Preliminary injunction issued after preservationists claim renovations exceeded proposal approved by Landmarks. In April 2011, Landmarks approved Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to renovate the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Landmarks designated the Skidmore, Owens & Merrill-designed, glass and metal building as an individual City landmark in 1997. In February 2011, Landmarks designated the building’s first two floors as an interior landmark.

Shortly after the interior landmarking, Vornado proposed converting the building to accommodate two retail tenants. The approved plans included creating two new entrances, demolishing an interior bank-vault wall, and relocating two escalators on the ground floor. 8 CityLand 63 (May 15, 2011). Vornado began renovations after it obtained a certificate of appropriateness in May 2011.

In July 2011, a group made up of the Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation and four residents challenged Landmarks’ approval of Vornado’s proposal. The group claimed that demolition and renovation work on the building had exceeded the work approved by Landmarks and asked a lower court to stop Vornado from performing additional work on the building. Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings issued a temporary restraining order blocking Vornado from working on the building. Vornado and Landmarks moved to dismiss, arguing, among other things, that the Citizens Emergency Committee and the residents lacked standing to challenge Landmarks’ approval or to enforce the City’s landmarks law. Justice Billings denied the motion to dismiss and converted the temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction.  (read more…)

Landmarks  accepted  Vornado’s plans after  multiple revisions. On April 19, 2011, Landmarks approved Vornado Realty Trust’s revised proposal to renovate portions of the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Landmarks in 1997 designated the modernist, glass-walled building as an individual City landmark. In February 2011 Landmarks designated the building’s first two floors as an interior landmark. 8 CityLand 28 (March 15, 2011).

Shortly after the interior designation, Vornado presented a plan to convert and renovate the building’s interior to accommodate two commercial tenants. Landmarks objected to Vornado’s plans to reconfigure the building’s escalators, create new entrances along Fifth Avenue, and demolish portions of the iconic bank vault. 8 CityLand 47 (April 15, 2011).

Skidmore, Owings  & Merrill architect Frank Mahan presented a revised plan on April 12. Mahan explained that the escalators would still be moved from their original central location, but would retain their original parallel configuration. Two of the bank vault’s walls would still be demolished, but a black granite strip along the floor would demarcate the vault’s original foot-print. The proposed entrances along Fifth Avenue were altered to increase their transparency. (read more…)

Vornado proposed dividing building’s recently landmarked interior into two retail spaces. On March 15, 2011, Landmarks considered Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to renovate the interior of the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street. The 1954 modernist, glass-walled building designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill is an individual City landmark. Landmarks recently designated the first two floors of the building as an interior landmark in February 2011. At Landmarks’ hearing on the designation, a representative of Vornado testified in support, but explained that “sensitive interventions” would be required to convert the building to an economically viable retail use. 8 CityLand 28 (March 15, 2011).

Attorney Meredith Kane testified that Vornado planned to renovate the building in order to accommodate two retail tenants. The Canadian retailer Joe Fresh would occupy a portion of the building’s ground floor and the cantilevered second floor. Vornado had not yet identified a second retail tenant. Vornado hired Skidmore Owings & Merrill to design the overall renovation plans, and Joe Fresh hired Callison LLC to renovate its retail space. (read more…)

First- and second-floor interiors of four-story Manufacturers Trust Company Building designated. On February 15, 2011, Landmarks designated, as an interior landmark, the first two floors of the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan. Landmarks designated the former bank building’s fourstory glass and aluminum exterior as an individual City landmark in 1997. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the Modernist structure, which opened as a bank in 1954, under the direction of partner Gordon Bunshaft, who also designed the landmarked Lever House. The firm did not have an interior design division at the time so outside consultant Eleanor H. Le Maire was largely responsible for the building’s interior. Landmarks’ staff described the building as “arguably Manhattan’s single most transparent structure,” revealing an open, minimalist interior with a luminous ceiling, white marble piers, and freestanding escalators.

The interior designation includes the building’s former lobby and banking room, the escalators, and the ground floor vault door. The mezzanine is recessed from the street, giving it a floating appearance. The circular stainless steel vault door, in contrast with most banks, was in plain view of customers and passers-by along Fifth Avenue. The industrial designer Harry Dreyfus collaborated with the Mosler Safe Company to design the 30-ton vault. A 70-foot steel wall installation by sculptor Harry Bertoia on the second floor was removed by the building’s former tenant, J.P. Morgan Chase. (read more…)

Opponents raised concerns about impact on Empire State Building, while the Council focused on Vornado’s participation in Minority- and Womenowned Business Enterprise program. On August 25, 2010, the City Council approved Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to construct a commercial tower rising approximately 1,200 feet on Seventh Avenue between West 32nd and 33rd Streets in Manhattan. The site is occupied by the Hotel Pennsylvania, which Vornado plans to demolish in order to build the project, known as 15 Penn Plaza.

Vornado proposed developing a 67-story, single-tenant building or a 68-story, multi-tenant building in order to provide development flexibility. Vornado agreed to provide a host of transit improvements in exchange for a development bonus necessary to build either proposal. The proposed improvements include reopening and renovating the Gimbels/ West 33rd Street Passageway, and relocating subway entrances at West 32nd and West 33rd Streets.

During the project’s public review, Manhattan Community Board 5 opposed the project, arguing that the proposed transit improvements did not justify the tower’s size. Malkin Holdings LLC, owner of the Empire State Building, argued that the tower would negatively impact the iconic skyscraper, and asked that the proposal’s height be reduced. (read more…)

Proposal would replace Hotel Pennsylvania with 2.1 million sq.ft. tower and reopen Gimbels underground passageway. On July 14, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to build a large commercial tower, known as 15 Penn Plaza, on Seventh Avenue between West 32nd and 33rd Streets in Manhattan. The site is occupied by the Hotel Pennsylvania, which Vornado would demolish in order to build its tower. Vornado proposed either a 67-story, single-tenant building option or a 68-story, multi-tenant development.

The single-tenant option would feature a 218-foot tall podium with a tapered tower reaching 1,190 feet. This building would be designed to accommodate the needs of a financial institution, including an open central space for unobstructed trading floors. It would also include 10,000 sq.ft. of ground floor retail space and a 100-space underground garage. The multi-tenant option would feature a 134-foot base, and a tapered, setback tower that would reach 1,216 feet. This option would provide 34,000 sq.ft. of ground floor retail space and additional retail space in the upper floors of its six-story base. (read more…)