Death Star crane construction KOs half of Third Avenue today

Crews here from the Galactic Empire to install the superlaser weapon to work on 51 Astor Place.

Previously.

51 Astor Place, now with a branded sidewalk bridge

[Bobby Williams]

Letting the world know what's coming to the crossroads of the East Village... and in the corner: "Occupancy Spring 2013." Or, 53,672 more blog posts on the topic...

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

East Village — the new Midtown?

Hey, look at 51 Astor Place

[Bobby Williams... yesterday]

Beams! Structure! Starting to go up in a hurry...

And soon...



Eventually, the building will house 15,000 turbolasers, 700 tractor beam projectors, 1 Superlaser with 725,000 support crew and gunners, plus 265,000 troopers.

First sign of 51 Astor Place above ground

Just a few photos of the Death Star 51 Astor Place from Friday and Saturday... the steel beams are rising!

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

East Village — the new Alderaan? Midtown?

51 Astor Place wants the skyline to itself

Our friend Pinhead sent along these before and after renderings of the Death Star 51 Astor Place...

The older one!



The newer one on the 51 Astor website now...



Notice anything different? Or missing?

Let's go the the Grievestrator...





As you'll notice, the new rendering does away with that pesky 19-story white-brick Saint Mark apartments ... (Joey Ramone lived there!) ... If 51 Astor Place wants to do away with some buildings around here, then we have some suggestions...

Four seasons at 51 Astor Place

DP in EV shares this photo series with us ... showing the demolition of the former Cooper Union engineering building... starting late last summer through this spring... and the progress of the incoming Fumihiko Maki-designed office building.









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

East Village — the new Midtown?

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

The 'island' of Astor Place

[Via Curbed]

Catching up with a piece from Bloomberg yesterday about the incoming 51 Astor Place.

Developer Edward Minskoff said that he is seeking between $88 and $115 a square foot — rates that approach "the highest rents for top-quality space in Midtown Manhattan, the most expensive U.S. office market, as a booming technology market fuels demand for trendier areas."

Per the article: "Office demand in New York is shifting from the glossy skyscrapers of Midtown preferred by banks to the quirkier mix of neighborhoods to its south that’s home to Chelsea warehouses, Soho galleries and the punky shops on St. Mark's Place where Joey Ramone and Madonna refined their fashion sense."

Minskoff went on to say that he "expects a company will pay for the opportunity to plant its flag in the East Village the way Google asserted its presence in Chelsea."

Per the article: "The Google building is a good building, but it’s a big factory building," he said. "It doesn't knock your socks off. Fifty-one Astor is like an island. It’s very, very visible."

And how!

So years from now we can revisit the "the quirkier mix of neighborhoods" to see how they fared during this post-Midtown boom.

We've been curious how the Death Star at 51 Astor Place will impact the surrounding area... Does the quirky have any chance for survival? For instance. What becomes of street vendors or street art on Astor Place? (Regardless of how you might feel about the street artists or street art.)

[Bobby Williams]

[Bobby Williams]

Or will the 51 Astor-Sculpture for Living glass-tower combo be too much to overcome? Will everything be crushed underfoot? Or, perhaps, 51 really will be an island safely moored off shore from the rest 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 (almost) has its first tenant

[Sunday at the the pit. Photo by Bobby Williams]

As you may know, the Death Star 51 Astor Place is being built entirely on spec. However, The Commercial Observer brings news that 51 is ready to ink its first tenant — the Hult International Business School. Pending approval of the state's Board of Regents, the school with campuses in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai is expected to take the entire second floor.

No word on where they'll lease space for their fraternity and sorority houses. (OK — that's a joke.)

H/T Curbed.

A look down at 51 Astor Place

You've seen the work going on behind the plywood at 51 Astor Place, one day to be home to the Death Star.

[EVG]

How's the site looking from above?

Here are two aerial photos by Janko Puls ...

The campaign to 'imagine a park' at 51 Astor Place

A few weeks ago, Jeremiah first pointed out the stickers that someone put on the plywood at 51 Astor Place, one day to be home to a black-glass tower.

[JVNY]

Since then, the campaign has evolved... fewer words, same sentiment... now in sticker, marker and stencil form...

