granted a zoning variance in the 1990s to open this Queens Boulevard location in the middle of a manufacturing/hotel zone.

Therefore, in order for its deal with the hotel developers to go through, the YMCA needs approval from the Board of Standards and Appeals to modify that variance.

Neither Rubenstein nor the BSA were able to explain exactly how the air rights transfer would work in conjunction with the zoning lots merger.

Air rights an issue

From Brick Underground:

PropertyShark's air rights map, published recently on the Real Deal, may very well be your tool for decoding where developers may be headed next. It shows where there's still lots of air rights available—important if you're a real estate investor looking to build the next high-rise. A quick primer: Air rights are developable assets that exist above a building if it isn't as tall as what the neighborhood's maximum heights are. According to the website Air Rights New York, "if a building adjacent to a construction site is lower than neighborhood zoning laws allow, the developer can acquire the building’s unused air space, add it to his or her project, and erect a taller building."

LIC clock tower is officially designated a landmark

From the Queens Courier:

The decision is finally in, and the beloved Clock Tower in Long Island City is not going anywhere.

On Tuesday the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to landmark the 11-story tower in Queens Plaza, formerly the Bank of the Manhattan Company building.

“For nearly a century, the Queens Clock Tower building has been one of Long Island City’s most recognizable structures, greeting hundreds of thousands of commuters as they enter the borough,” said Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan. “The commission is proud to recognize this iconic building, which represents a significant period of development in Long Island City.”

It's funny how all of the news reports about landmarking this building fail to mention the real reason why it was designated. AIR RIGHTS.

Hearing to help LIC developers get more air rights

From DNA Info:

The public will be able to weigh in on whether the Clock Tower building in Queens Plaza should be designated a landmark at a meeting on Tuesday.

After the Landmarks Preservation Commission agreed to consider the former Bank of Manhattan Building for landmarking last month, it's holding a hearing concerning the designation.

Local preservationists have been pushing to preserve the building at 29-27 Queens Plaza North, which they say is an iconic focal point in the rapidly-changing neighborhood.

"I think it's just so recognizable for that area," said Christian Emanuel, one of the organizers campaigning to see the building preserved, who's father currently works out of the Clock Tower building.

"This is a highly-decorated building that survived through a lot," he said, pointing to the rapid pace of development happening in Queens Plaza and Court Square, including thousands of new apartments.

"I think the old gets more beautiful when it sticks out more," Emanuel continued.

What 77 stories in Queens Plaza would look like

From Nick Normal:

The clocktower, resting here since 1927 and historically famed as “the tallest building in Queens” for 63 years until the Citigroup tower (located .4+ miles away) surpassed it in 1990, is only 14 or 15 stories tall, depending on how you measure the ground floor. So when I saw those dirt outlines I thought, “OK, but what would a 77 story building actually look like?”

I’m sure whatever they propose will be full of lots of steel and glass and absolute lack of creativity or character, but I also thought I’d assist the conversation a bit by showing what the clocktower would look like if it were 77 stories tall, in context with the surrounding neighborhood structures:

Now that just seems silly!

Of course, even these satellite images are not current. There’s been so much construction in recent months that the plot about 1″ to the left of the clocktower at this scale is a future hotel being built currently – what you see here that is just foundation is now some 20+ stories tall (seen in background in video below). So the neighborhood is already scaling up, but 77 stories just seems excessive, even gluttonous.

MTA sells air rights to clock tower developers

From DNA Info:

The MTA board voted to sell unused development rights from one of its Queens properties for nearly $56 million to a developer planning to build the borough's tallest building.

Through the deal made on Wednesday, the developer of a proposed 70-story apartment tower will be able to build up to 77 stories instead of the 38 the current zoning at the site allows, and up to 490 additional apartments, according to the MTA board documents.

Once the sale is finalized, the MTA will transfer 478,000 square feet from an MTA-owned lot at Northern Boulevard and 40th Road to the development group Queens Plaza Park Development LLC, which includes Property Markets Group and The Hakim Organization.

The sale is expected to go through in the next month or two, an MTA spokesman said.

