In 2009, Alan Goldstein and two others broke off from partner Costas Kondylis, an architect well known for his designs for Donald Trump, to form their own design firm. More than seven years later, the firm has grown into one of the city’s most prolific shops, but representatives announced Tuesday that it will move forward without Goldstein and with a new name.
Goldstein retired from Goldstein Hill & West [TRDataCustom] on Dec. 31, a representative for the firm confirmed on Tuesday. The firm announced its new name, Hill West, after remaining partners Stephen Hill and David West, early Tuesday, tweeting its new website.
Goldstein, 67, said he is looking forward to traveling with his wife and working at beating his golf handicap. He’s also considering taking some courses in science and math — perhaps astronomy and calculus — as a partial return to one of his earliest interests before he became an architect. Goldstein came from a family of engineers and initially considered a career in the field before ultimately choosing architecture. Goldstein was a partner at Costas Kondylis and Partners from 1989 to 2009 before he cofounded the eponymous firm. He received his degree from City College of New York School of Architecture in 1972.
“I’ve been working for almost 45 years, and I think the time has come to try some new things,” he said. “It’s never too early to retire, but it can be too late. I think I’ve reached a point where it’s a good time for me.”
Hill said Goldstein’s departure was an opportunity to rebrand the company and highlight its growth on the design front. GHW has built its reputation as a perennial architect of record that collaborates with design architects, but has increasingly taken on more of its own design work. Such work includes 161 Maiden Lane, a 60-story condo tower that Fortis Property Group is developing in the Financial District.
“We’re focusing even more than we have in the past on projects that we designed in house,” Hill said. “We really want to focus on the holistic approach.”
In a year-end analysis by The Real Deal, GHW ranked second among architects tapped to work on the biggest real estate projects in 2016. The firm was selected to work on Chris Jiashu Xu’s proposed 79-story, 779,958-square-foot residential tower at 23-15 44th Drive, as well as another Long Island City tower being built by Stawski Partners’ at 23-03 44th Road.
Hill said over the next year three associate partners at the firm — Jason Dubowski, Michael Rose and Nick Koumarnetos — will be named partners. The name of the firm, however, will stay Hill West.