All articles by Ondel Hylton

Ondel is 6sqft's Market News Editor and the Digital Content Manager for CityRealty. He’s a lifelong New Yorker and comprehensive assessor of the city’s dynamic urban landscape. Ondel is an alumnus of Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture, and is a LEED accredited professional. Beginning his career as a Junior Architect at DaSILVA Architects, Ondel moved to the public sector as an Analyst Architect for the New York City Office of Management and Budget. Aside from CityRealty and 6sqft, he is a volunteer at the Skyscraper Museum, a docent for the Municipal Arts Society, and leads architectural tours around the city.

November 13, 2014

Even More Skyscrapers Set for NYC: Living in the Sky Part III

By Ondel Hylton

We recently brought you parts one and two of our tallest residential skyscrapers series, which totaled 63 projects poised to scrape the sky. But this list doesn't even take into consideration the development boom occurring in Jersey City, unreleased plans on the drawing board, and the numerous office and hotel projects also rising throughout the city. So here you have it, part three of the series to complete our look at NYC skyscrapers.
Check out the list here

November 13, 2014

118 East 59th Street: Boutique Skyscraper To Rise in Hybrid Area Between Midtown and the UES

By Ondel Hylton

An exclusive condo tower is set to rise within the quickly changing area where Midtown East's commercial bustle tempers down into the elegant residential blocks of the Upper East Side. Located at 118 East 59th Street near Park Avenue, the unassuming site is being developed by Hong Kong-based Euro Properties, their first foray into the Manhattan market. The mid-block tower will soar 38 stories yet contain only 29 units–another example of the city’s new and somewhat oxymoronic building type, the boutique skyscraper, which typically contains fewer units than a standard six-story co-op building, and even fewer inhabitants. This 59th Street project will join the ranks of 432 Park Avenue (1,398 feet/104 units), 520 Park Avenue ( 781 feet/31 units), and 125 Greenwich Street (1,375 feet/128 units) as buildings with the greatest height-to-unit-count disparity.
More on the tower here

November 7, 2014

Upcoming Condo-Hotel Overlooking Bryant Park Unveils New Dapper Look

By Ondel Hylton

An updated rendering of a ground-up, mixed-use tower along the south side of Bryant Park has been revealed on HFZ Capital Group's website. The storied site at 20 West 40th Street was acquired by HFZ after Fortieth St. Partners defaulted on a $44 million loan back in 2010. According to HFZ's project page, the development will include a 5-star hotel, restaurant and bar, and residential condominiums. Construction permits filed last month specify that the hotel-design experts Stonehill & Taylor are the architects of record.
Additional details on the project

November 6, 2014

New York City’s Residential Skyscraper Boom: Living in the Sky Part II

By Ondel Hylton

You've probably realized that New York is in the midst of a skyscraper boom, but if the ubiquitous scaffolding and sidewalk detours haven't given it away, we bring you further proof — with part two of our series detailing the tallest residential towers set to rise high above the city, forever changing New York's skyline. Compared to the previous 26 projects — the tallest of the tall that included ultra-luxury and super-tall towers such as 432 Park Avenue and 125 Greenwich Street — this second batch is composed of smaller buildings ranging from 500 to 700 feet tall and features greater geographical diversity and lots more rentals. With developers scouring the city for less expensive areas to assemble properties, these often-controversial projects are slated to rise in some of our more human-scaled 'hoods such as East Harlem, South Street Seaport, and Williamsburg.
Will they all get built? Unlikely, but in any case here's our list

New 35-Story DoubleTree Hotel by Gene Kaufman Coming to Midtown West

Rendering of DoubleTree Hotel via Gene Kaufman (L); The project site at 350 West 40th Street (R)

October 10, 2014

New 35-Story DoubleTree Hotel by Gene Kaufman Coming to Midtown West

By Ondel Hylton

Fresh renderings have been posted for a new 35-story hotel currently undergoing excavation at 350 West 40th Street. Located just southwest of Times Square and directly across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the block-front between Eighth and Ninth Avenues has been the victim of a half-dozen mid-range hotels. With the large blank wall of the bus terminal on one side and an ungainly assortment of budget hotels, walk-ups, and parking lots on the other, the street may be a worthy contender for the "Ugliest Street in Midtown." The project was first revealed by YIMBY last spring. Permits call for a 315-foot, 594-room DoubleTree Hotel designed by Gene Kaufman and developed by Sam Chang of McSam Hotels. McSam--which already has several hotels up and running on the block including a Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites, and Hampton Inn--has been one of the city's most active and notorious developers in the last decade.
More on the project here

