by Tom Clark’s apartment on the Lower East Side comes with a great view of the Empire State Building. “I can see it from my couch,” he said. Well, he is used to be able to catch a glimpse – before the arrival of an ultra-thin luxury tower called 262 Fifth Avenue.
Now the 860-foot residential tower, still under construction, blocks the Empire State Building from most views south of 28th street. Many New Yorkers (and tourists) can’t even get a glimpse of the famous landmark anymore, all because of some poorly located — and incredibly expensive — condos.
“I’m sorry,” Clark said as he stood in the plaza in front of the Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue, a few blocks south of the dueling skyscrapers. “The entire New York skyline has been destroyed. When I moved here I was very happy with it, and now it is becoming just disgusting. These new buildings have no identity, no design. We’ve lost the character of New York, and it breaks my heart.”
More than 4 million people visit the Empire State Building each year (surprisingly, perhaps, since admission costs start at $44 for adults). When you reach its 1,050-foot-high, 86-story high observation deck, you’ll see the entire city. But New York is back at street level craning its neck to see the skyscraper itself.
Depending on your tax bracket, ultra-thin skyscrapers are either the scourge of the city or a prime investment opportunity.
Last week, a TikToker known as @dr.tpanova railed against 262 Fifth Avenue in a post that was viewed 1.2 million times. “Walking up Fifth Avenue and marveling at this iconic building [the Empire State] and ending on Madison Square where you could sit and have a coffee while watching it shine in the distance was one of the great pleasures of being in Manhattan,” said @dr.tpanova in the video. (Fact check: that’s debatable.)
“That beautiful inspiring scene is now gone,” added @dr.tpanova. “The experience of millions of people in the city is worse.”
Because the thin gray tower that will steal the skyline will consist of 41 condos that will only be accessible to the super-rich during a nationwide housing crisis — and a citywide shortage of affordable apartments for renters. – it doesn’t earn more fans.
“There seems to be no sky rule,” Clark said. “There are no laws except for the mighty dollar.”
One avenue over from Clark’s perch, Nem Fisher and Jagger Corcione were out walking their dog, Ziggy. They agreed that 262 Fifth Avenue was an eyesore.
“People go to school to be architects, so why are we just pouring cylindrical blocks?” Fisher asked. “They don’t care about the beauty of the city. It’s about super rich people getting their opinions.”
“There are no buildings that look nicer,” Corcione added, bringing up another highly regarded development, 432 Park. Located on the southeast side of Central Park, just steps from the Plaza and Bergdorf Goodman, the toothpick-esque tower rises 1,396 feet. That’s 1,396 feet too many for 432 Park haters, who lamented this ultra-modern assault on the downtown skyline. The height qualifies it as “huge” – a skyscraper that exceeds 984 feet in height.
And, according to the New York Times, some of the building’s residents aren’t too happy with their home either. Park 432 is reportedly a terrible place to live, subject to leaks and loud noises when it sways in the wind – design flaws you wouldn’t expect from a residential building on Billion Row.
“It looks like a bunch of Legos on top of each other,” Corcione said. “I hate that building and always will.”
Sandra Leite, a Portuguese tourist in town with her family, didn’t notice the Empire State Building hiding behind her new neighbor until this reporter pointed it out.
“Now that you mention it, it seems, why?” she asked. “Why would city hall allow something like that? But now it’s up there, and nothing can be done.”
Tom Fields, a New Yorker for 30 years who has been reading in Madison Square Park, said of 262 Fifth Avenue “it doesn’t add anything”.
“I don’t like the one in front of the Empire State, and I don’t like the tall buildings south of the park that are blocking my sun right now. I don’t like to see them.”
Not everyone feels the same outrage. Living in New York means expecting constant change: restaurants come and go so quickly that being attached to a favorite spot is an emotional mistake, and rapid gentrification transforms neighborhood blocks into mall-like playgrounds for transplants unwilling to give up suburban staples like Wegmans or Whole Foods. Of course, the city’s skyline looks nothing like its classic, mid-century iteration.
Dennis Pangindian, a New Yorker who works in the neighborhood and was enjoying a coffee break, said his wife showed him TikToks complaining about the obstructed views. “I get all the controversy, but I don’t care,” he said. “There’s going to be something to build somewhere, it’s not surprising to me.”
Caroline Owen, a tourist from Toronto who took a photo of the Empire State Building – or what you see of it from Madison Square Park – also considered the tower a sign of “progress.”
“Over time, aesthetic considerations may change,” Owen said. “Think of the Louvre, and the pyramid there. Everyone said it was a travesty at first, that it affected history, and now you accept it for what it is.”
Unfortunately, for pedestrians who love to look above street level, “progress” is synonymous with bland skyscrapers that visually represent the ever-widening gap between the super-rich and the rest. we. A scourge on the skyline – unless, perhaps, you’ve gotten lost going uptown and need an unmissable landmark to redirect your path.
