| Reader's Comments |
 |
You are the best!
-- Reginald LaFayette, Cmsnr, Board of Elections
|
|
| White Plains Week |
|
 CLICK HERE TO WATCH NOW!
John Bailey
Jim Benerofe
welcome
Peter Katz
to the
WHITE PLAINS WEEK
NEWS TEAM
Fridays at 7:30
Mondays at 7
on
WPPA-TV
Channel 76
NEW!
See Current Edition of
White Plains Week
on the Internet at
www.whiteplainsweek.com
|
|
| User Info |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report from The Fountainhead:City Center North-The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
Posted on Wednesday, May 21 @ 11:06:47 EDT by jfbailey
|
|
|
WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey May 21, 2003 UPDATED WITH NEWEST PICTURES, 1 PM E.D.T.: Yours truly, Johnny Flash went flying Monday, ascending to the top of the 35-story City Center North Building under construction on Main Street, to see for myself what a little height can do. I was accompanied by the Superintendent of HRH Construction, Bruce Wicks, and got an in-person look of what people who are different from you and me will be seeing from "the top of White Plains."
AT THE TOP OF WHITE PLAINS: The Penthouses with the best view in New York. How it is, looking to the Southwest from the 35th floor of City Center North. On the top five floors of City Center North (Floors 31 to 35) there will be four 3-bedroom penthouse apartments, each apartment taking up a spacious 1,400- 1,500 square feet with surrounding views like this of Long Island Sound, New York City and the green of Westchester County. In foreground is West Post Road.
Photo by WPCNR News
TOUR GUIDES, Bruce J. Wicks, right of HRH Construction, Superintendent, and Geof Thompson, spokesperson for Cappelli Enterprises who arranged the tour, showcase the fabulous view of White Plains' West Side from the Penthouse duplex.
Photo by WPCNR News
Ascending the dignified column in the construction elevator cage I felt quite secure in a dangerous setting. City Center North (on Main Street) is already acquiring character from the brick finish being appplied at the lower levels. I was reminded of The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand's classic novel of Howard Roark, a compelled architect devoted to his designs consistently thwarted by establishment power. In Louis Cappelli, we see Roark's real life incarnation.
Feeling the Power of Achievement.
I felt the power of man’s achievement surrounding and supporting me on the slab platforms and stalwart pillars lofting mere mortals into the Heavens. I felt the will of this amazing creation that was demolitioned, dug-out, foundationed, pillared, mortared, welded, and coordinated precisely by thousands of no nonsense hands of hundreds of construction workers, all brothers in time to the men and women who have hammered out America for over 200 years.
The brutal, deftly wielded power of Cappelli’s Army of cranes, workhorse trucks and flame-wielding creators of a monumental sculpture makes a statement mere art never makes. The Center and its tower existence where once there was a hole injects downtown White Plains with new hustle and hope in the streets. City Center and its Tower is forging a legacy now in its “phoenix” of girders, mortar, steel, pipe and wire being seamlessly orchestrated in a creative show of will now performing relentlessly for about 500 days on the center, about 660 days from the the day the first backhoe punched a hole in Macy's.
NORTHSIDE VIEW: Looking north from the penthouse at City Center North, viewers can pick out the Kenisco Dam, Bear Mountain. In foreground is the AT & T tower, formerly the tallest structure in White Plains.
Photo by WPCNR News
It has been 22 months since July, 2001 when Louis Cappelli began the demolition of Macy’s. Actual construction of the City Center and lone tower has been in the works just 16 months. Six of those consisted of spent in demolition phase, and ten months saw City Center construction crews work through through five months of the coldest winter in years.
GENTRIFYING EASTVIEW: Looking to the northeast, Clayton Park is visible in the foreground, and the body of water in the upper center is Silver Lake and West Harrison. Jeff Thompson, our tour guide, said that terraces will be constructed on City Center North's 22nd, 29th and 31st floors providing an extra dimension to the luxury units on those floors. It is truly a location a discriminating and inspired individual would covet.
Photo by WPCNR News
It is the work of a team: Craftsmen with brute, precision skills, and great talent that transform engineer’s drawings and architects’ designs into safe, reliable reality. They take pride in their work, signing girders and blocks of concrete, leaving their marks for future generations. Above it all, they risk their lives daily. They work in windblown conditions in teams carefully coordinated by communications and spend enormous energy, hour after hour, day after day, one bolt, one weld, at a time. Day after day.
THE EAST VIEW, shows Westchester Avenue east bound with the Stop N Shop complex in the center, the Eastview School and fields, and The Westchester at right of center.
Photo by WPCNR
The crews have been pushed to finish the City Center by October of this year. During the winter that averaged temperatures in the upper twenties, Cappelli forces enclosed each level of the Tower with heavy tarps to keep crews working. They poured concrete in special processes to withstand the cold and keep the 35-story City Center North moving on up at one floor a week, according to Bruce Wicks, Superintendent for HRH Construction, builders of the residential showpiece. He said the Cappelli organization has spent a lot of extra money to keep the project moving in the teeth of the cold.
VIEW OF THE SOUTHEND: Just beyond the top of Westchester One, the well-heeled future owner of the Penthouse duplex on top of City Center North, will see the spires of New York Presbyterian Hospital and the deep blue of Long Island Sound. On Monday, the efficient new Fortunoff's is shown just to the right of Westchester One, and Bloomingdale's visible diagonally across from the Fortunoff's location. New York Presbyterian Hospital is on the ridge extending from the spires (the NYPH Oval) jsut visible over Westchester One across the center of the picture.
Photo by WPCNR News
THE VIEW DOWN MAMARONECK AVENUE FROM THE 35TH FLOOR: the vacant JPI site can be viewed in the upper right corner of your screen. Wicks said that he fully expects to be working on the JPI Jeffersons project at 300 Mamaroneck Avenue within weeks.
Photo by WPCNR News
DEEP WITHIN THE CITY CENTER, retail tenants are starting to frame out what is already “the pride of White Plains.” Circuit City and Greenpoint Bank have begun to “frame out” the first of the retail outlets going on first floor retail. Target has begun to "frame out" the below street level. Shown here is the Main Street level, across from City Hall where Barnes & Noble is leased.
Photo by WPCNR News
COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: On the theatre level, National Amusements has not begun to construct their theaters yet. Shari Redstone, the chief executive of National Amusements will personally supervise the construction of the “City Center Cinema de Lux," according to Jennifer Maguire Hanson, Director of Corporate Communications of National Amusements. Ms. Hanson reports the interior design will be similar to the a Island 16 Cinema de Lux in Holtsville, Long Island. This theater is located off Exit 61 of the Long Island Expressway at Nicolls Road near Farmingville deep in the heart of Suffolk County. For a taste of what the City Center Cinema deluxe will offer, visit www.island-16.com.
Photo by WPCNR News
|
| |
| Article Rating |
|
Average Score: 0
Votes: 0
|
|
|
