38 replies to this topic

[NYguy]

Renderings of the new tower that will rise 1,200 ft (antenna) above 42nd...

[Allan]

It looks like the building will be a great addition to NY!  This is the first time I've seen renderings of this much talked about project.  Thanks for posting them.

[NYguy]

donaltopablo, on Apr 7 2004, 08:18 AM, said:

Any word on when construction is due to begin?

Site demolition is to begin soon, with construction starting later this year...

[Cotuit]

I can't believe there have been one story buildings on parts of that site for so long.

[NYguy]

Cotuit, on Apr 8 2004, 05:34 PM, said:

I can't believe there have been one story buildings on parts of that site for so long.

That's because the Dursts have had plans of various skyscraper developments for years, but there was one lone parcel that stood in the way.  The state has cleared the way now for the Bank of America tower to rise along 42nd and 5th Avenue...

[NYguy]

APRIL 9, 2004
Businesses have been vacated; demolition beginning soon

[NYguy]

NY Post...

DEBT TAKES A HOLIDAY AS 'CLOCK' IS REMOVED

By MARIANNE GARVEY  

April 13, 2004 -- Midtown is missing one of its landmarks.
The world-famous National Debt Clock that hung on the side of a three-story building at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue has been torn from its home of more than 15 years. The building, owned by the Durst Organization, is being stripped and demolished in order to make room for a high-rise.

But because the national debt is still rising, a new billboard-sized digital clock will be reappearing in a few weeks one block north at 1133 Sixth Ave. "It'll be going back up in a month," said Douglas Durst, president of the Durst Organization, which looks after the clock.

Durst's late father, real-estate magnate Seymour Durst, installed the clock in 1989 when the debt was $2.7 trillion. When the clock returns in May, the debt will be more than $7 trillion.

In fact, the debt is now rising so quickly that the last seven numbers of the new clock will be moving too quickly to be read, Durst said.

"The numbers are there to be helpful in reminding people and because my father thought it necessary to tell people how big the debt actually is," Douglas said.

The last time the clock went dark was in September 2000 - because the national debt was actually falling. It was plugged back in on July 2002 when the debt again began to rise.

[Cotuit]

That block has had quite transient businesses for a while now. I guess the uncertain future looming over the property made for skitish tenents.

[M. Brown]

That is a beautiful looking building

[NYguy]

From an ad in today's NY Post, as the building markets the upper floor space...

[monsoon]

[NYguy]

They have been running skyscraper programs on the History Channel.  One of the programs mention this particular tower.  I captured these rough shots:


The tower as viewed from different angles













The architects and their building







There will be two masts at the top of the building.  The shorter mast will serve as a vertical wind turbine...

[wolfdawg54]

Looking at the shot of the skyline, the Bank of America building will complement the Freedom Tower and Complex nicely.

[NYguy]

Nov 5th, 2004 - 42nd Street

[Cotuit]

It's so strange to see those buildings gone. I used to wait for the express bus home to Queens across the street. Ate at the McDonald's and the pizza joint there quite often (too often   )

My office was between Grand Central and Bryant Park so I took lunch in Bryant Park a lot. I'm heading to the city for a show in a few weeks, I'll have to stop by the site and check it out.

[NYguy]

Cotuit, on Nov 7 2004, 09:59 PM, said:

It's so strange to see those buildings gone. I used to wait for the express bus home to Queens across the street. Ate at the McDonald's and the pizza joint there quite often (too often  )

That McDonald's was the last thing to close on site...

[Cotuit]

It was a really crappy McDonald's actually.  

Now that I live in Rhode Island I never eat at McDonald's. We don't have any downtown.  

[NYguy]

Nov 7, 2004
A look on site











The facade, or what's left of the theater...




This photo of the NY Times tower site also taken Nov 7th shows the Times' site further along in this race to the skyline...

[Cotuit]

Liberty bonds sold for midtown Manhattan tower
By Stan Rosenberg, Associated Press, 11/18/2004

NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) A city agency has sold the first bonds under the $8 billion Liberty Bond program, authorized by the federal government as part of its aid package to New York after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The New York City Industrial Development Agency Wednesday sold $650 million of the tax-exempt bonds to help finance a $1.29 billion Bank of America office tower in midtown Manhattan.

The Liberty Bond program allows $2 billion of the total to be allocated to commercial projects outside the immediate Liberty Zone in downtown Manhattan.

The 2.1 million-square-foot, 51-story structure, expected to be completed in 2007, will serve as headquarters for the bank's operations in New York City, housing its global corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management and consumer and commercial banking businesses.

The bank will occupy about half of the 945-foot building to be known as The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park. It is being built by The Durst Organization, a major Manhattan developer, and the bank.

Bank of America and Bank of New York are underwriting the bonds.

Frank McKenna, a managing director at Banc of America Securities, said buyers of the bonds are mainly money market funds which need to have New York securities in their portfolios and wealthy individuals with a need to park money on a temporary basis.

Other large projects to be financed by the bond program are in different stages of the consideration and approval process. They include up to $1 billion for a new Goldman Sachs Group headquarters in lower Manhattan and $400 million for the rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center, the first building to rise at Ground Zero since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

From Boston.com