Ackman’s Scaled-Back Plan for NYC Glass Penthouse Gets Approved

(Bloomberg) -- Bill Ackman won approval to build his glass penthouse atop a historic Manhattan co-op tower -- in a scaled-down form. 

The billionaire hedge fund manager said initial opposition to his plans for a Norman Foster-designed structure made the final proposal better. After two rounds of revisions to address complaints about its visibility from the street, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday gave the green light to the project.

Ackman and his wife, Neri Oxman, want to replace an existing pink stucco box on the century-old, brick co-op’s roof. 

“We love NY, which makes us particularly pleased to get the apartment approved,” Ackman said in an email to Bloomberg News. “The LPC gave us great feedback and the result is an even more beautiful and less-visible design. It was a great process with a happy outcome.”

Opponents of the project at 6-16 W. 77th St., just off Central Park West, had called it a “flying saucer” and a “platform temple to a titan” during public hearings. Other complaints didn’t take issue with the general concept of a penthouse inspired by Philip Johnson’s Glass House, but disliked that it could be seen from the street and would modify the skyline.

The plans approved by the landmarks commission scale back the second floor of the structure, which was initially proposed as a nearly 15-foot (4.6-meter) occupied level clad in glass and black steel. In the current plan, it’s 3 feet shorter and covered in gray steel meant to better blend in with its surroundings. Models no longer show the structure as visible from the street.

Ackman and Oxman bought the apartment atop the 16-story tower for $22 million in 2018. Ackman has lived on the Upper West Side since 1992 and currently resides at the Beresford, at 211 Central Park West. Though the building on 77th Street is not a city landmark, it is within the Upper West Side/Central Park West historic district.

The approval was first reported by the real estate website 6sqft.

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