51 Astor Place — all glassed up and...

Just because it has been nearly an entire month since mentioning 51 Astor Place...



...glassed up except for the very tippy-top, which will house the hypermatter reactor ... you can notice the tippy-top (descriptive!) on the Third Avenue side...



OK, OK — here.



Anyway. Getting used to seeing it now here?

Speaking of you know what across the street...

Glassed up to the top at 51 Astor Place now.

New York City's original Death Star

We had a post yesterday about 51 Astor Place, including quotes from developer Edward J. Minskoff from The Wall Street Journal. (Flashback: "it's great-looking, it fits in to the neighborhood, it's not overbearing.")

So, you know, at least one neighborhood blogger and several readers who just obviously don't appreciate great-looking architecture have dubbed 51 Astor Place the "Death Star."

Meanwhile! Turns out that this isn't the city's first Death Star... Crazy Eddie came across this Shorpy photo from 1902...

Per the caption, "The Waldorf-Astoria, New York." The original, and somewhat forbidding, Waldorf at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. Complete with the obligatory windowsill milk bottle.

Of course, this Death Star had a short life... In 1929, the original Waldorf-Astoria was demolished to make way for something called the Empire State Building. (Did plans for that ever move forward?)

Not sure I'd describe that old Waldorf as a "Death Star." Maybe we can swap this out for 51 Astor? Dibs on the corner room at the top.

[Updated] 3 photos of 51 Astor Place from Jan. 12

Updated 1-14
Well! Turns out that The Wall Street Journal has a feature today on 51 Astor Place. (Thanks to the reader for the link). The article's headline: "Mixed Messages In New Geometry At Cooper Square."

To some excerpts!

Says developer Edward J. Minskoff: "This was a classic case of an opportunity to take a wonderful site and really put a special building there. It's dramatic, it's great-looking, it fits in to the neighborhood, it's not overbearing."

And!

"When I moved here, there were buildings that were not known by their addresses. Lever House, the GM building, the Pan-Am building. I think 51 Astor Place has the opportunity to go down in history as to be referred to by the name of its tenants," Mr. Minskoff says, though he has declined to name any potential tenants with whom he is in discussions. "I don't like to build mediocre boxes. I want to build buildings that will be great on year 1 and great on year 30."

The structure going up at 51 Astor should not be viewed as mediocre, but it's a far cry from the type of ground-breaking design that earns a place in the pantheon of the city's name-brand buildings.

Previously.

Reflecting on 51 Astor Place

Enough glass up here on 51 Astor Place that we can do this...

... shaping up. Like it any better now with glass?

Previously.

A look at 6 new or restored East Village buildings

Just a quick photo update on projects that we've been following... Photos by Bobby Williams.

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New second floor for the Iglesia Pentecostal Sarepta
701 E. Sixth St.
More details here.

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Jupiter 21
21 E. First St.
More details here.

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Supportive housing for homeless young adults and young adults aging out of the foster-care system.
710 E. Ninth St.
More details here.

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St. Brigid's
Avenue B and East Eighth St.
More details here.

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51 Astor Place
More details here.

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84 Third Ave.
More details here.

Window washing at 51 Astor Place

Speaking of 51 Astor Place... we were watching someone with a handy-dandy extended window-washer thing the other day ...

... the yellow thingee...

And a quick video of the action... it's only an 11-second clip, but we could have watched for hours...

51 Astor Place getting the window treatment

A lot of glass action here at 51 Astor Place...

[Bobby Williams]

[BW]

[BW]

... and a photo from this morning to see the progress via EVG regular peter radley...

Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower

51 Astor Place puts away its giant crane

You know that big crane over at 51 Astor Place...

On Saturday morning, workers disassembled the thing...

Another ceremonial step in the construction of the 430,000-square-foot tower... after workers packed it up...

... we jogged alongside, waving and tossing flower petals as it headed out of the neighborhood ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower

East Village — the new Midtown?

51 Astor Place's glass act

Just noting some progress at 51 Astor Place, where panels of glass now adorn the north side along East Ninth Street... photos yesterday by EVG regular William Klayer.

At first glance this reminded me a little of the New York Hilton...

Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower

East Village — the new Midtown?

Men of steel top off 51 Astor Place

Do you notice something atop of 51 Astor Place...?

Per these photos by Bobby Williams, you can see that the workers have signed the top beam and placed a Christmas holiday tree here...they must have reached the top.

Anyway, say what you want about the incoming 51 Astor Place (like calling it a Death Star) ... there is something rather hypnotic about watching the workers' high-wire act...

As a bonus, a shot of the top of the crane here...

[EVG]

Photos by Bobby Williams.

4 views of the incoming 51 Astor Place

Yesterday, we noted that 51 Astor Place was getting its outer shield... thought we should take a look at how the new 430,000-square-foot tower has been shaping up in recent weeks from various views...

[Bottom photo by Donna Delmas via Facebook]

Previously.

Death Star getting its shield!

EVG reader MP takes note of the following today at 51 Astor Place...

Per MP: "How long before the Empire attacks?"

And one day...



Hat tip to MP for the headline too...