a very busy site, multiple excavators were in action
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This is no Mickey Mouse deal. Megalith Capital Management has paid the Walt Disney Company $85 million for a trio of office buildings on West 66th Street, according to property records filed with the city today.
The sale closed March 4. The properties, located between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, are 36 West 66th Street, a two-story, 5,130-square-foot building; 38 West 66th Street, a two-story, 4,714-square-foot building; and 40 West 66th Street, a four-story, 6,902-square-foot building. In total, they would allow for a development of about 75,000 square feet.
Gary Barnett’s Extell Development signed a contract to buy a parcel at 44 West 66th Street that is now occupied by a synagogue. The parcel is adjacent to a development site that builder Megalith Capital Management recently purchased.
Barnett signed the contract in April to buy 44 West 66th Street from Congregation Habonim, city records published this month show. The site, which PropertyShark shows has 75,000 square feet of development rights, is located between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, and is adjacent to the three-building package that Megalith bought for $85 million at 36-40 West 66th Street in March.
Extell’s purchase price was not disclosed in the document, called a memorandum of purchase and sale agreement. The filing set the closing for October 31.
Megalith’s CEO Samvir Sidhu filed plans last week to demolish the three buildings, information on the city’s Department of Buildings show.
Brokers familiar with the site said there had been prior efforts to assemble a much larger development, noting that the synagogue is next to two properties with a large amount of excess air rights.
The larger is media giant Disney’s landmarked building at 52 West 66th Street, which has 132,338 square feet of excess development rights, while the other is the the vision-impairment nonprofit Jewish Guild Healthcare at 15 West 65th Street, which has 68,600 square feet of available development rights, information from PropertyShark shows.
One of those previous options included demolishing the synagogue, and then rebuilding a tower with about 25,000 square feet reserved for the congregation, one source said. The congregation, the Guild and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Extell declined to comment.
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It will combine that with Megalith’s three-building package next door at 36-40 West 66th Street, to create a 15,000 square foot footprint for the condo tower.
[…]
The complex condo tower deal involves creating a new home for the synagogue as a condo unit, an unidentified number of residential condos, and a garage unit.
The final size of the project is not known, and could vary in size dramatically. The base development rights for the Extell and Megalith sites allow for a tower encompassing roughly 150,000 square feet to 180,000 square feet, depending on whether the developer uses inculsionary zoning bonuses available in the Special Lincoln Square District, where the property is located, an analysis of the site found.
But a much larger tower, of perhaps 400,000 square feet might be possible if Extell acquires the neighboring parcel at 15 West 65th Street, which is owned by the nonprofit Jewish Guild Healthcare, one land use attorney, who asked not to be identified, estimated. But others familiar with the site said it could never be anywhere close to that size. The court filings say Extell is considering the acquisition of the Guild parcel, but does not provide additional details.
Insiders said if Extell merged zoning lots with that, then purchased air rights from a landmarked building owned by the Walt Disney Co. to the west at 52 West 66th Street, the much larger tower might be possible.
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Found this from a couple weeks ago. Looks lame for this area.
Meh
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This tower sucks. It should have been brick and stone.
The Mormon Temple is such an eyesore.
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they are literally wasting such a prime spot for this boring dull tower
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Took this from the zoning diagram from the DOB.
Address to type in is 36 WEST 66 STREET
Anyways, high resolution snap shot.
Zoomed into the height.
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Changed the title to: NEW YORK | 36 West 66 Street | 292 FT | 25 FLOORS
The older one is confusing, and won’t come up on the DOB site if typed in.
Title reflects permits.
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I honestly wouldn’t want a very tall tower looming over the gorgeous brownstones west of the park. The height and shape are fine, but the glass facade sucks. This location warranted Robert Stern.
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Thanks. Guess there’s a lot of bedrock in that location.
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Can mods update? This is a nearly 800 ft. tower.
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Merged.
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Done.
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Extell’s UWS tower could be imperiled if city cracks down on this building trick
DOB says project doesn’t violate zoning code
The city’s Department of Building says Extell Development’s Upper West Side apartment building abides by current zoning rules — but the battle over the tower’s height might be far from over.
Extell plans a 770-foot tower at 50 West 66th Street, a project that some city officials and residents have publicly opposed through a zoning challenge filed with the DOB. On Thursday, City Council member Helen Rosenthal, who opposes the project, announced that the DOB had rejected the challenge.
But the de Blasio administration announced earlier this year that it would regulate a key design feature of Extell’s project: structural voids. These are floors for a building’s mechanical equipment, but developers have increasingly used the space as a way to boost the height of their luxury towers without adding additional residential space. Doing so allows the developers to charge more per square foot. According to Crain’s, the city is expected to announce reforms to the structural voids by the end of the year.
“I’m hopeful Mayor de Blasio will still make good on his promise, via zoning changes, before [the DOB] approves this 770-foot building,” Rosenthal said.
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