Coney of the Mind
It’s been a busy day out at Coney Island. Not only did local City Council rep Dominic Recchia tell the Post that the city is trying to buy up developer Joe Sitt’s stake in the area, but now comes the Municipal Art Society’s zany plans for the famed amusement park.
The MAS spent a busy week talking to the community and then working to conceive fanciful designs with a world-renowned team of planners, designers, and amusement experts, the fruits of which were unveiled at a press conference today at Borough Hall. AN had a correspondent on the scene, but these renderings are just too nice to keep to ourselves. With the blustery weather outside, maybe they can give hope for a warmer future. More amusements after the jump. Read More
And the Real Winner Is…
The "Hoop," coming to a corner near you.
As we mentioned Tuesday, there was some confusion as to who had won the CityRacks Design Competition–held by the city’s Department of Transportation, the Cooper-Hewitt, and Transportation Alternatives–given that no official announcement had been made last week. Whether Bustler’s report impacted the decision or not may never be known, but it was the “Hoop” (above) and not, as predicted, the “Alien” (after the jump) that carried the day. Read More
Rough Sailing
Thirty-five cents. One quarter, one dime. That’s how much—or how little—it cost to buy one share of stock in General Growth Properties at the end of trading today.
It’s been a rough year for the 54-year-old mall developer and operator as it stock has tumbled—in concert with the real estate and retail markets—from a high of $67 per share in March 2007. Yet that stock was still valued at $38 as recently as June 18, when the company announced its plans for new South Street Seaport. Even when it presented those plans to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 21, when the stocked closed at $4.84, GGP remained confident in the future of the project. But that was before Monday’s report in The Wall Street Journal that General Growth might file for bankruptcy. Read More
Architect-In-Chief
As Alissa helpfully pointed out yesterday, our dear president-elect (we like to call him ‘Bam around the New York office) wanted to be an architect. A little nimble Googling on our part turned up the speech where he says as much. What’s even better, though, is that he hasn’t forgotten those early dreams. Read More
Hooked on Biking
Speaking of biking in the city, the Forum for Urban Design held an exhibition and party last night for its first-ever competition. Entitled Reimage Red Hook, the competition sought to make the pioneering, cobblestone neighborhood the premier cycling spot in the city. Read More
The Gang’s All Here
Front row, left to right: Hallet Darling-Menking, Diana Darling, Danielle Rago, Martin Perrin, Pamela Piork, Dustin Koda. Back row: Bill Menking, David Darling, Julie Iovine, Anne Guiney, Matt Chaban, Alan Brake. Jessica Sheridan/Courtesy eOcculus
We celebrated our 100th issue last night at USM Modular Furniture’s beautiful showroom in Soho (thank you USM and Anna Bilski). There were over 200 of our loyal New York readers and advertisers there to mark the event with lovely little USM appetizers [Ed.: think Tadao Ando meets Asymptote], wine, and words from yours truly. Read More
Chuggin’ Along
As AN reported yesterday, California voters came out in force to favor a handful of pro-transit and planning initiatives, a trend that swept the country on election day. According to a press release from the America Public Transportation Association (APTA), 16 states approved 23 ballot measures on Tuesday, dedicating some $75 billion to transit-oriented projects. Read More
Crumbling Concrete
Yankees Stadium was one of 102 projects identified by the DA as falsely inspected by Testwell.
Yesterday, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau served an indictment against a dozen employees of a concrete inspection company, which the DA cited for improperly inspecting at least 102 buildings in the city in recent years. According to the Times‘ account, Testwell, of Ossinning, New York, was “the city’s leading concrete-testing firm.” AN picked up a copy of the indictment today, and how right the paper of record is. Read More
Cutting the Nets?
Courtesy Forest City Ratner
At Monday’s Coney Island charrette kick-off, hosted by the Municipal Art Society, a number of stakeholders from the area gave presentations to the design team to help them form ideas for leading the charrette in a few weeks. (To share your own, visit the imagineconey.com, which just launched today.)
One of the presentations was given by Jon Benguiat, the director of planning and development for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who spoke about Asser Levy Park, a small outdoor amphitheater and park across Surf Avenue from the aquarium, which is getting a dramatic $64 million retractable roof courtesy of Grimshaw. (More on that soon, we hope.)
As with all these things, there was a Power Point presentation, and as with all Power Point presentations, the whole thing took some time to boot up. In the interim, Benguiat decided to tell the story of how he became Marty’s planning direct, during which he let some shocking news about the Atlantic Yards, or at least the fate of the Brooklyn Nets, slide. Read More
Waterfalls of Revenue
Though some people were more than happy to see Olafur Eliasson’s New York City Waterfalls dry up a few weeks ago, one person who will dearly miss them is the mayor. Read More
Landscapers Short On Green, Too
stella.errante/Courtesy Flickr
We’ve been tracking the AIA Architecture Billings Index ever since it took a dive last spring. But what about the rest of the design industry? Well, the American Society of Landscape Architects released its quarterly survey of member firms, and the numbers are no better than their brick-and-mortar friends.
In fact, the numbers are even worse, with only 16 percent of firms experiencing growth in their billings and 43 percent having stable or rising inquiries. Read More
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