Vornado’s 510 Fifth renovation plans rejected

The city’s Landmark Preservation Commission has asked Steven Roth’s Vornado Realty Trust to try again with its proposed renovation plans for the newly-landmarked interior of the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Building at 510 Fifth Avenue, at 43rd Street. According to the New York Times, preservationists argued during a hearing yesterday that Vornado’s planned redesign, by original building architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, would involve too many changes to the five-story, 1950s-era property, which Vornado bought for $58 million last year. Vornado had hoped to move the lobby’s two escalators in order to create two Fifth Avenue entrances for Canadian clothing retailer Joe Fresh and another, yet-to-be-determined retailer. It also plans to replace the Harry Bertoia sculptural screen it dismantled last year with a new one inspired by the original. [NYT]