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

The City Council’s Committee on Land Use gave approval to Rockefeller University’s plan to construct two new buildings over the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive on Manhattan’s east side. In exchange, the school, which controls air rights over the 4-block stretch starting at East 64^th, has agreed to invest $8 million to develop and maintain a portion of the East River Esplanade.

More on the development here

Manhattan-based owner/developer Sherwood Equities has sold multiple Hudson Yards parcels to Tishman-Speyer for $200 million, reports Jeffrey Katz, Sherwood president, in a press release today.

The sites are situated at the southeast corner of West 34th Street and Hudson Yards Boulevard, and at West 35th Street and Tenth Avenue, and neighbors another parcel purchased by Tishman-Speyer from the Rosenthal family. The WSJ reports the total deal rings up at $438 million.

The combined parcels will allow Tishman-Speyer to develop a 2.25 million-square-foot, full-square-block office building, which could become the tallest structure in the United States at 1,800-feet tall. The unbuilt tower has already been christened the Hudson Spire.

Famed French architect, and Pritzker Prize winner, Christian de Portzamparc is causing quite a stir. Take a glance at his website and you’ll be met with a rendering of the new Riverside Center that would inspire hope in the most pessimistic NIMBY.

After a disappointing official rendering of the first building cast some serious doubt on the fate of the much-anticipated development, de Portzamparc has unveiled a new vision, and fingers are crossed that it will be realized.

More on de Portzamparc’s design here

Prolific artist, and Banksy-homage payee, Kara Walker will be kicking off her new show at the Domino Sugar refinery on Saturday, May 10th. Walker, who is best known for creating room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes that explore everything from race, gender, sexuality, and violence, will take over the 90,000-square-foot space for what’s to be her first large-scale public installation.

No specifics or images of the work have been released yet, but her press release notes that the installation at Domino “will explore a radical range of subject matter, including but not limited to the history of sugar and its many implications.” Don’t miss out on your chance to see what is sure to be an arresting installation — and the interior of a historic building that will soon be transformed.

[Via Gothamist]

Two Trees Management’s sweet deal with the city for the former Dominos Sugar factory site could cause a toothache for the City Council and local residents. The historic complex, with its charming yellow sign, has been part of Brooklyn’s landscape since 1882, when it opened as the largest sugary refinery in the world. Now plans for the 2.2 million-square-foot multi-use project, designed by SHoP Architects, are causing concern that it could house more people than the Brooklyn neighborhood can handle.

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