Plans have been revealed for 77 West 66th Street, a proposed supertall residential skyscraper on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Developed by Extell, the structure could potentially stand 90 stories and 1,200 feet tall, making it the tallest building in the neighborhood by a significant margin. The site is bounded by West 67th Street to the north, West 66th Street to the south, and Columbus Avenue to the west.
The as-of-right diagrams in the main photo and below showcase the tower beginning with a multistory podium followed by a shallow setback. The structure then rises uniformly with a rectangular massing before culminating in a series of stepped setbacks on the western face. Three mechanical levels, marked in gray, will be interspersed between the residential floors, and a bulkhead will cap the skyscraper. Visible to the new building’s right is Extell’s ongoing residential project at 50 West 66th Street, which currently holds the title of tallest structure on the Upper West Side.
77 West 66th Street zoning and massing diagram. Image and model by George Janes & Associates.
77 West 66th Street was formerly home to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is owned by The Walt Disney Company and also housed the broadcasting facilities for ESPN and various ABC shows. Silverstein Properties purchased the site from Disney for $1.15 billion through a lease-back agreement in July 2018, briefly owning it for a little over one year until selling it to Taconic Investment Partners in August 2019. By this point, Landmark West! partnered with the Upper West Side Community Board 7 (CB7) to draft a zoning text amendment proposal to include the ABC properties within the Lincoln Square Special District (LSSD). This however was stalled for a number of years.
Extell joined the picture in early 2022 when it purchased both 77 West 66th Street and 54 West 67th Street for a combined $931 million. The properties span a collective 30,000 square feet.
In 2023, the first visuals for a no-action supertall proposal were revealed, as depicted in the below axonometric diagram showing two offset towers with the tallest reaching as high as 1,577 feet. This scheme, which would have been taller than Extell’s 1,550-foot Central Park Tower, never panned out and the application stalled.
77 West 66th Street zoning and massing diagram from 2023.
Back in March, the Upper West Side Community Board 7’s Housing & Land Use Committee requested Extell to include affordable housing in its design proposal. CB7 is seeking the Department of City Planning (DCP) to review the committee’s zoning application for 77 West 66th Street, calling for 20 percent of the site’s floor area to be dedicated to below-rate market housing. (This however does not equate to 20 percent of the total number of residential units.) The address falls outside of the Lincoln Square Special District, which dates back to 1961 and was first amended in 1993 to bring ABC’s broadcasting studios to the Upper West Side.
Despite the push by the CB7 for a new zoning text amendment, the plan may fall short due to the fact that the site for 77 West 66th Street does not require a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). In addition, any supertall building built with no affordable homes could be constructed “as of right,” since it would comply with the existing on-site zoning regulations originally set in place for ABC.
In addition to demolishing the current occupant of 77 West 66th Street, Extell also plans to tear down 7 West 66th Street and 30 West 67th Street, both located on the same city block, and construct a separate structure rising approximately 300 to 350 feet. The Walt Disney Company plans to consolidate its facilities downtown in the recently completed Robert A. Iger Building at 7 Hudson Square by the end of this year.
The nearest subway is the 1 train at the 66th Street-Lincoln Center station by the intersection of Broadway and Columbus Avenue.
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Everyone reading this in an UWS cafe just spit up their coffee. The views from these apartments looking South and East would be spectacular, but my guess is there will years of law suits to attempt to derail this.
Maybe Extell is seeking 1,200′ with the real goal of simply building another 700′ residential tower?
Either scenario, this would be something exciting to see on the skyline!
The problem is that it’s Extell, and they never build anything exciting. They understand that their tax dodging occupants don’t know any better or care.
Nope, this is as-of-right. It’s happening 😀
The 600 footer on Amsterdam & 69 was as of right and it still took about 10 years of court fights before the developer could break ground.
You think the tony folk on W 67, the same ones who were in fact the first NYers to stop Bob Moses (who proposed turning a playground into a parking lot for Tavern on the Green), won’t fight this?
As one of his competitors said “Gary Barnett builds the ugliest buildings in NYC” and this is yet another case in point. When I walk the reservoir in Central Park the proof of this statement is clearly evident. The entrance to his 217 W. 57th Building is underwhelming as it’s overwhelmed by Nordstrom’s. One could only wish that Barnett would show some restraint and some aesthetic sensibility. 220 CPS is one of the finest new buildings in New York but its overshadowed by the bland, soulless 217.
I am pretty pro-development in most cases, but not this one. This would be wildly inappropriate for the area. A 40-50 story building would be fine here. This one would be a monster. Come on, Gary, you can do better.
Ridiculous. This is literally just a few blocks north of the Nordstrom tower. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with standing out among shorter buildings, in fact it’s what we should always hope for. The great myth that new buildings should always be “contextual” is one of the most destructive and despicable lie peddled by NIMBYs.
