Developers in New York City are being innovative and for a good reason.
Recently, they have discovered a way to have a billion-dollar project that would take about 30 months to finish and it involves-wait for it-the Broadway theaters.
For years, according to New York Post, it has been a practice to by Broadway theater owners to sell air rights to developers and now, something new has come to light, basement rights! The lucky developer, which also owns nine Broadway theaters, is Nederlander Organization.
The Nederlanders plan to elevate the famous Palace Theatre 29 feet above the ground so it can create retail space at the bottom. The Palace, New York Post continues, will be lifted intact before it undergoes a massive multimillion dollar renovation. The Nederlanders promise that it will be more splendid than ever, except that it will become taller.
The report adds that it can be done because, "The Palace Theatre, built in 1913, is in essence a shoebox encased in what is now the DoubleTree Suites hotel at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 47th Street. The theater's facade was effaced long ago. Only its glorious, landmarked interior exists."
A join project between the Nederlanders and Maefield Development, which costs $2 billion, has already been approved by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Maefield brought the idea to the Nederlanders about two years ago and at first, they could not even grasp the idea and the first reaction was, "What?" but when the engineering was explained to them, they realized it can be accomplished and safely at that, says Nederlander executive vice president Nick Scandalios.
How? According to New York Post, "The Palace, which Maefield partner Paul Boardman calls a "Fabergé egg," is already encased in three layers of brick, sort of its own strongbox. And there is already some space - dead space - between its roof and a floor of hotel. There is also space between its walls and the walls of the hotel. Think of the Palace as sort of a giant elevator in the middle of the DoubleTree. Maefield will put the theater on 16 jacks and then lift it one inch at a time. Eventually, the jacks will be replaced by 16 permanent columns."
Even if a jack falls, there are also no worries that structure fall because the other jacks are made and designed to carry the load assured Boardman.
There will be sensors, vibration monitors and GPS system to ensure nothing cracks during the elevation process. In addition, each interior will be inspected every inch of lift.
Boardman added that the movement is imperceptible that you won't be able to feel it.
The same technology has been used in 1998 when the Empire Theatre on West 42nd Street was lifted and moved several feet down the block and the movement was ever so slow the pigeons on the roof did not even flutter, New York Post concludes.
Surely, it would be a skyscraper to behold once done.