October 8, 2014

Landmarked 1867 Nomad Building May Recieve Blade Runner-Like Addition

By Ondel Hylton

Another iteration of a towering addition to a landmarked NoMad building has emerged from the 3-D visualization wizzes at Avoid Obvious. YIMBY broke the news back in March of a 20-story tower designed by the Spector Group and Think Architecture atop a charming commercial building at the northwest corner of West 27th Street and Broadway. Both iterations of Spector Group's design reveal a clean visual break between old and new: a restored neoclassical façade juxtaposed with a setback glassy prism rising above. The new reveal shows a more sculptural and chiseled tower rather than a Trump SoHo-like prism of clean vertical lines. It's unclear if this proposal is still on the table and if the Spector Group remains involved.
More on the design here

October 7, 2014

45 Park Place: Tribeca’s Latest Condo Tower Could be an Architectural Stunner

By Ondel Hylton

New images have been uncovered of an upcoming 39-story condominium tower poised to rise from a storied site in Tribeca. Curbed first broke the rendering reveal back in July and a representative of the developers noted that tower depicted in renderings are not quite final. Nevertheless new images posted on of SOMA Architects' website give us additional glimpses of what the project could be. Simply known as 45 Park Place (for now), the development is comprised of a 665-foot tower luxury tower and an Islamic museum, is being developed by a consortium led by Soho Properties, headed by Sharif El-Gamal. The tower is being crafted by Michel Abboud of SOMA Architects, with Ismael Leyva serving as the architect of record. Renderings posted on SOMA's website convey a light, airy tower composed of stem-like volumes bundled by delicate bands of lattice-like mullions. The ground-level view gives us our first glimpse of the adjacent Islamic museum and prayer space reportedly designed by Pritzker Prize–winning French architect Jean Nouvel. A small plaza fronting the museum will expose a vegetated side wall of the neighboring building that houses popular downtown grocer Amish Market.
More on the development here

16-Story Residential Sliver Building to Rise Near Union Square

Existing three-story building at the site occupied by the Catholic Medical Mission Board

October 7, 2014

16-Story Residential Sliver Building to Rise Near Union Square

By Ondel Hylton

**UPDATE 10/10/2014: We've been informed that the Spector Group is no longer involved in this project. Beyer Blinder Belle has taken over the design. We will provide new renderings of the project when available. A new 16-story residential sliver tower will squeeze its way skyward from a narrow lot at 10 West 17th Street, situated just a block from foodie-hub Union Square in the Ladies' Mile Historical District. Permits filed with the NYC Department of Buildings call for a 47,000-square-foot residential building with 15 units. The architect of record is Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, a firm well adept in crafting developments in historically sensitive locations and navigating the city's Landmark's approval process. The majority of units in 10 West 17th will likely be full-floor apartments. The renderings shown here are designs from the Spector Group website, but it's unknown if they are still involved in the project.
More on the plans here

October 2, 2014

Living in the Clouds: 50 New York Residential Towers Poised to Scrape the Sky (Part I)

By Ondel Hylton

It seems like every week a new residential skyscraper is being announced in New York City, just earlier this week the New York Times noted that a partnership between Steven Witkoff and Harry Macklowe is moving ahead with a redevelopment of the Park Lane Hotel at 36 Central Park West with an 850-foot tower. With the mind-boggling amount of residential spires poised to pierce the sky, here's a quick rundown of the tallest of the tall--the spindly bunch set to soar higher than 700 feet. Keep in mind that just 30 years ago, the tallest residence in the city was perched atop the 664-foot Trump Tower. Today, buildings are on the drawing board for more than twice that height.
See our list of the 26 tallest towers

