This morning's New York Times article reports that the Victoria Theater development project by Danforth Development Partners will now proceed again once more due to finally securing new equity. The theater design by Thomas W. Lamb on West 125th Street was built in 1917 and its restoration stalled back in 2007 when the real estate market became unstable. Much needed financing was therefore not secured in the past years but that story has now changed.
Now the $100 million endeavor to add two towers to the building has started up again and location will house several Harlem institutions. One will be a 140-unit rental building while the other will house a 175-unit hotel. Apparently all major hotels have now reviewed the site and the Starwood company that developed the Harlem Aloft hotel has mentioned that they are considering the location for another hotel brand (but the article does not mention W Hotel of which Starwood is known for). The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Jazzmobile, the Harlem Arts Alliance along with the Apollo Theater Foundation will eventually establish new offices in this adaptive reuse project and ground breaking will happen sometimes in the middle of 2012. Read more about the ongoing revival at 125th Street in the New York Times:
LINK
The lower photos shows a
rejected design proposal by RD Management at left and an original rendering associated with Danforth Development Partners at right. The article mentions that the chosen architects have not completed the design yet and the final plan will be presented this fall. On a side note, the glass additions usually turn out less heavy handed in this type of high rise tower and ultimately less imposing on details of the original base structure. Let's hope for a better rendering to appear in the next few months.
DAMN but those are ugly.
ReplyDeleteHa. If anything, I prefer the one on the left. The other looks like the 1970s rendering of a tower on any council estate in England.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the crumbling, abandoned buildings look so much better.
ReplyDeleteActually, in this instance, the crumbling, abandoned buildings DO look better.
ReplyDeleteSanou's mum is absolutely right: those towers look hideous. Will 125 being turned into a corridor of enormous buildings?
ReplyDeleteYes, undoubtedly 125th street will become a canyon of skyscrapers...although it'll probably take a few decades.
ReplyDeleteI happen to like the rendering on the left which depicts the dichotomy between old and new while expressing the synergy between the two.
Hey, it's progress...I'll take it - and keep it coming!
Well, I don't have a problem with skyscrapers. The one on the left would actually add a lot to the street. Those old dilapidated buildings are nothing but depressing and the entire stretch of 125th is a ghost town at night. Would love to see it built up and developed.
ReplyDeleteSo the Danforth developers are using the right sketch as their initial idea for this project and that is the building that was selected and will be reworked. It's really solid and straightforward and does not have any interesting angles. At least the building on the left looks a little more ambitious with its play on asymmetry.
ReplyDeleteGuess I'll reserve my judgement until we can see a proper rendering.
ReplyDeletewith all of the vacant buildings in the surrounding areas do we really need to build a super structure? Either one of these buildings would be way to tall and completely change the feel of 125st.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to see the mention of local cultural institutions being housed there - firmly planting an emphasis on the arts right in the middle of 125th Street. And I'm glad to see (from the rendering) that they will keep the original facade, and build above. Wish them clear sailing.
ReplyDeleteThe rendering on the right is totally uninspiring, shortsighted, and offensive...
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteThe selection on the right is simply godawful.
Atleast the one on the left makes sense in an over the top sort of way.