downtown

The New York Stock Exchange has occupied a small 36,000 square foot trading floor since 1903 at 22 Broad Street. The neoclassical building has come to symbolize America's lead in global finance, and made New York a business forerunner. The New York Stock Exchange has been seeking to leave the historic building however, in hopes of finding a space more suitable to its demands, more specifically a larger trading floor. The board first hoped to remain in New York's financial district. Developers offered to move the exchange, several times to the lower east side. The plan never materialized and the site was sold to make way for high-rises. Further east there were several proposals to to build the exchange on piers. Another proposal was for a tower and trading facility to rise on the site of the Signer Building, well financed, the plan fell through due to board opposition. Less serious proposals have also ben made for the late World Trade Centers and Battery Park City. It was becoming obvious that the New York Stock Exchange might have to leave the financial district and even New York.

The New York Stock Exchange made this public and the cities of America responded. From the east coast, to the west and even as far away as Alaska people wanted the New York Stock Exchange in their city. The board finally decided on a move to New Jersey. This is hardly news, the New York Stock Exchange has been planning to move to New Jersey for quite some time now. The New York Stock Exchange has forgone a move to allow New York to come up with a better proposal. And in the year 1999 New York came up with one that met the New York Stock Exchange's requests. The new, New York Stock Exchange will just move across the street, a very simple proposal, you would think.

In fact this is one of the most complex proposals in New York City history. The plan is to buy everything in between Broad Street, Williams Street, Wall Street and Exchange Place. This calls for the demolition of three office buildings and one residential building with 435 Apartments. The only building remaining will be the historic 5 storey J.P. Morgan Bank building at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets which will be converted into a visitors center. Demolition wise this will not be an easy task since one of the buildings, 15 Broad Street is 40 storeys high! Demolishing a building over 500 feet across the street from the New York Stock Exchange will be by all means be a difficult task. The Landmark Conservation groups have approved demolition on the four buildings, they recognize the loss, but realize the inevitable gain. Demolition has ben delayed in light of the immediate office demand. New York State will pay $900 million for this project a drastic upgrade from original prospects. To make up for the huge sum payed for the New York Stock Exchange, New York will build a huge 1.2 million square foot tower above the trading floors.

At 900 feet the New York Stock Exchange Tower will be the first skyscraper built in the financial district in a decade, and the tallest since the World Trade Centers. The base of the tower will consist of 600,000 square feet for the New York Stock Exchange. Of the 600,000 square feet there will be two 50,000 square foot trading floors costing $350 million. Above the trading floors for the New York Stock Exchange there will be four more 40,000 square foot trading floors. The combined trading floors are reported to hover 320 feet above Wall Street.

Above the base will be 1.2 million square feet for other tenants. New York State is currently looking for a tenant for this space. Since tenant negotiations have been taking a long time, the Giuliani administration is preparing to go alone on building the tower. Making the New York Stock Exchange the first large scale speculative office building in more than a decade. This is a huge gamble if the commercial real estate market takes a dip, leaving a $900 million office building vacant of tenants. The office building will rise 50 storeys and will have its own separate entrance. Currently known as the New York Stock Exchange Tower, the building will be renamed for its anchor tenant. The tower is aimed to attract financial tenants who would be lured by being above the exchange, and the prestigious location. One draw back about the building is that it will have small 35,000 square foot plates, smaller than the currently available floor plates in midtown.

Designed by David Childs of Skidmore Owings and Merril the tower will rise to the east of the landmarked J.P. Morgan Building. The base will have a high tech, flashy design, similar to the new LED screens in Times Square. The tower will be a multifaceted steel and glass box with a flat roof. According to Wesley Moon of Skidmore Owings and Merrill's interior's department the New York Stock Exchange Tower is a beautiful building with an identity all it's own. It is clean, simplistic, and functional with a hint of decoration...in the way of the facade gradiates from dark to light through a scattering of rectangular panels as the building rises.

As for the old exchange, the building will house New York Stock Exchange executive and administrative offices along with a Police Department substation.

