First Look: 111 Murray

Fisher Brothers and the Witkoff Group, the folks behind 111 Murray—as the condo tower under construction 101 Murray (f.k.a. the St. John’s University building) is now known—presented the final design at Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee. I’m exhausted—it was one of the worst meetings ever—and I’m on my way to being tipsy, so let’s bullet-point this sucker.

••• They only showed one full-length rendering (it’s the shiny building below), which matches the zoning diagrams previously discovered (further below). The design is by Kohn Pedersen Fox. The two curved façades wrap around a core (“two forms that come together,” which we all know isn’t as easy as it sounds); the building gets wider as it rises. The words they’re using are sculptural, elegant, and sophisticated. I’m not disagreeing; I’m just fried.

111 Murray rendering skyline2111 Murray zoning diagrams••• How it looks from the street (as ever, click to enlarge):

111 Murray rendering Murray streetscape 111 Murray rendering Murray streetscape2••• The numbers:

—157 apartments
—792 feet tall
—62 floors

••• The timeline: demolition is almost done, then one year for the foundation, another year till it tops off, another year till occupancy—and the plaza comes last, because it’s the staging area for all the construction. The good news is that they’re drilling the foundation rather than driving piles, so it’ll be less noisy.

••• What’s most interesting is that the oblong building is freestanding, with a public plaza to the east and a “pavilion”—one story of retail and two stories of mechanicals—against the adjacent building on Murray (a.k.a. the smelly Whole Foods freight entrance). No renderings of the pavilion were shown. It apparently lines up, more or less, with the commercial part of 101 Warren to the north. The little black triangle you see in the lower right corner indicates the service entrance for the tower.

111 Murray layout••• The 10,600-square-foot plaza is obviously of paramount interest. (They added it because they wanted to increase the FAR—you have to give something if you want to get more to sell, and affordable housing = poor door = why bother.) You can kind of tell everything you need to know from the renderings below, but important things to know are: movable chairs and tables, a water feature, an open lawn (possibly for events), benches, native plants, a sculpture TBD. (One committee member worried that the kids in the rendering might fall into the water.) The plan is for it to be open 24/7, as per city regulations, but they can apply for changes if problems arise.

111 Murray rendering plaza 111 Murray rendering plaza2111 Murray plantings••• There are also two small retail spaces in the tower itself, along West Street.

111 Murray rendering West and Murray 111 Murray rendering Murray and West2••• The whole building has to be raised off sidewalk level for flood protection; I won’t get into the details. But the lobby is above street level for that reason, and the plaza rises to some unknown elevation.

 

4 Comments

  1. The kids might fall into the water?! Seems like a real concern.

    What next? Let’s fill the Hudson!

  2. A few years ago, my kid fell in the waterfall at North Cove while I was enjoying a margarita outside of Southwest. I fished him out. He went back to playing, and I went back to my drink and watching the sun set.

  3. excellent reporting erik! raising the lobby for flood protection is interesting. oligarch need to protect their investment. too bad the city didn’t get the flood memo before the repaired pier 25 and built pier 26!

  4. soulless. destroying a soulful neighborhood, bit by bit, including the BMCC/Related. shame on the system, shame on the Landmark Preservation people.

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