NEW YORK | 418 11th Avenue | ? FT | ? FLOORS

And I also think they may be taller or around the same height as Peebles’s bid lol

And I agree, they did release it to garner attention, since a lot of articles were talking about it and even on social media.

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Speaking of Peebles constantly talking about possibly being able to build it somewhere else, is there another site in the city that could support a tower of this size and height? (Besides obvious ones like 175 which already have proposals)

Also while I disagree with the majority here and think the design is great, I would also like to see the other designs.

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I’d need to be reminded of the proposed floor area of Affirmation Tower specifically to comment on that, I don’t remember what it is, lol.

I mean you’re perfectly free to speak your opinion about the design, there shouldn’t be any shame in saying on likes something even if others don’t! I personally feel like I’ve been one of the first to say that I don’t like the design/don’t want it to be built, but I’m sure the opinions are equally divided.

@NewYorkCity76 Considering the news article mentioned Related Co., I believe they would’ve already been one of the contenders for the initial bid, and Related never disappoints. I could also see Extell and SL Green as one of them.

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Don’t know if this will help

For political reasons, there’s no way that Peebles won’t win the bid, and it’s inconceivable that banks won’t line up to finance his project.

@mcart I combed over the PDF but it seems like bidders were free to make use of the site however they wanted, so I wouldn’t know if the specific “properties” of Affirmation Tower could be translocated elsewhere in the city since the only figure relating to those properties that has been released is the height. I don’t believe articles about that proposal have ever said anything about how big it is, just the height and number of floors.

Correction, I’ve found that AT in particular was only zoned at 2 million sqft. It’s quite possible that it could be built elsewhere, but it’s extremely questionable if it would fit zoning codes around the city.

@robertwalpole But what does politics have anything to do with it (even though I know politics plays a role in everything), just because he donated to Gov Hochul’s reelection campaign? So? The article clearly says that Stephen Ross also donated to her, the maximum amount of $69,700. A large number of developers have contributed to her campaign. This shouldn’t be a game of favors, if you want to build something and make a big deal about it being all inclusive with an all minority team working on the project, trying to buy your way in and intentionally get attention isn’t the right way to go. If it was that good then it would be chosen for what it represents not for connections or party favors.

Gov Hochul has even said that she doesn’t believe in preferential treatment and that’s how it should be. She wants affordable housing in the project and Peebles doesn’t want to include it in the tower.

Banks and financial institutions also have rapport with other developers, so that connection is also null.

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That’s actually kinda small for what I thought this tower was.

Doing some math here, it’s actually very reasonable, considering the tower only has 90 floors for it’s extreme height, and cantilevers incrementally so much.

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He’s implying that because of NYC’s progressive politics and optics for Hochul/Adams, they have no choice but to award the project to the minority-owned bidders.

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Ah, but still, proposals should be chosen because they are good, not because of the background of them or connections the developers have. It’s clear that they are trying to make a statement, but if they have all the resources, they could’ve made a statement else where in the city already.

They’ve already said they don’t want affordable housing in the tower because it would be costly to the sqft in relation to it’s worth, but that is a specific requirement of the RFP, that should’ve just disqualified them. Yet they say the value of the tower after built would pay for affordable housing. The city needs housing right now, not later.

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I can only imagine the amount of silly putty that would be required to fill the gap between what could have been and what actually is. The news below would make a Polanski worthy sequel:

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Why is this in this thread? (Not to mention the garbage content of that article, which you probably could have guessed from a 5 second look over of that site)

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Well ok then what about this link then. I thought the discussion was the political forces that ultimately decide the fate of these projects - as opposed to the actual merit or viability. You have to account for these as much as wind sheer don’t you?

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No that wasn’t really the discussion, though it seems to veered that way. Regardless you could have just commented on that about this project in particular. The was no reason to bring an unrelated project into it. (especially when we have a thread for that project)

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Apologies as I tend to follow the New York threads exclusively. I’ll try to keep on track.

It’s no prob.

As for this project, does anyone know if there’s a limit on the sqft of this site or not? Or if it being a state owned site has any effect on that?

It’ll be interesting to see what the other competitors come up with.

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And I appreciate all the work the conductors do around here, so thanks for the reminder mcart.

Not sure, but I think the limit of the sqft may vary based on the size lot it has. And I’m curious as well about what the other competitors come up with for this site. :slight_smile:

State owned sites still generally have to comply with the city’s zoning resolutions, but as for the size of the allowable sqft, the last I saw and believe it still is, the FAR was 24, which generates about a 1.26 million zsqft tower, but I think there were air rights from the MTA venting structure and Amtrak easement on the site. That or AT’s sqft of 2 million is bogus and they designed it too big/are proposing to buy airrights somewhere.

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Yeah I was trying to do the math and couldn’t get close to Peeples’ proposed 2M sqft. The site is ~52,000 sqft and even a 24 FAR would generate about 1.25M sqft. There must be incentives and/or transferrable rights involved.

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