STALLED NO MORE

50 United Nations Plaza is on the rise again. Yesterday, we dropped by Dag Hammarskjold Plaza for Zeckendorf Development and Global Holdings’ “groundraising,” so called because the foundation has been in place since 2008. The 87-unit, 44-story condo tower is the first residential building designed by Foster + Partners in the US. (The architectural firm is behind such icons as Wembley Stadium, “The Gherkin” at 30 St Mary Axe, and NYC’s own Hearst Tower.) Above, we snapped Zeckendorf ’s Arthur Zeckendorf, NYC councilman Daniel Garodnick, Global Holdings’ Eyal Ofer, F+P’s Armstrong Yakubu, Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza’s Sherrill Kazan, F+P’s Brandon Haw, and Zeckendorf’s William Zeckendorf. The tower’s scheduled for a late ’14 completion.
Above, guests sign the ceremonial granite slab that signaled the start of construction. The Zeckendorfs are no stranger to the UN—Arthur and William’s maternal grandfather Trygve Lie was the first UN Secretary General, while paternal grandfather William Zeckendorf Sr. assembled the land upon which the UN Secretariat building stands. During the ceremony, the developers also announced a $100k donation to support Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza that will be used for landscaping. (Coincidently, a nearby church rang Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” toward the end of the ceremony—we’d be joyful to get a project moving again, too.)

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