Wednesday, August 25, 2010

A pretty tall issue in NYC may affect Jersey City to some extent

The two and a half block distance between Ground Zero and the Park 51 Muslim cultural center is about to seem like small potatoes uptown where today a city council vote is expected to decide the fate of the 15 Penn Plaza skyscraper, as tall as the Empire State Building (give or take a couple feet) which would be located at the site of the old Madison Square Garden when that moves a block west, just two and a half blocks from the ESB. Now New Yorkers are up in arms and having kittens sideways over the proposed giant skyscraper so close to the Empire State Building. The Empire State Building management is having kittens sideways too saying it ruins the skyline which it made iconic in midtown. We understand this.

We also understand Johnny went down to the river and did a little surveying. If you're in Jersey City, the angle of view of Manhattan should not impede your view of the Empire State Building if 15 Penn is built. It'll be just enough left of the iconic skyscraper (and admittedly Johnny's favorite NYC highrise). So Jersey City will get to see the new 15 Penn, the Empire State Building, The Chrysler Building, The Met Life Tower and soon to rise above the lower Manhattan skyline, 1 World Trade. That's a great view and certainly adds money to Johnny's condo's worth with that view. Now sure, if you live in Weehawken or Hoboken your view of the Empire State Building will most likely be obscured. But that's what you get for living in Weehawken or Hoboken.

So fight it out NYC, Jersey City and more importantly Johnny wins either way you play it.

Here are a couple images provided to the media by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of the 15 Penn Plaza development and what it MAY look like at completion:

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