JD Carlisle, Fosun’s building on stilts rankles neighbors

Developers are boosting 15 E. 30th by 155 feet by placing mechanicals at building’s base

Rendering of proposed condo project at 30th Street and Madison Avenue, highlighted by red arrow (credit: CityRealty)
Rendering of proposed condo project at 30th Street and Madison Avenue, highlighted by red arrow (credit: CityRealty)

JD Carlisle and Shanghai-based Fosun Group are going head to head with the neighbors of their NoMad condominium development, which the developers are building on stilts in order to achieve more sweeping views.

The apartments at 15 East 30th Street will rise 155 feet above street level and the building itself will be 760 feet, or roughly 70 stories, according to Crain’s. Three floors at the base of the building, with an average ceiling height of 44 feet, will sit on a 23-foot base.

But residents of the Sky House Condominium, a 55-story condo at 11 East 29th Street, are none too pleased. This spring, they asked the Department of Buildings to force a redesign of the project.

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“Right above the base, you have essentially a monolith that goes up to 15 stories,” George Janes, a planning expert hired by Sky House residents, wrote in an April 25 letter to the Department of Buildings. “This violates all kinds of urban design standards: You want eyes on the street; you want windows and transparency.”

JD Carlisle and Fosun aren’t the only developers building on stilts to raise the height of their condo projects. Vornado Realty Trust is doing so at 220 Central Park South, as is Zeckendorf Development at 520 Park Avenue, where the buildings’ mechanicals are housed at the base. [Crain’s] – E.B. Solomont