LIC Clock Tower to be calendared

From Brownstoner:

Awesome news for preservationists in Queens! This Tuesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission will calendar the LIC Clock Tower — officially known as The Bank of the Manhattan Company Long Island City Branch Building — to be considered for landmark status. Located at 29-27 Queens Plaza North, preservationists have rallied around this neo-Gothic structure, built in 1927, which is not protected from demolition. And recently, news came out that the owners of the clock tower, Property Markets Group, planned to develop 830,000 square feet on the surrounding land.

Sounds like someone wants those air rights for the adjacent property.

Massive development going up next to LIC Clock Tower

From The Real Deal:

Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group is planning to build a 70-story mixed-use tower at the edge of Queensboro Plaza in Long Island City, according to an application filed with the city’s Department of Buildings today.

The 772-foot-tall building at 29-37 41st Avenue will span nearly 830,000 square feet and hold 930 apartments. There will also be nearly 15,000 square feet of commercial space.

The company purchased the development site for $46.3 million last year from Queens-based developer Steven Cheung, who had paid just $8 million three years earlier.

Maloney’s company also recently purchased the Long Island City clock tower building next door, a point of contention with preservationists in the area who want to see the building landmarked.

From Crains:

A Manhattan developer plans to erect a 70-story apartment tower in Long Island City, Queens, that is four times bigger than what the site was zoned for, according to public documents reviewed by Crain’s.

Property Markets Group has proposed to build a 930-unit residential building along 41st Avenue, near the corner of Bridge Plaza North, that will clock in at 830,000 square feet, The Real Deal reported Wednesday.

But according to city records, the site at 29-37 41st Ave. was zoned for something closer to a 200,000-square-foot building.

Property Markets Group declined to comment.

Property Markets Group already owns an adjacent site, which is home to the Clock Tower building. But even if that property were combined with the site of the proposed tower, there would still not be enough square footage to build 70 stories tall.

To do so, Property Markets Group could have acquired unused development rights from an adjacent site controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

That parcel of land borders Property Markets Group's parcel to the northeast, and is being used in conjunction with the MTA's East Side Access project. The plot likely holds more than 1 million square feet of unused development rights, according to a Crain’s estimate, and could be the source of the project's extra height.

The MTA declined to comment.

Koo pushing for expanded developer air rights

From Crains:

A group of City Council members sent Mayor Bill de Blasio a letter this week urging him to allow owners of landmarked nonprofits to sell a combined 25 million square feet of their air rights, which would then be used by developers in a few selected areas across the city to build taller buildings.

Democratic Councilmen Peter Koo of Queens and Ritchie Torres and Fernando Cabrera of the Bronx argued in the Feb. 24 letter that such a system would allow 180 landmarked nonprofit institutions to cash in on their full property values. Under current rules, those unused rights can be transferred only to sites close by.

"As you know, many religious and nonprofit institutions housed in individually designated landmarked structures struggle to maintain their buildings while providing services to further their mission," the letter stated. Mr. Koo is chair of the Committee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses and Mr. Torres is deputy leader of the council.

The trio used concepts and numbers contained in a proposal advanced by a group called Iconplans, which is led by former real estate broker and grocery store executive Lawrence Daitch, and real estate investor Michael Lipstein. The duo first floated their idea years ago, during the Bloomberg administration.

Queens developers increasingly taking advantage of air rights

From the Times Ledger:

Over the past two years, Heatherwood Communities has bought up the lion’s share of development rights in Queens for its nearly 500,000-square-foot residential tower at Queens Plaza in Long Island City.

The company paid $12.6 million in 2011 for the 17,500 square-foot property at 42-12 28th St., which is zoned for up to 175,000 square feet of development, where it plans to erect a 477-unit, 58-story tower.

In order to build bigger, Heatherwood purchased 86,630 square feet of air rights for the project in 2012 and bought up another 102,430 square feet of rights in 2013, paying $100 per-square-foot in both transactions.

Heatherwood was not the only developer buying the LIC sky in 2013.

Another outfit, Brooklyn condo builder Kora Developers, paid approximately $120 for each of the 2,300 square feet of rights it purchased in December for its even-story, 21-unit mixed-use project in the Hunter’s Point section of the neighborhood.

The developer shelled out $2.83 million a year ago for the 5,000-square-foot lot on the corner of 11th Street and 47th Road, which zoning limits to 20,000 square feet of development.

