53rd St Between 9th Ave and 10th Ave

Holy contrasting redvelopments Batman! What starts off as pretty typical upper west side block quickly devolves into pandemonium as you approach the dueling redevelopments that dominate the center of the block. While the building on the north side of the street is still under construction, it seems infinitely more interesting than the building of similar size across the street. It's really a study in modern architectural contrasts.

While I wasn't able to figure out the name of the glass-faceted building still under construction, Midwest Court (its doppelganger to the south) was pretty easy to remember. I can't comment on the quality of the apartments within, but with prices starting near $3000/month I would expect a little bit more from the front of the building. It reminds me of college dorms (in every bad way).

Further down the block, once you escape the gravitational pull of these apartments, you'll come to a school and the studio in which Wendy Williams films. I could have sworn that having Wendy Williams that close to an institution of learning would be some zoning code violation, but apparently I was mistaken.

Finally, at the end of the street, with the school's open yard to your left, the skyline is absolutely filled with the parallel lines of AT&T's monolithic building on 10th Avenue. Overall, a very interesting place to walk around. I'll be especially interested to see how it looks in a year or so.

Comments

[Mike]

The new development is going to be called The Dillon:
http://curbed.com/tags/the-dillon