Developers sometimes buy the
air rights of neighboring properties to increase the bulk or height of their new buildings, but this is the first time I have ever seen a development literally occupying the air over another building. It is on West 78th Street near Broadway. From a five story base, they have cantilevered a steel truss out over the building next door that houses Stand UP NY , a comedy club. Looks a little shaky to me.
I don't know how many more floors of this they are going to construct. The contractor,
Marson, whose website shows a number of other interesting projects around the city, has nothing posted on this site. Nor could I find the architect's name at the building site. I am not sure I would want my name on it, either.
This is an example of the craziness that happens in an irrationally priced property market in a city controlled by developers. The rush to cash in leads to extraordinary engineering projects like adding multiple floors to occupied buildings or putting whole neighborhoods on platforms over rail yards, while reserving little space for public needs and leaving institutions like St Vincent's Hospital fighting to develop a new building on a little postage stamp in the Village.
Developers sometimes buy the air rights of neighboring properties to increase the bulk or height of their new buildings, but this is the first time I have ever seen a development literally occupying the air over another building. It is on West 78th Street near Broadway. From a five story base, they have cantilevered a steel truss out over the building next door that houses Stand UP NY , a comedy club. Looks a little shaky to me.
I don't know how many more floors of this they are going to construct. The contractor, Marson, whose website shows a number of other interesting projects around the city, has nothing posted on this site. Nor could I find the architect's name at the building site. I am not sure I would want my name on it, either.
This is an example of the craziness that happens in an irrationally priced property market in a city controlled by developers. The rush to cash in leads to extraordinary engineering projects like adding multiple floors to occupied buildings or putting whole neighborhoods on platforms over rail yards, while reserving little space for public needs and leaving institutions like St Vincent's Hospital fighting to develop a new building on a little postage stamp in the Village.
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