Kora principal Alex Kostovetsky said the building will cap out around 26,000 square feet with about 4,000 square feet of commercial space in the cellar, which he said does not count toward the building’s limit.

In markets like midtown Manhattan where the rights are frequently traded, the price developers are willing to pay for the assets is easier to gauge, but in places where purchases are few-and-far between the market is still difficult to predict.

Historically, most air-rights transfers in Queens occur when a single owner — or related entities — combines the development capabilities of two or more lots he or she owns.

For instance, in 2012 the Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Flushing transferred about 35,680 square feet of unused rights to the lot next door where the church is constructing a 14-story, 140-unit affordable housing project.

Transfers like this provide no information about the price for air rights because no money is exchanged, but they do indicate developers’ inclinations to look toward the assets to help their projects grow.

Uglifying Manhattan

From the NY Times:

Casting a glance skyward in Manhattan these days may include the risk of beholding not sky but horizontal appendages that curve and jut outward from the sides of residential towers and hover like geometric mutants above the roofs of vertically challenged neighbors, inhabiting space once occupied by open air.

Typically built of glass and steel and suspended in midair, they are not optical illusions. In fact, they are vista-grabbing, profit-generating cantilevers the likes of which Frank Lloyd Wright probably did not contemplate in 1935 when he designed a rural residence known as Fallingwater, which levitated, with assistance from cantilevers, above a 30-foot waterfall in Mill Run, Pa. Wright cantilevered for the aesthetic thrill of it. Piers and bridges cantilever for the sake of a design imperative. The cantilevered entrance of the former IBM building at 590 Madison Avenue, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes & Associates, continues to be a piece of modernist eye candy that wows passers-by.

But the escalating popularity of cantilevers in luxury residential (and some commercial) developments is apparently driven by — what else? — economics. With “bigger is better” the prevailing mantra among developers, cantilevers are getting bigger, too: superior apartment layouts are the desired endgame.

Newer buildings casting longer shadows

From the Daily News:

A new generation of mega-tall skyscrapers being built along 57th St. for foreign billionaires will cast a long shadow over New York’s premier greenspace, a new report shows.

"It’s troubling that the sky's the limit when it comes to one of our most precious public spaces," said Vin Cipolla, president of the Municipal Art Society, which conducted the report to highlight the need for oversight of development around parks.

"We need to protect these spaces," Cipolla added.

The shadow report reveals the worst-case scenario — every Dec. 21, the winter solstice, the sunless zone will extend 20 blocks into Central Park and reach the Lake and Ramble.

Every Sept. 21 at 4 p.m., shadows would stretch a dozen blocks — as far as Sheep Meadow and the Naumburg Band Shell near the 72nd St. transverse.

The skyscrapers in question are rising “as of right,” meaning the public has no say over their size. Developers are able to build so high because they bought air rights from neighboring buildings — and technological advances now allow for the construction of super thin mega-towers on small footprints traditionally suited for 40 story buildings.

A rather ridiculous building

From Curbed:

An air rights purchase from the rear neighbor on Richardson Street allowed the developer to go tall(er) with a new building at 60 Bayard Street. We glimpsed the front of this space invader last month, and now a tipster has passed along the view of the back.

Holy crap!

To solve school overcrowding, we're building condos

From the Daily News:

It’s what you don’t see that’s most important here. Next door at Middle School 114, more than 530 students were accepted into the public school for strong academic performance. Every day, the students walk into the newly-constructed school. They learn from smart boards in a fully air-conditioned facility equipped with computer labs.

Not a single taxpayer dollar was used to build the school. The $46 million facility was built by the Azure developers, the Mattone Group and DeMatteis Organizations, in conjunction with the New York City Education Construction Fund, a novel program created in the 1960s and resurrected under Mayor Bloomberg after a 20-year hiatus.

In essence, developers vie to build residential buildings on the site of older, often out-of-date schools that hold significant amount of air rights that would allow for substantial construction of new schools and residential development.

“This is a win-win-win for everyone involved,” said Education Construction Fund (ECF) executive director Jamie Smarr. “The students get a brand new school, the city doesn’t have to pay for it, and developers get to build much needed residential units.”

Developers at Mattone and DeMatteis, long-time New York City builders and developers, point to the relationship between building schools and residential developments. They say the owner of the penthouse will be helping a public school.

Don't residential towers bring more kids?