Demolition is still set to begin in fall of 2001 with completion anytime between 2004 and 2006.

Philip Johnson 94, has not yet retired from his famed career. He partnered with Alan Ritchie proposed a drastic new high rise to be built in downtown Tribeca. Vendome Realty has written a blank check for this new project, to make it a drastic landmark. As of now the proposed tower will soar 26 storeys, have 50 apartment units, and feature a complex but gorgeous facade. Almost as if it were a jig saw, Johnson's multifaceted tower interweaves solid slabs with one another. The facade is different for each interwoven slab, each facade however features the styles of the surrounding areas brownstones, and industrial institutions.

The site at 328 Spring Street at Washington Street was assembled between 1972 1978. Next to the proposed tower is the historic, 200 year old two storey Ear Inn which will be dwarfed by Johnson's new tower. Residents in the area are outraged about the towers height. They have vowed to protest construction on an building that they believe is to large for the surrounding area.

Johnson who helped design the Seagram Building, and who designed the Sony Building believes that if built it would be the crowning achievement of his career. He reassures protestors that "Being tall is the way you can show off the building", and stated that if built it would be the proudest moment in his life.
As of now however, the probable last and possibly greatest building by Philip Johnson has a dim outlook.

Developer Edward J. Minskoff was selected by New York City to build a tower on a 90,565 square foot site bounded by Greenwich, Murray, and Warren Streets in Tribeca. The L shaped lot is currently a parking lot but since 1985 has been proposed for the New York Mercantile Exchange, headquarters for the New York Board of Trade, and for the headquarters of Drexel Burnham Lambert. Edward Minskoff is proposing to build a 1.5 million square foot, 60 storey tower to rise 600 feet on the site. Originally proposed as a 515 foot tower with 34 storeys, the tower was able to rise higher when Edward Minskoff acquired the air rights from the College of Insurance on the same block. The taller building designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merril will have loading docks opposite P.S. 234 which has resulted in community opposition. A recently formed group known as Citizens for Intelligent Planning hopes to stop such a building from being built.

The still unnamed tower will consist of black granite and glass. The tower will begin construction in April of 2002 and will finish three years later. Minskoff stated that he will break ground even without an anchor tenant. This speculative office building if and when built will most likly become the first downtown office building built within a dozen years.

An ambitious project is in the works for four piers on New York's lower east side. A new 575,000 square foot Guggenheim museum is set to rise at the end of Wall Street in the South Street Seaport District. The complex will include a large public plaza, a sculpture garden, 900-seat and 400-seat theaters, a ferry terminal, and an outdoor ice skating rink. The museum will have thirty six galleries, ranging from 1,300 to 20,000 square feet, to be distributed among three levels. The complex will be built on connecting platforms above piers at water level. The museum will be raised above the platform to allow a sense of space and light, as well as providing spectacular views. To the west side of the complex a 45 storey, 450 foot tower will be built, either featuring condominiums, apartments, or most likely offices. The museum will only be a few storeys high but will be equivalent to a 40 storey office building. Designed by cutting edge architect Frank Gehry, the building will be "cloudlike" and although similar in appearance to the famed Guggenheim in Bilbao, Gehry stated that he will not repeat the design. The design is best described as a swirling wave of titanium ribbons and glass that will stretch four blocks along the piers which Gehry describes as "two holey doughnuts on stilts".

Giuliani said that the new museum "is going to make a distinctive contribution to both the cultural and architectural fabric of the city." Supporting the new museum Giuliani will pay $32.8 million over five years to help pay for the museum. This is hardly anything compared to the total cost of $800 million however, $730 million of which will be payed with private donations. When opened the museum will most likely have 2.5 to 3.5 million visitors a year, making a $570 to 710 million annual economic impact.

"This is the beginning of a long and complicated process," said Thomas Krens, director of the Guggenheim Foundation. Community opposition has already begun and it will be at least five years to ground is broken, then it will take 8 more years to actually build it!