Oct 7, 2009 6:11 am US/Eastern
NYC Ready For Another Giant Skyscraper?
Despite Critical Praise For Design, Residents Upset Over Proposed Empire State Building-Sized Structure In Midtown
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
It's big city skyscraper scrap.
There's a fight over a proposed new structure near the Museum of Modern Art that would as be as tall as anything in New York City.
The tower would be the size of the Empire State Building if approved.
The real estate developer and the architect weren't very happy Tuesday. They saw their plans for a soaring Midtown skyscraper crumbling.
A dramatic sliver of a structure on a narrow lot between 53rd and 54th street near the Museum of Modern Art had the neighbors begging the City Council planning committee Tuesday: "Don't let 'em do it."
"This is the time to call a halt to this. This is the time to stop," opponent Albert Butzel told CBS 2 HD.
Imagine a building as tall as the Empire State Building on a lot that size. That's what the developers want to do. It would twice as tall as the landmarked (and quite beautiful) CBS corporate headquarters across the street and the neighbors said that's quite tall enough.
"It's a postage stamp. They say they can get it to stand up but it's a postage stamp. It's an abomination," opponent Justin Peyser said.
Opponents complain about the height and the shadow it will cast, but the design has received critical praise and the designer, architect Jean Nouvel, said that seen from the real Empire State Building his equally tall structure will blend into the cityscape.
"When you are at the Empire State you see the building in front like this, so you cannot see the full of the fins," Nouvel said.
The developer – the Gerald Hines Organization -- said to build the tower it will purchase air rights from the museum, the nearby University Club and St. Thomas Episcopal Church and stack 'em up over the site. Leaving the hearing Tuesday, they didn't seem to want to talk about why: "We have no comment," was the response.
The museum said "no." It wants the money from those air rights.
"This is vital because the Museum of Modern of Art does not receive direct support from either the city or the state. We depend entirely on our endowment, admissions and fundraising," Museum of Modern Art director Glenn Lowrey said.
What's at stake are the financial interests of the Museum, two powerful non-profits, the developer and the real estate company versus the people who live on this block. It's a classic New York struggle over power and influence that'll go before the City Council in a matter of weeks.
If approved, developers said it would take four years to build the tower.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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