It’s not a lie or a myth. It’s an opinion. Others are entitled to them just as you are.
The point is that Barnett and Extell DON’T CARE what anyone else thinks, much less about the communities they destroy. I still remember the collective gasp that went up when they first showed the renderings of the two buildings on B’way & 99th Street.
And they LIED about what was being proposed on this site. And CB& allowed the negotiations to be conducted largely in secret so that the community had little or no input.
I suer as hell HOPE that lawsuits are being planned. This is outrageous.
Only allow this if 60% of apartments are in housing lottery.
At this time anyone making loans on this project must like junk debt for if robots and AI are going to eliminate jobs and industries this building may end up empty after built .
In five years I see 33% unemployment as AI eliminates jobs in record levels.
I agree if the lottery is open to every single new yorker regardless of income or asset
If ever built, this would be the runaway winner of the “sticks out like a sore thumb” sweepstakes..a disaster.
Blah… blah… The build more so this one isn’t so lonely. Problem solved!
Maybe, but by the time that happens, they’ll be building cities on Mars.
Demolishing nearly an entire block so you can build an out of place super tall seems like a poor use of space and an abuse of the intent of zoning.
I’m actually not opposed to the height (though the design needs work). It’s the underutilization of the remaining site to get that height which bothers me.
The image is a ULURP rendering for what they can do as-of-right, so I am not surprised to see them making it look as bad as possible so that when they drop their rezoning proposal, the alternative option looks much better.
From the looks of it, the city block is not apartments but instead former ABC/Disney office space that is being moved to Hudson Yards. This building would be less than 10 blocks away from Billionaire’s Row on 57th street around the southwest corner of the park. Adding 90 floors of housing where there used to be zero sounds like a good deal to me. Crazy that the comments are against building big buildings in MANHATTAN on the YIMBY WEBSITE.
Hudson Square, not Hudson Yards. 100% agree with you though.
New York is all about new towers development, new jobs and new construction. Great choice for the area and use. As a neighbor I support it and can’t wait to see it built.
Me too and can’t wait to see something so tall go up on this site. Has so much potential!
Disney which owns ABC TV where this building would be built would or has sold the location of this development. Central Park and the public are the biggest losers in this deal. Even a building half thid height would affect things negatively.
The Tower of Babbel in New York City.
Looks great. Please build this.
Well since you said please
I am mr build , but come on this is way too big for the community – that has plenty of tall buildings already.
this is showing with NOTHING build outside otherwise towers – I presume the final will be midrise on midblock and smaller towers on the avenue – spreading the FAR around the whole site.
That said, why is there allowed do much FAR here, and only a few blocks away below 57th st in Clinton you cant build beyond 5 stories? what is so precious about the far west side which needs to be up zoned. the UWS and UES should be downzoned. they are already maxed out.
Also allow taller north of the UWS and UES.
I believe UWS residents will be very upset by this and will cast huge shadows across central park in the afternoon. I predict this will be very unpopular and will be downsized
I’m a pre-war fanatic, I love the old skyline in iconic films. As it is these soulless towers are blocking beautiful architecture, and making the skyline look homogeneous and generic. Just imagine if great European cities like Rome or Paris had towers like this,
NYC is to skyscrapers as Rome is to ruins. Without skyscrapers NYC is insignificant, so not a logical comparison.
Wild to me that there’s so much push back on here. A block away from the 775ft Snohetta tower, replacing the cap of a block (NOT “demolishing nearly an entire block” as another here is erroneously claiming) that currently houses offices of a company who has already moved shop with HOUSING.
There isn’t even a design here, just the as-of-right massing.
Yup. They are replacing corporate space with “housing” – for the same types of billionaires and multi-millionaires on Billionaire’s Row on 57th Street. I will bet you a dollar to a dime that a huge number of these units – particularly the most expensive ones – will be bought by billionaires who will never live in them (as they don’t actually live in the buildings on 57th Street), and are simply “parking their money” for tax purposes. After all, that is what Extell is KNOWN for. And now they’ve brought it to the UWS at a completely inappropriate site.
This goes beyond travesty. It is an enormous betrayal. But, as I said, Extell doesn’t give a s— about the community.
East shadow on park? Is that important or. Communist?
Shadows Matter. Where will they be cast on our beloved Central Park?
Shadows matter to some, not most and taller, thinner structures minimize impact.
And I appreciate shadows in the hot summer sun
I’m a soon to be 77 y/o “cardiac crippled” retired NY trial lawyer now living out West in AZ. My wife and I just got back this weekend from the City, where we have a “closest” condo that we bought 20 yrs ago on East End Ave for our back and forth visits. The only good thing about the proposed project is that I won’t be alive if and when it is ever built. The “Majestic” it ain’t.
