Photo of Trump via Michael Vadon on Flickr

You don’t need a security clearance to live below the President, but it might still be a challenge for whomever wants to buy the condo right below Donald Trump‘s Midtown residence. The Post reports that the duplex unit on the 64th and 65th floors of Trump Tower has just hit the market for $24.5 million and sources are saying it “directly adjoins” his bedroom. So how can the administration legally control the buyer? By convincing the condo Board to exercise a board waiver and buy the apartment themselves, according to the Post. And this may just work; a recent Business Insider investigation into a mysterious $1.5 million apartment Melania bought in the building shows that this was the only unit the Board had ever bought.

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Image via Wikimedia

In March, the Archdiocese of New York reached a deal to sell 30,000 square feet of development rights from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to MRP Realty and Deutsche Bank, the owners of 405 Park Avenue in Midtown East. But, as Crain’s reported on Thursday, an exclusive men-only club has undercut the Archdiocese by offering the developers the deal at a lower price. The Brook, known for its billionaire clientele, will sell its air rights over its property at 111 East 54th Street to the owners of 405 Park Avenue. The owners plan to use the air rights to add four new floors to the 17-story property, a high-end office building.

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A new bar/terrace at 335 Madison overlooking Grand Central, © SHoP Architects

Since the announcement of One Vanderbilt more than four years ago, much attention has been paid to the controversial Midtown East Rezoning, which was approved last summer. Howard Milstein was one of many developers looking to take advantage of the rezoning, proposing a plan to raze the Grand Central-adjacent office tower 335 Madison and replace it with a modern structure that would expand the building’s tech incubator. But he ultimately decided to forego the demo and undertake a $150 million renovation by SHoP Architects that more than doubles the square footage of Grand Central Tech and creates a new lobby and retail/amenity spaces for tenants. Renderings for the new “vertical tech campus” known as Company have now been revealed by Arch Daily.

More details and all the renderings

Photo by Max Touhey

Construction of SL Green’s supertall One Vanderbilt continues to push forward, with the steel erection on the 16th floor now complete. By the end of the year, the developer expects to reach the 30th floor of the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed, 1,401-foot skyscraper, which will become the city’s second tallest skyscraper when completed in 2020. A fresh set of aerial photos of the tower provide a new perspective of the surrounding buildings, including neighboring Grand Central Terminal. And with even more sky-high news, SL Green reportedly announced that tickets to One Vanderbilt’s 1,000-foot observatory will cost about $39, or $5 more than that of One WTC.

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The Lexington Hotel has a full and wonderful history filled with celebrities and hula dancing. At present, the most notable feature is their recently renovated $1,200/night Norma Jean Suite, named after Marilyn Monroe who briefly called the 600-square-foot suite home during her 22-month marriage to Joe DiMaggio, from January 1954-October 1955 (h/t NYP). This is also where she lived while filming “The Seven Year Itch”–and its iconic skirt-blowing scene!–just a few blocks away on 52nd and Lex.

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Back in February, 6sqft reported that the Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue–currently the JP Morgan Chase headquarters–was set to be the largest intentionally demolished building in history when plans move forward to replace the 700-foot-tall structure with a tower that will likely rise to over 1,200 feet. ArchDaily brings us a study done by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) that looks at the 100 tallest buildings ever to be demolished by their owners. The study, aptly titled, “Tallest Demolished Buildings,” confirms that if the current plans move forward, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s 270 Park Avenue would indeed become the tallest to go down–and the first over 200 meters in height.

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Rendering via Handel Architects

Reduced rent AND the opportunity to walk to work? That’s the dream scenario up for grabs for Midtown East workers at Handel Architects’ 222 East 44th Street, where a mixed-use affordable housing lottery for 109 units just came online. The handsome, 42-story torqued glass tower sits between Second and Third Avenues, fronting both 43rd and 44th Streets, meaning it’s just a hop, skip, and jump away from Grand Central, the Chrysler Building, and the UN. The apartments are available to those earning 40, 60, and 130 percent of the area median income and range from $613/month studios to $2,733/month two-bedrooms. The lucky residents will also be treated to a bevy of amenities.

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Rendering courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners / Solow / BloomImages

Across the street from Richard Meier’s nearly-complete new black glassy-facaded condo/rental tower at 685 First Avenue (known as 685 First), between First Avenue and the East River, a boarded-up construction site has remained quiet for the better part of a decade. Now, Curbed reports, the site’s developer, Solow Building Company, headed by Sheldon H. Solow, 89, and son Stefan Soloviev, confirms the site’s awakening and imminent transformation into three condominium buildings and a fourth building, to be a biotech office, using the 2012 master plan penned by Meier’s architecture firm.

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Rendering of “Park Park” courtesy of Maison

Last month, Fisher Brothers unveiled the 17 finalists for its “Beyond the Centerline” design competition, a call for creative and ambitious ideas for how to transform Park Avenue’s traffic medians between 46th and 57th Streets. Proposals called for everything from an Alpine mountain to a High Line-esque walkway to a massive aquarium, but in the end, it was the “Park Park” entry that the jury selected as the winner. This proposal, courtesy of Ben Meade, Anthony Stahl, and Alexia Beghi of design firm Maison, transforms the iconic thoroughfare via a series of raised platforms that hold a concert space, art galleries, gardens, a restaurant, and a basketball court, “intended to inject new energy into the currently staid Park Avenue landscape.”

More details and the runner up