Rendering courtesy of Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture | Design and the Central Park Conservancy

The $150 million plan to build a new pool and ice rink at the northern end of Central Park is facing backlash from local swimmers and skaters. Last September, the Central Park Conservancy revealed a project to replace the aging Lasker Rink and Pool and create space for year-round recreation. But a group of hockey players and swimmers is asking the conservancy to revise its plan, which they claim would reduce the space they can use, eliminating some of the programs offered.

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Image by Scott Frances for Related-Oxford

Adding to Hudson Yards’ height superlatives, the city’s highest outdoor residential amenity space has opened at 15 Hudson Yards. Rising 900 feet in the air, “Skytop” features 6,000 square feet of curvy indoor-outdoor space, which follows the shape of the building’s crown. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with interiors by Rockwell Group, the amenity space offers unobstructed views of the Hudson River and beyond.

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Courtesy of Related Companies

Sales have officially launched at Thomas Heatherwick’s condo project on the High Line, developer Related Companies announced Tuesday. Located at 515 West 18th Street, Lantern House consists of two bubbled towers that straddle the elevated park, one at 10 stories and 22 stories. Pricing for the residences, which include one- to four-bedroom units, start at roughly $1.395 million and go up to about $17 million. And more details on the building’s amenity spaces were released, with renderings now available of the Equinox-curated health club with a swimming pool, outdoor terrace, roof deck, and private dining space.

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Renderings courtesy of Extell Development Company

As Extell Development’s Central Park Tower nears the finish line, newly released renderings of the Billionaires’ Row supertall are giving us a peek into the private residential club that will occupy the 100th floor with a suite of high-end amenities. Reaching over 1,000 feet in the sky, the amenity space, called the Central Park Club, will be the highest lounge of its kind in the world, offering hard-to-beat views over Billionaires’ Row and Central Park.

And the views are exceptional

Image via Google Maps

Preservationists who have long fought against the Frick Collection’s planned expansion are proposing a rather unique solution: the museum could take over Jeffrey Epstein’s “cursed mansion” across the street instead. “The fact that it’s so convenient to the museum means that the Frick could potentially lay Jeffrey Epstein’s name to rest by purchasing it and changing the function,” architect Theodore Grunewald, who runs preservationist group Save The Frick, told the Daily News. “It could essentially be cleansing the house.”

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All renderings by COOKFOX

The entire city block bound by 11th and 12th Avenues and 27th to 28th Streets in West Chelsea is occupied by the Terminal Warehouse complex, a former freight distribution hub built in 1891. After losing its place in the shipping industry in the 1930s, it then became infamous in the 1980s and ’90s as the home of The Tunnel nightclub. Now, after years as a mini-storage facility and commercial offices, the structure will once again see new life, this time as a wholistic, modern office complex. L&L Holding and Normandy Real Estate Partners have partnered with COOKFOX architects to adaptively reuse the building, preserving and restoring its historic elements, as well as to add shops and restaurants on street level, a central courtyard, and a contemporary glass addition. Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved the plans.

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Flooded Battery Park Tunnel after Hurricane Sandy. Image: Timothy Krause via Flickr.

A barrier wall proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers as one of several options being evaluated to shield the New York area from rare storms–which may well become less rare and more destructive with global warming–is the subject of a heated debate among planners and environmental experts. Supporters suggest that a barrier be constructed in the outer New York Harbor where it’s mostly hidden from view, saying it would go the farthest in protecting people, land and valuable landmarks along the waterfront from a storm surge. Others fear the idea is a short-sighted measure that doesn’t address major climate threats–and could even worsen matters by trapping sewage and toxins during flooding from high tides and storm runoff. President Donald Trump, however, remains the sole proponent of the mop-and-bucket approach, as the New York Daily News reports.

What will save us from a tweetstorm?

Image courtesy of Gammahaus

A new design–the third so far–has been revealed for 3 Hudson Boulevard, the next office tower to rise at Hudson Yards. Located at the northwest corner of West 34th Street and Hudson Boulevard, the tower, which has long been in planning stages, will have 1.85 million square feet of office space. The latest designs reveal a height of just under 1,000 feet with 56 stories, the New York Post reports. Some floors will have ceilings of almost 30 feet with terraces at the end.

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Previous rendering of 2 World Center via DBOX, courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

It looks like Norman Foster’s design for 2 World Trade Center might rise after all. First unveiled in 2006, the original Foster + Partners proposal was scrapped in 2015 for Bjarke Ingels’ stacked tower, which was deemed more suitable to prospective media tenants. After leases with Fox and News Corp. fell through in 2016, the future of the tenant-less tower has remained uncertain. Absent any takers, developer Larry Silverstein is now pivoting back to the Foster vision, the New York Post reports. The old design is being “significantly modified to be more reflective of contemporary needs and taste,” Silverstein said.

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