Although West 42nd Street is one of the busiest streets in Manhattan, the blocks west of Tenth Avenue were never rezoned from their historic status as a Manufacturing District related to the docks along the Hudson River. As new development moved through Times Square westerly to the Hudson new zoning was required to incentivize development in the area. A team was organized by the original owners of the block from Eleventh to Twelfth Avenue to negotiate with the City Planning Commission, Community Board 4, and various other agencies to change the area from a low-density manufacturing district to a high rise mixed-use community. IDA (with WQB Architecture) worked with Howard Zipser of Stadtmauer Bailkin LLP to change the zoning and subsequently with Newmark Realty to resell the property for development. The property was recently completed by the Moinian Group and named The Atelier, a 50‐story luxury condominium.

 

Manhattan West (in red above) is a 17‐story affordable rental building between 10th and 11th Ave. and 55th and 56th St. The building was designed in response to an RFP issued by the City of New York. The project strategy was to design a larger building than the RFP requested and to spend the extra rental income on better building materials and finishes than competing teams offered. This bold strategy required WQB and their collaborator, the firm of Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee, to prove that their design would fit the scale of its surroundings. The solution was an“I” shaped design, with a six-story street wall continuous with the Potemkin building(in light-blue above), and a midsection that spans the block and matches the height of some neighboring 17‐story apartment towers. The Kretchmer Companies, ELH MGMT, and the Dermot Company were the developers. The design was submitted in 2007 and has yet to be awarded.

WQB Architecture worked with Langan Engineeringtodetermine how to maximize available benefits from “Brownfields” programs to redevelop a section of Carroll Gardens on the Gowanus Canal into a new community. WQB also combined the “Brownfields” programs with HPD Programs – New HOP and 80/20 ‐ to determine the best means for financing and redevelopment of the area.

This new hotel and condominium in Prishtina, Kosovo, scheduled to begin construction in 2008, will be one of the first towers to grace the skyline of this newly independent country. The building will feature 85 condominium units (1,2,3 bedrooms, and penthouses), 72 hotel rooms, and amenities including a lobby bar, sports bar, retail, spa, fitness center, indoor/outdoor pool, daycare facility, conference centers, banquet room, and a rooftop bar and restaurant. Mr. Brothers will be working with the developer, a Kosovar businessman with years of experience in New York City, to help set the standard for building luxury hotels and residences throughout the country.

As part of their redevelopment of “New English Town” a historic district of Tianjin. Citiarc and OPC were commissioned to develop a luxury branded community and market various retail and hospitality opportunities internationally. CITIARC/WQB was also retained to provide retail design criteria, signage, streetscape, and developmental guidelines for the cellar, street floors, and second floor retail spaces throughout the project.

• The Community Worship Center owns a beautiful church and 2 adjacent properties in a key location in Bedford – Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. KPG is currently assisting Community Worship in planning the redevelopment of the 2 sites to provide for restoration of the existing church, new church related community facilities, and a residential condominium with first floor retail space.

The New York Educational Construction Fund is a municipal organization which is responsible for capital budgets related to the funding of new schools in the five boroughs of New York City. In 1996, as the NYC real estate market was recovering from the 1992 “recession,” the NYECF determined that 7 schools were in prime locations and that the development rights (TDR’s) of those schools had sufficient value to fund new schools and services in those neighborhoods, NYECF issued a national RFP for consultants to provide analysis required to evaluate the scope of development of each site, provide a valuation study for each site and assist the City of New York in marketing the TDR to the development community. After extensive interviews, IDA was awarded the contract to prepare development and marketing packages for the 7 schools. To date, 2 of the schools have been sold and are in construction – P.S. 59 and M.S. 114. M.S. 114 was developed as a 35 story condominium, the Azure, above a new school. PS 59 will be an elementary school and a new High School of Art and Design, which will be in a 50 story condominium tower on a retail base.

 

 

 

 

 

University Towers was built as a middle class homeownership project in the 1970’s. It has 22 buildings on 10 acres of land in Downtown Brooklyn. The property was recently rezoned to allow for towers which will more than double the number of apartments on the property. WQB Architecture worked for the owner to determine the location and sizes of 12 new towers and multiple building addition which are currently being completed.