Harry Macklowe

April 15, 2019

Plans for second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere move forward with demolition permits

Just one month after closing on 5 East 51st Street, a six-floor rental across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, developer Harry Macklowe has filed demolition permits with the city, as CityRealty reported. This move brings Macklowe one step closer to realizing his vision for Tower Fifth, a 1,556-foot office tower that, if approved, will become the second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, surpassing Macklowe’s own 432 Park Avenue and coming in just short of One World Trade Center. (Tower Fifth's roofline would actually be 216 feet above One World Trade Center's but since its mast brings the building's official height to 1,776 feet it would retain the title of the city's tallest building.)
More details
January 23, 2019

Second-tallest tower in the Western Hemisphere may rise across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral

The developers behind the distinct supertall at 432 Park Avenue want to take a second shot at altering New York City's skyline. Harry Macklowe submitted a preliminary application to the city's planning department for a 1,551-foot-tall skyscraper between 51st and 52nd Streets in Midtown across from St. Patrick's Cathedral, the New York Times reported. If the city approves the project, Tower Fifth, the name given to the proposed tower by Macklowe Properties, would become the second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
See inside the proposed supertall
March 9, 2018

Can giant zoo animals sell a luxury condo in NYC?

After watching 200 East 59th Street’s most recent promotional video, the 35-story midtown building seems insanely voluminous and sturdy— with a whiff of hay? Developer Macklowe Properties just released this DBOX video showing giraffes, elephants, and rhinos (oh my!) galavanting around the city and in their new building. This video builds on the fiberglass 18-foot giraffes, elephants, and rhinos Macklowe found in Southampton and installed at the property last year.
Watch the whole video
May 4, 2017

Developer turns marketing new condos into a three-ring circus, complete with life-sized zoo animals

Harry Macklowe, the P.T. Barnum of developers and never one to miss a chance to nibble the tallest branches, has found an 18-foot fiberglass giraffe (plus elephants and rhinos) to do just that. And not to be outdone by the live giraffe used in marketing a Rem Koolhaas (the P.T. Barnum of starchitects, if you will) building outside Paris (Or by Richard Pandiscio’s now-retired beaver) Macklowe has decided that an entire life-sized safari of zoo animals is just the thing to remind people that the vast terraces at his new glass-walled condo at 200 East 59th Street with a “Miami Beach look” are big enough to house an entire circus, the Wall Street Journal reports. Macklowe said the idea was born in a staff meeting where said terraces were touted, and that the critters were sourced in Southampton, NY.
Step right up for more
February 14, 2017

432 Park owner attempts to sell $20M apartment with iPhone photos

If you've been as curious as we have to know what the inside of 432 Park looks like IRL, look no further than unit #52C, now for sale by owner. LLNYC spotted the listing today which boldly ditches professionally staged photos for somewhat sloppy phone snapshots of the interiors. As the mag points out, 432's developers have been keen on putting the luxury tower's best foot forward, revealing only sleek renderings or retouched images of impeccably outfitted model units to press and onlookers.
more inside here
May 13, 2016

Rafael Viñoly Apologizes for Dissing 432 Park

Image of Rafael Viñoly via Rafael Viñoly Architects Facebook page for Fall 2011/Winter 2012 issue of Pin-Up: Magazine for Architectural Entertainment On Monday, the architecture world was gobbling up the comments starchitect Rafael Viñoly made about 432 Park Avenue at a Douglas Elliman talk last week. He admitted that the 1,400-foot supertall "has a couple of screw-ups," referring to the interior design and layout, as well as the window framing, which he blamed on developer Harry Macklowe. But it looks like the architect is a bit red in the face, because he penned a lengthy public letter to design blog Dezeen apologizing for his loose lips. "In the context of what we understood to be a private and off-the-record conversation, I expressed frustration, inartfully, about the consequences of my profession's diminished position in the real estate development eco-system. Sometimes I get a little excited and say things that can easily be taken out of context and stripped of their humor. I have to improve," he said.
Read more of his apology letter
May 9, 2016