July 17, 2014

Still Portzamparc-ish: New Images of Extell’s Riverside Center Uncovered

By Ondel Hylton

On the website of Extell Development's latest residential tower, One Riverside Park, we uncovered some newer, more realistic renderings of their massive Riverside Center project. The 8-acre superblock between West 59th and 61st Streets lies at the southern end of a string of 11 Riverside South buildings that have been underway since the mid-1990s. Developer Donald Trump had struggled since 1974 to redevelop the 77-acre rail yard, and he developed the first eight buildings as Trump Place before selling a substantial portion of the site to Extell Development in 2005.
See more images of this mega-development here

551W21: Norman Foster’s Champagne-Colored Tower Rising Along Manhattan’s New Gold Coast (New Photos)

By Ondel Hylton

Many architects like to recycle their plans, reusing signature design elements from project to project. However, British architect Lord Norman Foster, with his firm Foster+Partners, enjoys keeping it fresh with designs that are unmistakably modern, yet profoundly contextual to their location. The firm's latest New York development is a 44-unit residential tower named 551W21 that rises in the once industrial—now art-gallery—hub of West Chelsea. The 551W21 team over at Foster+Partners recently sent us some new photos of the building under construction, which has surpassed its 19th-floor mark and will be topped off at the end of this month. And if you're still not convinced that buyers are willing to pay a premium for starchitectured spaces, we're told that the building is already over 50% sold.
See more photos and views after the break

July 14, 2014

Herzog & de Meuron’s Undulating Condo Design for the Hudson River Waterfront Revealed

By Ondel Hylton

Move over Greenwich Village, there's a new gold coast in Manhattan and it's nowhere near Fifth Avenue. Since former Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the far west side is the city's new Gold Coast and Manhattan's last frontier, a necklace of ravishing projects have been announced along the Hudson River waterfront. The latest reveal is for a new 12-story, 88-unit condominium coming from famed hotelier Ian Schrager and Herzog & de Meuron Architects. The Hudson Square site at 156 Leroy Street will replace a handful of low-slung buildings that include two auto-body shops, a gentleman's club and the former Lunchbox Diner.
More renderings of 156 Leroy here

Architecture And Design

July 2, 2014

Demolition Permits Filed at 101 Murray – The Site of Downtown Manhattan’s Future Tallest Condo

By Ondel Hylton

Demolition permits have been filed with the Department of Buildings for the tallest condominium building south of 'Billionaires' Row.' The approximately 950-foot tower revealed by real-estate blogger YIMBY last month will house 129 condos within a dramatic champagne flute-like design by the architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Tentatively named 101 TriBeCa, the uppermost floorplates increase in size to take greater advantage of views uptown and towards the river that most likely will remain unobstructed years to come due to restrictive zoning in TriBeCa and Battery Park City.
more on the new tower here

June 27, 2014

NYC’s Billboards to be the Biggest in the USA: Even More Wattage Being Added to Times and Herald Squares

By Ondel Hylton

Billboard signs along Times Square, and now Herald Square, are growing ever bigger and brighter as LED displays become the top choice for developers of new supersigns. Projects such as the upcoming Mariott Edition, Vornado's Marriott Marquis renovation, and the revamping of the Herald Center all include LED displays that will be among the largest in the world. Though more expensive to install than the standard illuminated billboard, the light-emitting diode canvasses have the primary advantage of being eco-friendly by using less electricity and lasting 25 times longer than their incandescent alternatives. Their cost depends on size, complexity, and resolution; and may run upward of $1000 a square foot. But new technology in the past decade has cut the average price in half allowing for a brighter and more prolific future in the city.
See videos and images these eye-popping supersigns

Growth Spurt: Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at 333 Schermerhorn Will Soar Even Higher Than Expected

L to R: Williamsburg Savings Bank (One Hanson), The Brooklyner, 388 Bridge Street, Avalon Willoughby West, The Hub

June 17, 2014

Growth Spurt: Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at 333 Schermerhorn Will Soar Even Higher Than Expected