Going in deep at 51 Astor Place; plus, survey results!

Just checking in on the progress over at 51 Astor Place... Bobby Williams took this shot yesterday...

Meanwhile. Good lord! We forgot about our exclusive poll from a few weeks ago ... in which we asked what you would rather see at 51 Astor Place — green space/empty or the Death Star.

Here's how you voted America. (And parts of Canada) ...

Hmm, only 218 votes ... (and thank you for checking in Texas, Florida and Nebraska...)

Note: There is a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. Or not.

How about this for a new 51 Astor Place?

Last week, the 51 Astor Place People released new renderings of 51 Astor Place ... and not everyone is so keen on the look of the Fumihiko Maki-designed office building.

Our friends at Curbed asked their readers to redesign 51 Astor Place.

And here is the winner.

The winner, Dustin Tobias, received a $100 gift certificate to St. Mark's Bookshop.

Tobias explained his rendering to Curbed:

"The proposed building would be composed of fragments of lost East Village landmarks. An unfinished work, the building would be continuously assembled, growing taller and more visible as the neighborhood continues to vanish."

Check out some of the other submissions here.

[Updated] What would you rather see at 51 Astor Place?

Yesterday, we posted updated photos (thanks to Curbed's discovery) of 51 Astor Place ... and there was pretty much a Universal Ugh from commenters here and on Facebook about the look of the building... (Alex calls it DisAstor Place at Flaming Pablum...)

One of our favorite responses, via Richard Bensam:

It dwarfs its surroundings and is actually less appealing than the building it replaces -- something many previously thought impossible.

On the upside, now the herbivorous primates of the East Village will finally learn how to use the femur of an antelope to crack open the skulls of tapirs and become omnivores, ensuring their future evolution into humanity. Later, their remote descendants will discover an exact duplicate of 51 Astor Place buried on the Moon.

Several people asked if the developer could just keep the empty lot the way it looks now...

Bobby Williams took the above shots on Monday afternoon.

Well, anyway, the developer probably has a few dollars tied up in this project (whistling)...

Still, we can be democratic about it. Let's put it to an unbiased vote.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Updated:

Curbed is offering a $100 gift card to St. Mark's Bookshop for the best redesign of 51 Astor Place. Smurfs are always good.

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

East Village — the new Midtown?

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

51 Astor Place Death Star more Death Starry than previously thought

Hoo boy.

Curbed has the news this morning that a 51 Astor Place website is up and running... featuring new, more imposing, renderings....

Curbed notes several of the building features: a private green roof on the fifth floor, a tenant-accessible green roof on the 13th floor, and an urban plaza on the corner of Astor Place and Third Avenue.

And Curbed also hears that IBM and Microsoft are looking at office space here.

We'll be back with more after running over to the Continental for five shots of anything for $10.

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

East Village — the new Midtown?

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

With a rubble yell: Here's 51 Astor Place these days

Just a quick post to document what's left of 51 Astor Place... the former Cooper Union engineering building...

First, a great photo by Michael Sean Edwards...

Meanwhile...

...and spotted on the plywood surrounding the pit...

Previously.

On a cloudy day, you can see Fourth Avenue (for now)

The now-demolished 51 Astor Place courtesy of EV Grieve reader peter radley.

Coming soon.

There is no news about 51 Astor Place

Well, except that it's gone. Per Bobby William's shot yesterday...

Meanwhile, at the Post yesterday, Steve Cuozzo checked in on several high-profile projects around the city... "We gave owners, brokers, p.r. reps and inside moles a chance to share good news about the following projects, representing billions of dollars of private investment, some bolstered by public subsidies."

He couldn't find any good news about the projects including at 51 Astor Place, which he notes is being built entirely on spec. So the incoming 430,000 square-foot building remains tenantless for now...

And, as you know, it will look like this some day.

Meanwhile, EV Grieve reader Terry Howell shared these photos with us... the first is from Jan. 27, 2011...

And this is from Friday...

We echo Terry's feelings about the building:

"I have watched the demolition of the former Cooper Union building with mixed feelings, mostly deep grief for the loss of the trees. The building itself was meh but I was used to it and I fear what will replace it."

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

East Village — the new Midtown?

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place