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New skyscraper to be constructed in New York

25 August 2010 14:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. In the drowsy month of August no less, New Yorkâ€™s City Council is poised to make one of the most important decisions in years about Manhattanâ€™s skyline. Council members will decide today whether to allow developers to build a skyscraper almost as tall as the Empire State Building â€” 900 feet west on the site of the current Hotel Pennsylvania, on Seventh Avenue, New York Times reported.

For many people looking from the western part of Manhattan and New Jersey, the iconic tower would no longer be visible.

This is no ordinary development issue. The Empire State is central to this cityâ€™s image. Any decision to alter the skyline so radically deserves more time and more public consideration.

The real issue for the city is this: Whatever skyscrapers come next, they should be future icons.

Right now, we know too little about what the Vornado building would really look like. The present design by Pelli Clarke Pelli â€” which seems so thick and bulky beside the elegant Empire State â€” might not be final. Vornado does not have a main tenant, and without that anchor, it cannot afford to build immediately. With a tenant could come new adjustments to the design.

Like the local Community Board, which opposed this development, we are also concerned about moving forward without seeing the cityâ€™s larger development plan for the entire area. Such important issues demand more than a late-summer review by the City Council.