Aby Rosen slams One57

RFR boss calls Extell tower an "atrocity"; has unkind words for author Tom Wolfe, as well

From left: Aby Rosen, One57 rendering and Tom Wolfe
From left: Aby Rosen, One57 rendering and Tom Wolfe

No New York institution is seemingly safe from the opinion of real estate mogul Aby Rosen. In an upcoming interview in Surface magazine’s Power 100 issue, the RFR Holding boss calls the city’s highest, most talked about residential tower One57 an “ugly monster” and an “atrocity.”

“If you see the one that Harry Macklowe is building at 432 Park Avenue, it’s of equal size, but far more nimble and elegant and timeless,” Rosen said of Extell’s building.

Rosen is no less forgiving about author and New Yorker Tom Wolfe in the interview, calling him a “buffoon.”

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Wolfe, who lives on the Upper East Side, opposed Rosen’s 2008 plan to Develop 980 Madison Avenue, the location of Gagosian Gallery, into a Norman Foster tower.

“I don’t even think he’s a good writer,” Rosen went on, “but I’m not a literary critic.” [NYP] — Claire Moses