By Ondel Hylton

Construction filings from the Department of Buildings have revealed that Douglas Steiner's mixed use tower at 333 Schermerhorn Street, dubbed the Hub, will soar 30 feet higher than previously reported; making it the top contender for Brooklyn's tallest building at 607-feet. For more than 80 years, the title of Brooklyn's tallest belonged to the 512-foot Williamsburg Savings Bank tower at 1 Hanson Place. With its beloved 4-sided clock tower and its majestic banking hall, the tower has stood in relative isolation since its construction in 1929. Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards centerpiece building nicknamed "Miss Brooklyn," was the first to challenge the tower's dominance and was slated to soar more than 100-feet above the bank building's dome. The proposal incited uproar from Brooklynites, leading to its eventual downsizing in 2006 to 511-feet, just one foot shorter than the neighboring bank building.
More about The Hub and Brooklyn's tallest this way

June 6, 2014

Naftali Group’s Upcoming Chelsea Condo References City’s Industrial Past

By Ondel Hylton

Here’s a first look at the Naftali Group’s upcoming 60-unit condominium building sited along 265 West 25th Street in Chelsea. The building will rise 12 stories along a charming tree-lined stretch between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Residences will range from one to three bedrooms.
More on the Development Here

New Developments

May 14, 2014

Plans to Convert the Jehovah Witness Watchtower Complex Into a High Tech Incubator Revealed!

By Ondel Hylton

Leeser Architects, designer of the Museum of the Moving Image expansion in Astoria, seems to be single-handedly upping the architecture ante in the outer-boroughs. Fresh off the heels of demolition commencing on the site of their multi-faceted 30-story Marriott Autograph Collection tower in the BAM Cultural District, Leeser may also be busy in the conversion of DUMBO's five-building Jehovah Witness Watchtower complex into a high tech incubator and residential tower.
See the renderings we've uncovered after the jump

April 29, 2014

Demolition Begins at 43 East 22nd to Make Way for Bruce Eichner’s New Supertall Condo

By Ondel Hylton

A new 80-unit condominium tower at 45 East 22nd street will bring the distance between New York’s two preeminent skylines a bit closer. Ian Bruce Eichner’s, Continuum Company has plans to build the loftiest skyscraper between the Empire State Building (1,250 feet) in Midtown and the Woolworth Building (792 feet) in the Financial District. The project designed by the high-rise pros of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, stretches skyward 60 floors — a whopping 778 feet from an unassuming 50-foot wide lot currently occupied by two row-homes. We recently stopped by the site to see how things are coming along, and it looks like demolition has just started. Check out our survey and snaps of the project ahead.
More photos and renderings here

Architecture And Design

All articles by Ondel Hylton

Even More Skyscrapers Set for NYC: Living in the Sky Part III

118 East 59th Street: Boutique Skyscraper To Rise in Hybrid Area Between Midtown and the UES

Upcoming Condo-Hotel Overlooking Bryant Park Unveils New Dapper Look

New York City’s Residential Skyscraper Boom: Living in the Sky Part II

New 35-Story DoubleTree Hotel by Gene Kaufman Coming to Midtown West

Landmarked 1867 Nomad Building May Recieve Blade Runner-Like Addition

45 Park Place: Tribeca’s Latest Condo Tower Could be an Architectural Stunner

16-Story Residential Sliver Building to Rise Near Union Square

Living in the Clouds: 50 New York Residential Towers Poised to Scrape the Sky (Part I)

Still Portzamparc-ish: New Images of Extell’s Riverside Center Uncovered

551W21: Norman Foster’s Champagne-Colored Tower Rising Along Manhattan’s New Gold Coast (New Photos)

Herzog & de Meuron’s Undulating Condo Design for the Hudson River Waterfront Revealed

Demolition Permits Filed at 101 Murray – The Site of Downtown Manhattan’s Future Tallest Condo

NYC’s Billboards to be the Biggest in the USA: Even More Wattage Being Added to Times and Herald Squares

Growth Spurt: Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at 333 Schermerhorn Will Soar Even Higher Than Expected

Double turreted condo in a Central Park West castle is a quirky NYC dream home for $10.5M

Naftali Group’s Upcoming Chelsea Condo References City’s Industrial Past

Plans to Convert the Jehovah Witness Watchtower Complex Into a High Tech Incubator Revealed!

Demolition Begins at 43 East 22nd to Make Way for Bruce Eichner’s New Supertall Condo

9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn

All articles by Ondel Hylton

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