Times Square Toys “R” Us, Once World’s Largest Toy Store, To Close December 30

1:15 pm on December 28, 2015 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

2015 will go down in New York’s storied retail history as the year when the city lost two of its flagship toy stores. At 6:00 p.m. on December 30, Toys “R” Us will shut down its Times Square store at West 44th Street and Broadway. The retail giant decided not to renew the lease due to ever-rising rents in the pedestrian-heavy neighborhood. Earlier in July, the company closed the famous FAO Schwarz store on at 767 Fifth Avenue, which had served the city since 1986.

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Construction at FRANK 57WEST, 600 West 58th Street. Photo by Tectonic.

Construction Update: FRANK 57WEST Rises On The Far West Side

7:30 am on December 28, 2015 By Evan Bindelglass

If you’ve gone up the West Side Highway in Manhattan or up Port Imperial Boulevard in New Jersey, you’ve probably noticed the Durst Organization-developed Bjarke Ingels Group-designed Via tetrahedron. Not only is it visually striking, there has been a fair amount of press coverage. Additionally, its next-door neighbor, the high-rise Helena has been there for a decade now. But they are not the only Durst developments on the block bounded by Eleventh Avenue, West 57th Street, Twelfth Avenue, and West 58th Street.

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520 Park Avenue

54-Story, 33-Unit Residential Tower Rises At 520 Park Avenue, Upper East Side

6:30 am on December 28, 2015 By Reid Wilson

YIMBY partially revealed schematics back in 2013 of Zeckendorf Development’s planned 54-story, 33-unit ultra-luxury residential tower at 520 Park Avenue (formerly 45 East 60th Street), in Lenox Hill. Later that year, demolition wrapped up on the site’s old low-rise structures. Since then, work has focused on building the project’s foundation. In recent months, however, the tower has finally begun to rise, as seen in these photos by Tectonic, and concrete is now being poured for the fourth floor. Robert A.M. Stern Architects is designing the limestone-clad structure, which will eventually host some of New York’s most opulent condominiums. Completion is currently expected in 2017.