Rafael Viñoly Admits 432 Park ‘Has a Couple of Screw-Ups’

432 Park Avenue is the supertall that New Yorkers love to hate. From calling it the "oligarch's erection" to spilling the beans about cracks in its facade, critics of the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere are quick to try to bring the tower down from its 1,400-foot pedestal. And strangely, its very own architect is the latest jump on the bandwagon. The Post reports that Rafael Viñoly admitted at a Douglas Elliman talk last week that his creation "has a couple of screw-ups," namely the window framing, which he blames on developer Harry Macklowe, and the tiny issue of "the interior design and layout." (And The Real Deal has an entire roundup of zingers he delivered during the talk.)
Find out more this way
November 11, 2015

432 Park in Numbers: New Renderings and Superlatives Will Blow You Away

Now that Macklowe Properties'/CIM Group's 432 Park Avenue is nearing completion, with occupancy slated to begin in mid-2016 and 70 percent of units reportedly in contract, the development's marketing and branding agency DBOX has released a bevy of never-before-seen images of our skyline's newest icon. Being the tower of superlatives it is, it comes as no surprise that it boasts a marketing campaign to match. Employing sky-cams, drone photography, a million-dollar film, and breath-taking renderings and photography, 432 Park has perhaps the most elaborate promotional campaign ever conceived for a Manhattan condominium. With dozens of spectacular images to choose from, we hand picked a few to recap the development of this monumental supertower. We've also put together a timeline in numbers–from its record breaking height to its 1,200-pound marble sinks–to illustrate the extraordinary undertaking  that has paved the way for the tower to become the most successful and desirable condominium ever erected in the city (sorry One57).
See it all right here
November 10, 2015

Developers Chop 432 Park’s Full-Floor Apartments Into Smaller, Cheaper Units

Is the city's tallest residential tower seeing a slowdown in sales? Crain's reports that 432 Park developers CIM and Harry Macklowe have begun splitting full-floor apartments at the 1,396-foot-tall tower into two with the hopes of attracting smaller ticket buyers who can't swing $80 million for a posh pad—but wouldn't be opposed to shelling out $40 million. The paper adds that the move "may signal a slowdown in sales for $50 million-plus apartments," particularly as the market gets inundated with ultra-luxe developments. "There is some concern that there aren't enough buyers who can afford apartments priced in the tens of millions of dollars—an increasingly common figure for the latest crop of ultra-luxury condos."
find out more here
May 31, 2015

A Trashcan Inspired the Design of Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue

Most ideas usually end up in the trash but few ideas are inspired by the basket that holds them. A recent discovery by The Real Deal has revealed that the city's residential tower-of the-moment, 432 Park Avenue, was actually inspired by a Josef Hoffmann-designed wastebasket released in 1905. The revelation came via a talk held last December at the Cornell Center for Real Estate and Finance where Harry Macklowe, the co-developer of the supertall, told the crowd that the repository was an "important touchstone" for the 1,396-foot-high design.
More on the muse here
April 25, 2014

Eyeing the Drake: The Macklowe Construction Brings a “Patriotic” Burst of Color to Park Ave

One of the city’s noblest professions is “sidewalk superintendent.” These intrepid pedestrians love to peer through holes in the wall to watch large equipment playing the construction game. The more sophisticated of these curiosity-seekers also look for holes in the city’s facades to glimpse the progress of larger-than-normal, future skyline stars. You can imagine the astonishment, therefore, when I noticed, a couple of days ago, that 432 Park Avenue had adopted a “patriotic” stance, and that its fenestration grid now is highlighted, from top down, in red, blue and white, the colors of the American flag, and also the French flag — a stark divergence from the pristine, streamlined design set out by the building's architect, Rafael Vinoly.
For sidewalk superintendents, the former Drake is startlingly colorful