I agree, actually I turned 77 today!..and I grew up (sort of) at Gracie Gardens, on 89th street just off of East End Ave.
Manhattan should only be building tall towers to maximize space and housing.
Maximize space and housing…and billionaires.
This one is not going to happen. Extell will need to go back to the drawing board.
Too bad this thing could not be built across the street from “The Torch” so views of “The Torch” would not be seen from various angles. Nevertheless it may altogether possible with the right placement and height the proposed structure even on 66th Street may relieve some Upper West-siders of views of “The Torch”.
Agree this won’t happen. It’s far too out of step with the UWS and makes no sense in that area. It will loom over Lincoln Center and Central Park. It’s a really weird place to put it. Yes, NYC needs housing, but the only “people” this will be housing are foreign bank accounts and whatever multimillionaires even want to live on the West Side, and there aren’t many. Go to the east side with this nonsense. And I’m all for building in NYC, but give me a break. The solution is not an empty supertall for rich people to stow their cash in every block.
Another FUGLY Extell.
This is simply a massing plan, not a design. From a massing standpoint, it is no more attractive or unattractive than any of the supertalls on Billionaire’s Row. There is a demonstrated history of rich New Yorkers willing to pay to be near both Central Park and the Lincoln Center so this site could not actually be a surprise to anyone. The article says land use is “by right” so read between the lines. If the public wants a below market rate component, it will come at a cost which I would bet means let them build on a portion of the remaining site.
There are supertalls on Central Park South, why not Central Park West?
There are no supertalls on CPS, they are on 57th Street. The proposed building here is at Columbus Ave closer to Broadway. This building would cast a shadow however on Central Park for a portion on most days which if you want to have healthy greenery is not the best idea.
A little bit of shadow, which will move swiftly across whatever portion of the park it reaches, would hardly be harmful to greenery.
“There are no supertalls on CPS, they are on 57th Street.” You are not entirely correct. Although four of the six major supertalls are on 57th Street (with another one on the way), there is one on Park Avenue, and one on CPS between Columbus Circle and 7th Avenue (220 CPS). The only reason you don’t “see” it is because it is “stepped back.” It also happens to be the only one with any actual architectural character.
Read the book Billionaire’s Row to get a really great background on the various supertalls, including four on 57th, the one on Park Avenue and the ones on CPS. It happens to be a very easy, even fun, read.
Yes because clearly plants can’t grow in valleys between mountains. /s
If they are going to plant something like that at 66th and Columbus, they need to make sure it’s more than just a lobby. They should redo that entire intersection of 66th and bway and make a traffic circle with a fountain or just route traffic like they did with Broadway North of 34th Street.
And obviously it’s hideously tall and it should make 1,000 low and middle income apartments.
Yes poor folks need free apartments subsided by the rest of us taxpayers at a cost of over a million dollars per unit at this location.
And they deserve it, why? merely because they cannot afford it, that gives them virtue? because they add so much to the city ? lets just look at the NYCHA projects as a model for urban planning and intergenerational disfunction and poverty.
The sense of entitlement in this town knows no bounds.
As an Upper West Sider for 53 years, I say NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO!!!
Ain’t happening, so stop your masturbation.
Is Barnett cutting the value of his existing project on 66th? Why would anyone buy at the one he’s just topped out if it’s going to be overshadowed by a much taller one less than one block away?
Many cities across the world are building taller. Remember what city you live in. New York has always been recognizable by its skyline. Adding another super tall is something that should be applauded. Also, there are too many bored people in life that don’t have any thing else to worry about.
I warned people not to trust Extell and Gary Barnett, and that they were lying about their plans for this site. And, of course, they were. And the fact that CB7 allowed this negotiation to take place “in secret” – with little or no community input – should make every member of the CB7 community as mad as hell. For my part, I will NEVER trust CB7 again – EVER. This is so far beyond the pale that there are no accurate words to describe it. I am mortified, and near tears.
get some help.
overly dramatic
Based on conversations with three people “in the know” since I posted my first comment here, I can report that this article is speculative at best, misleading at worst. Extell has NOT proposed a specific building for the site, either its height, footprint, or anything else. And no, this is NOT what they could build “as of right”; they would need variances for a building this tall in that particular zoning.
So those who are saying “this will never happen” or are suggesting that potentially long-term lawsuits would occur if this particularly outrageous plan were ever to be formally proposed, are correct.
No renderings of any potential buildings (particularly re architecture, setbacks, etc.) have been provided by Extell to the DOB, the BSA or anyone else.
His new dev on 65th St is sold over 50% to locals, not foreign investors… It’s almost unheard of. So it seems those who fought it for years to be in the neighborhood are actually buying it up. As much as I don’t think someone that big should be there, looks like the proof is in the pudding in terms of it being a smart financial move for them.
If they are going this big, it should be thinner & more interesting.