By Devin Gannon, Thu, September 22, 2022 Renderings by VERO Digital
A plan to build a large-scale development with 2,800 apartments in Astoria is moving forward. The City Planning Commission on Wednesday voted in favor of Innovation QNS, a $2 billion mixed-use district proposed for five blocks in the Queens neighborhood, spanning 37th Street to Northern Boulevard, between 35th and 36th Avenues. The project will then head to the City Council for a final vote where it may face resistance from the local representative, Council Member Julie Won, who said she wants at least 50 percent of the apartments to be affordable.
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By Michelle Cohen, Fri, June 24, 2022 Streetview of 55 Broad. © Google 2022
As many of New York City’s workers remain remote and office vacancy shows no signs of reversing, many have suggested the city’s empty offices be used for living. In one of the largest office-to-residential conversions to be launched during the pandemic, two local developers have purchased the one-third vacant 55 Broad Street with the intention of creating 571 market-rate apartments, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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By Devin Gannon, Thu, September 9, 2021 Photo by Phil Dolby on Flickr
Twenty years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan’s World Trade Center complex is nearly complete. But one tower still hasn’t got off the ground. After architecture firm changes and financing problems, developer Silverstein Properties said construction is set to begin in the coming months on 2 World Trade Center with a new design from Norman Foster’s Foster + Partners. As first reported by Commercial Observer, the developer is close to securing an anchor tenant, which would lead to a construction loan and the start of work within “the next six to 12 months.”
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By Devin Gannon, Fri, February 12, 2021 Photo by bilderkombinat berlin on Flickr
Plans to build a 900-foot mixed-use tower with 1,325 units of housing at 5 World Trade Center are moving forward. The boards of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation voted on Thursday to approve the recommendation of the selection committee for the proposal from Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties, Omni New York, and Dabar Development Partners. The site is the former location of the Deutsche Bank building which was damaged in the September 11 terrorist attacks and later demolished. The developer will now enter negotiations for a lease for the residential tower, expected to measure 1.56 million gross square feet.
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By Devin Gannon, Thu, July 2, 2020 Rendering the civic park at Innovation QNS courtesy of ODA
A proposal to build a mixed-use district in Queens that would encompass five blocks and create thousands of new housing units was unveiled this week. Dubbed “Innovation QNS,” the $2 billion project would bring 2,700 units of mixed-income housing, 250,000 square feet of creative office space, 200,000 square feet of retail, a new school, two acres of public open space, and new neighborhood amenities to Astoria. With ODA Architecture as the architect of the master plan, the mixed-use district is a joint private venture led by Silverstein Properties, Kaufman Astoria Studios, BedRock Real Estate Partners.
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By Alexandra Alexa, Thu, January 16, 2020 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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By Alexandra Alexa, Fri, July 5, 2019 Images courtesy of Silver Art Projects
As rents and costs of living continue to rise in the city, artists have an increasingly hard time finding affordable studio space—particularly in Manhattan. In an effort to help struggling artists, a new artist residency is launching at 3 World Trade Center this fall. Funded by developer Silverstein Properties, Silver Art Projects is a “corporate social responsibility initiative” that will host 30 artists every September for up to eight months, providing them with 44,000 square feet of free studio space on the 50th floor of the building.
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By Michelle Cohen, Mon, February 11, 2019 Rendering of 2 World Center via DBOX, courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group
Silverstein Properties, Inc. chairman Larry Silverstein has said construction may begin on the final World Trade Center tower before a committed tenant signs a lease, Bloomberg reports. Following work on the building’s foundation, the developer was waiting to progress with further work until a lease was signed. But optimism about the economy and strong leasing progress at neighboring towers may mean the building might rise “on spec.” The 2.8 million-square-foot office tower, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, will be the last of Silverstein’s four skyscrapers to occupy the site.
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By Michelle Cohen, Mon, June 11, 2018 Via Silverstein Properties
Right on schedule for a June opening, developer Silverstein Properties took the lead in celebrating on Monday the highly anticipated opening of 3 World Trade Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Led by CEO Larry Silverstein, the morning celebration at 3 World Trade Center at 175 Greenwich Street marked the official completion of four of the five buildings in the new World Trade Center complex. With nearly 40 percent of the building leased on opening day, the 80-floor tower designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners rises to 1,079 feet.
“Starting with 7 WTC and the rest of the towers that followed, we sought to create modern, environmentally-conscious and technologically-advanced offices,” Larry Silverstein, the chairman of Silverstein Properties, said in a statement. “Places that foster creativity where young people would want to work and collaborate. That meant great architecture and sustainable design, but also improved transportation, a more vibrant streetscape, new shops and restaurants, great public spaces, and exciting and fun public space art.”
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By Dana Schulz, Thu, April 19, 2018 Photo via Silverstein Properties
Less than two weeks ago, developer Silverstein Properties released a pair of renderings of 3 World Trade Center’s huge outdoor terrace, not only the first outdoor terrace in the WTC complex but the first and tallest private outdoor terrace in all of Lower Manhattan. Today, a fresh batch of views, these of the 1,079-foot-tall, 80-story building’s exterior and interior, also come with a new list of superlatives. Designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, 3 WTC will be the fifth tallest building in NYC, the only building in the world with a three-sided cable net wall, and the first building in the world with an annealed glass exterior.
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