[Image via Wikipedia Commons]
Last spring, The Real Deal reported that Normandy Real Estate Partners was in contract to buy 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark.
Now The Real Deal hears what might be in the works for the corner:
Normandy Real Estate Partners and Ares Management are weighing plans to develop a boutique office building on Broadway ... not far from the commercial property at 51 Astor Place that locals have dubbed the Death Star ...
The partners would develop a 200,000-square-foot, Class A office building at 797-799 Broadway, which they bought last summer for $101 million, as TRD reported at the time.
A 138,000-square-foot Class B office building ... now sits on the site, and the developers would not be able to begin construction until leases expire in 2019. The tenants are a mix of medical offices and small-time retailers.
51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star is 400,000 square feet, so this new project, while quite larger than the current building, would still be half the size of its neighborhood to the southeast.
797-799 Broadway is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.
14 comments:
Because, like, who needs a building with proven connections to the general who helped the NOrth win the Civil War, and who then became president, to say nothing of the man who brought us the telephone, among other things? I mean, really? especially when there's a no-doubt hideously ugly "boutique office building" to be built and filled with vapid morons?"
God, this city becomes more pathetic and history-free by the day, thanks to the greedy scum in charge of it.
The location is historically important Grant wrote his memoirs here after being encouraged to do so by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Grant was sick with cancer at the time and was broke looking for a means to support his family after his death. The memoirs were a success and often held as one of the best autobiographical pieces in American Literature.
Lets face it, nothing "new" being built by a huge developer in the East Village will benefit local residents just those developers. Last time I checked people elected a Mayor and city leaders to help out New Yorkers find affordable housing within their present neighborhood and not giving any development the green light to ignore and destroy historical and site appropriate character and zoning heights.
The beginning of the end of the East Village is Death Star. It is the most hideous structure ever built to disrupt a neighborhood. I no longer open my eyes in Astor Pace.
I used to work in this building back in the 90s. It was a cool place. Definitely had a historical feel to it.
Ditto Donnie.
Like being in Times Square area, I now move as rapidly as possible to get to my destination when I find myself anywhere near the Death Star.
Gojira @10:49 and Anon @11:57. You have genuine concerns that this building has some history attached to it that should not be lost. This issue can be dealt with by the Community Board and the Assembly and Senate elected officials demanding that an historic plaque be placed prominently outside the building. There are a number of such plaques on buildings in the East Village so this is not out of the normal. The mantra by people who post here attacking 51 Astor Place--the "Death Star" building is becoming tired. I suppose the Gewthame (?spelling) apartment building at Astor Place is an architectural masterpiece! And Anon @12:09 what in your view "will benefit local residents"? Let's agitate for apartments for homeless people? Let's invite drug rehabilitation facilities into a renovated building? Let's turn it into a community center? And, I can't wait for the preservationist argument that the current owners should restore the exterior of the building to what it looked like in the late 18th Century.
Strangely, accused JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had an office there for the FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE in the early 1960s. (I had always thought he only operated out of ex-FBI man Guy Bannister's office in New Orleans -- I never knew he was being sheep-dipped in NYC as well.)
The building has plenty of historic qualities inside -- WHERE THE FUCK is the Landmarks Commission on this? Or our "elected representatives" who could stand in the way of destroying this historic structure(when they're not out doing photo-ops in Astor Place)?
4.41
"The mantra by people who post here attacking 51 Astor Place--the "Death Star" building is becoming tired."
Sorry, no.
I know the annual membership rate depends on the broker category but, hey, what's your REBNY membership cost?
They mentioned Death Star in the article, so I am going to comment on it. I will not stop commenting about it until it is torn down. It is a plague. You might be tired of the comments, but it tires me everytime I see it, just sucks the energy out of me. The consequence of building such a horrible structure is that it gets comments when architecture in the immediate vicinity is discussed.
Anon 4:41 I was simply giving the background of Grants living there and what he accomplished.I take no position on the development of the property and yes a plaque would be the easiest thing to do and is certainly warranted. It would be nice if it was restored as a Hotel given the increased tourism and business activity down here a restored St.Denis Hotel the original architect was James Renwick noted for his Gothic styled churches. Yes restored to its 19th century parlor glory with modern amenities like wifi fitting since Alexander Bell demonstrated the telephone there in 1877. I'm a firm believer in taking the past refurbishing it for current use in a free enterprise market. Love the Puck Building on Houston a good example. But since I am not Conrad Hilton it matters little what I chose to day dream about.
This is already a full office building. The whole place is full of medical offices and other small concerns or independent practitioners.
Donnie Moder@11:49 PM: 51 Astor Place will be there long after you are dead. If it pleases you to vent against a building you can do nothing about keep on. Why not use your verbal energy on an issue that you can possibly effect? Why not run for public office: your community board? Why not run for city council now that Rosie M. is term limited?
...and it's a great part of the neighborhood as it currently stands, because of the small business tenants and it's beauty/history.
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