53W53

53 West 53rd Street | also 55 West 53rd Street, 50 West 54th Street, 46 West 54th Street | Midtown | built 2020

Open on the map9 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 2007

    November 15

    Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff hails Jean Nouvel's 75-story tower beside MoMA as a skyline landmark in the making

    In November 2007 the New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff judged Jean Nouvel's faceted tower for the lot next to the Museum of Modern Art the most exhilarating skyline addition in a generation. Commissioned by the developer Hines, the 75-story tower was to hold a hotel, luxury apartments and three floors for MoMA, about 40,000 square feet of added gallery space.

    Source: Internet Archive

  2. 2007

    January

    MoMA sells its adjacent lot to developer Gerald Hines

    The Museum of Modern Art owns a 17,000-square-foot lot beside its museum, at 53 West 53rd Street. It sells the parcel in January 2007 to the developer Gerald D. Hines for $125 million, and Hines plans a skyscraper called Tower Verre, and Jean Nouvel is selected as its architect in November 2007.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2008

    March 13

    Community Board 5 votes 21 to 1 against air-rights transfers for the MoMA tower

    On March 13, 2008, Manhattan Community Board 5 voted 21 to 1, in an advisory vote, against transferring air rights from two landmarked buildings to the site of Jean Nouvel's planned 75-story hotel, residential and MoMA tower. The Landmarks Preservation Commission had the official say on the transfers, and the City Council and the Bloomberg administration the final approval. Skyscraper fans answered with an online petition urging the board to drop its objections.

    Source: observer.com

  4. 2009

    October 28

    The tower's planned height is cut from 1,250 to 1,050 feet

    After protests over its size, the City Planning Commission says the tower can proceed if it is 200 feet shorter. The City Council approves the 1,050-foot version on October 28, 2009, by a vote of 44 to 3. Work is delayed by funding problems, and foundation work begins in September 2015 after excavation is finished.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2012

    November

    Pile-driving equipment on the MoMA tower lot is not a start, says Hines, still seeking financing

    In late November 2012 a photographer noticed what looked like pile-driving equipment on the lot next to MoMA, and online skyscraper fans took it as a sign that work was about to begin. Hines said otherwise. Tommy Craig, head of its New York office, said the firm was still working on financing, which had held up the 1,050-foot tower, then called Torre Verre, since new plans were filed with the city. A spokesman added that it was not breaking ground yet.

    Source: observer.com

  6. 2013

    October

    Singapore's Pontiac Land Group provides equity and a loan to restart the stalled tower

    In October 2013 the Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group, owned by the Kwee brothers, agreed to put in a large equity stake, put at either $200 million or $300 million. It also arranged an $860 million loan with a syndicate of Asian banks, among them United Overseas Bank, Maybank, OCBC Bank and DBS Bank. The financing followed years of delay at the lot beside MoMA.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2019

    Developers seek arbitration over how deeply to cut condo prices at the tower

    In early 2019 Hines, Pontiac and Goldman Sachs disagreed over how far to reduce apartment prices. The projected sellout had already fallen to $1.98 billion from the $2.14 billion in filings with the New York attorney general, but Hines wanted deeper cuts. Just over 30 percent of the units had sold in four years, amid weaker demand for luxury housing and worries that the facade could limit views, and the partners turned to arbitration.

    “The dispute led the developers to seek arbitration. At the time, just over 30 percent of units had been sold in four years.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2020

    February

    53W53 is completed with MoMA galleries at its base

    The 77-story tower tops out in June 2018 and is finished in February 2020, rising 1,050 feet. Its floor numbers run up to 87 because some are skipped, in step with the numbering in the neighboring Museum of Modern Art. Three of the lowest stories hold MoMA galleries covering 40,000 square feet, which are not connected to the rest of the tower and can only be exited through the museum.

    Source: Wikipedia

  9. 2020

    September

    A 72nd-floor condominium sells for nearly $30 million

    The first condo purchases at 53W53 close in early 2020, and one unit sells in February for $12.8 million. By June fifty-five of the condos have sold. In September a unit on the 72nd floor sells for nearly $30 million, even as the pandemic disrupts the city.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown