By 2023, the contentious Solow Art & Architecture Gallery at 9 W. 57th St. will finally be accessible to the general public, according to information obtained by Realty Check.
The gallery will be enlarged to include an addition on the West 58th Street side of the tower. Our source claims that construction will shortly start.
Hayden Soloviev, vice chairman of the Soloviev Group and a descendant of Sheldon H. Solow, the founder of the real estate empire, declined to discuss specifics but told us: “My father [Stefan Soloviev, Sheldon’s son] and I have worked hard on this issue over the past year, and I am proud to say that we will be displaying the artwork to the public once our remodelling is complete.”
When asked to elaborate, Hayden said, “Yes, they will be. It means the public will actually be able to enter the formerly locked-down exhibit.”
The opening ought to put an end to the ongoing controversy around the gallery’s exclusive stance, which prompted criticism from both elected leaders and art enthusiasts.
Henri Matisse, Joan Moró, and Henry Moore all had works of art shown at the chichi building at 9 West 57th Street.
Robert Yang
In November 2020, developer Sheldon Solow passed away. He was a passionate art collector with a keen eye for design. Stefan Soloviev, a colourful character with a reputation for having up to 20 kids and a volatile temper, is in charge of running his father’s $4 billion business empire, which includes 9 West, a number of other structures, and an art collection worth more than $500 million.
Since it first opened in 1975, the 9 West skyscraper, located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, has been one of Manhattan’s most sought-after office destinations. Long before such exorbitant pricing were typical, it demanded rents of more than $100 per square foot from tenants like Apollo Management and Och-Ziff Capital Management.
However, the gallery’s image was tarnished by its being off-limits ever since it was installed in the early 1990s.
Because Sheldon Solow’s art foundation received tax incentives for holding a “public” gallery that wasn’t actually accessible to the general public, it has come under scrutiny. The works of masters like Henri Matisse, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miro, Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, and Franz Kline must be viewed through reflection-streaked windows.
The Solow family reported saving $33 million in capital gains taxes thanks to the foundation’s tax-exempt status when it sold a Sandro Botticelli piece for $92.1 million at a Sotheby’s auction.
Although the tax incentive is expected to last, art enthusiasts won’t have to press their faces up against the windowpanes for very long to enjoy the wonders inside.
We have discovered that the digital sports platform Fanatics has discreetly signed a lease for more than 75,000 square feet on three floors of RFR’s 95 Morton, making the 220,000-square-foot boutique office building fully leased. The company, which today occupies 50,000 square feet at 205 Hudson St., has undergone a considerable expansion.
The lease is confidential. Nobody from Fanatics or RFR would comment on the arrangement or confirm it.
Brokers at Cushman & Wakefield who represented Fanatics or a team from Avison Young representing RFR wouldn’t either.
In the West Village, fans are rushing into 75,000 square feet.
Courtesy of Google Maps; principal
However, according to market insiders, the change will support the company’s intentions to launch new ventures across the sports ecosystem, including licenced apparel, trading cards, and gaming.
The century-old former manufacturing building in the West Village was purchased by Aby Rosen’s RFR in 2017 for $206 million, and it was later transformed into cutting-edge offices.
The notoriously vacant Upper East Side site on the southwest corner of First Avenue and East 78th Street will soon be alive once more, and this time it won’t be with rats and weeds.
According to The Real Deal, the corner lot at 1487 First Ave. has been sold by its longtime family owners to Carmel Partners of California for $73.5 million. The wood-fenced site’s unrestrained vermin infestation and mutant weeds that sprang as high as 20 feet made it despised in the affluent neighbourhood.
Residents nearby will probably witness the construction of a residential structure there now that the annoying vacant land at the intersection of First Avenue and East 78th Street has a new owner.
When incoming City Council member Julie Menin and Rep. Carolyn Maloney attended a neighbourhood protest calling for action, The Post first covered the story last month.
The original owners, three sisters from the Chou family, were persuaded to convert the eyesore into a temporary communal garden by the legislators. However, Menin persuaded the Chous to lay down rat poison and trim the tree-high weeds so they could sell the property instead.
Most likely, the new owners will construct a modest residential complex. Menin is currently in discussions with the city’s Economic Development Corp. and Parks Department about establishing a public garden on a neighbouring vacant city-owned land in Council District 5.
She responded, “We’ve located a place, but it needs approvals.
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