By Scott Etkin
It’s the end of an era for ABC on the Upper West Side.
For nearly five decades, the American Broadcasting Company has had offices and production studios for “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight,” and other shows housed across several buildings in the West 60s along Columbus Avenue. Its presence in the neighborhood was made clear by the see-through broadcast studio for “Eyewitness News,” a scrolling banner of headlines, and the people lined up to see a recording of “Live with Kelly and Mark.”
But ABC no longer owns these properties – they’ve been sold by Walt Disney, ABC’s parent company since 1996, first to Silverstein Properties and now the majority of the buildings belong to the New York City-based real estate developer Extell.
ABC is in the process of moving to Hudson Square, the neighborhood west of SoHo formerly known as the Printing District. The transition to Disney’s new office building is expected to be completed later this year.
West Side Rag began reporting about ABC’s move in 2018 but, in some ways, the story is just getting started. That’s because the plans for what will replace most of ABC’s former campus are still up in the air. Upcoming decisions by Extell and New York’s Department of City Planning, which controls zoning regulations, will shape this portion of the neighborhood for future generations.
Luxury Residences & Potential Supertalls
ABC has owned and leased several different buildings in the West 60s over the decades. The current subject of focus are the buildings that have been acquired by Extell on the blocks of West 66th to 67th Street between Columbus and Central Park West.
While Extell’s intentions for these sites are largely unknown (Extell did not respond to the Rag’s request for comment), some information can be gleaned from permits that have been filed with the NYC Department of Buildings.
On the site of 7 West 66th Street/24 West 67th Street, Extell plans to build a 7-story residential building with 31 units, and at 30 West 67th Street, it plans to build a 9-story residential building with 50 units, reported Crain’s New York Business. Both sites fall within the Upper West Side Historic District.
These plans are subject to change, however. Extell is the company behind 50 West 66th Street, the 775-foot-tall luxury residential skyscraper that topped out last year. Its original permits were for a 25-story building.
If Extell wants to build more supertalls, they could do so on their remaining sites that comprise the majority of the block (7 Lincoln Square/147 Columbus Avenue, 47 West 66th Street, 54 West 67th Street, and 77 West 66th Street), and do not fall within the Historic District. Extell has filed permits to demolish these existing structures.
How high the new buildings go will likely come down to any potential changes in the zoning regulation that covers this block. Nearby blocks are part of the Lincoln Square Special District (LSSD), which was established in 1969 “to preserve and enhance the area surrounding Lincoln Center as an international center for the performing arts.” In 1993, this block was removed from the district to give ABC more flexibility in their operations.
But there is an effort underway to expand the LSSD back by one block to cover the former ABC properties. If approved, the height of new buildings would top out at around 400 feet, which is similar to others already in the area. By comparison, 50 West 66th Street is nearly 800 feet and the supertalls along Central Park South are closer to 1,000 feet and above.
Last year, several UWS elected leaders – including Rep. Jerry Nadler, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and City Councilmember Gale Brewer – signed a letter to the City Planning Commission indicating their support for the zoning change. In 2023, Community Board 7 also passed a resolution in support of adding the block back into the district.
Former ABC Buildings Find Other Uses
While it appears the luxury residential buildings are the most likely outcome for most of the former ABC sites, some of the old broadcast buildings are finding new life for other purposes. Last month, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Hebrew Union College has acquired 56 West 66th Street. It plans to relocate there from its current building near Washington Square Park in 2027. Originally known as the First Battery Armory, 56 West 66th Street is an individually landmarked building completed in 1904. Under ABC’s ownership, it was used as a TV studio and later an office building.
ABC’s former West End campus, composed of buildings and an undeveloped lot on West 64th to 66th street between West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard, has also all been sold off and in one case found a unique new use: 125 West End Avenue, which was used by ABC/Capital Cities for nearly 40 years, has become a life sciences hub, West End Labs. The 400,000 foot space, finished in 2023, was originally built in the 1920s as an automotive showroom and repair facility for the Chrysler Corporation.
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We should be upzoning and trying to build more housing, not downzoning a neighborhood that is directly adjacent to the largest central business district in the world. There is an incredible shortage of housing – everything is expensive and small. We desperately need more homes.
These intentions are correct, as the housing shortage is ruinous for New Yorkers of all income levels (except the highest). But upzoning to give more flexibility to developers like Extell—which has already proven it will revise seemingly modest plans to create supertalls in this neighborhood—will only exacerbate the problem.
Look at Columbus Circle and the “Deutsche Bank Center,” where 80% of the apartments are owned by foreign investors who certainly don’t live there. The ultra-luxury apartments in the Central Park South supertalls are hardly helping the housing crisis—it’s called “Billionaire’s Row” for a reason! And that type of development’s negative effect on a neighborhood goes beyond the addition of a few dozen luxury condos, because local businesses around them are pushed out for “prestige” businesses that cater to the 1% and can pay more rent as commercial tenants.
I totally agree that the market could use more homes/affordable housing. But urban planning requires responsible oversight by the city commission, the kind of oversight that restoring the LSSD entails. Real estate development firms are businesses, and they have one mission: to maximize their profits. In that regard, it makes the most sense to get the highest price per square foot possible, by building to the sky and selling to the richest people in the world. Why should we—and our elected officials—trust them with Lincoln Square?
“The ultra-luxury apartments in the Central Park South supertalls are hardly helping the housing crisis—it’s called “Billionaire’s Row” for a reason!” Yes. New York is a global city that has been a center of wealth for centuries. Billionaires are going to live here and they are going to need places to live (even if only part time!). Is the idea that if we don’t build any expensive housing, billionaires will just forget that New York exists? If they cann’t buy new high end condos, they are going to buy up brownstones or older apartment buildings and renovate them. Billionaires Row is great because it concentrates them in one place instead having them spread out and gentrify the rest of the city away from normal people.
Real estate firms are businesses and they will maximize their profit, but downzoning to provide less new housing isn’t going to change that. If they only make a “regular tall” instead of a super tall, they aren’t going to sell fewer apartments for less money. In fact they will sell the smaller number of units for even more per unit!
If foreign investors aren’t living in those ultra-luxury apartments, then who are the 1% that the prestige businesses cater to?
Do you prefer expensive and big? That’s the kind of housing that will get built.
Maybe McGlades will reopen back up there, right across the street from where they used to be! Wouldn’t that be great?
Wonderful memories of the ABC cast and crew who enjoyed McGlades, I wonder what happened to the Noel Rockmore Mural?
Yes, and with its old prices! I loved that place! Once even had Christmas dinner there!
Thanks for the clear reporting. (Would be so good not to have another supertall…I wonder if there is any way other community members can add voices to the appeal to the CPC? Time to get Googling.)
Now St Nicholas arena is censorable. Dont you know the history of the block?
Everybody pursues their own financial interests. Developers want to build whatever will generate the highest return. In places with rent control and rent stabilization, they are discouraged from building affordable housing. I think the market would solve that problem if the govt regulation were lifted — after all, it was put in place after WWII to cope with the housing crisis generated by the return of veterans, and it was intended to be temporary. But like everything else, once a benefit is granted it is very hard for politicians to terminate it. And of course tenants lucky enough to have apartments at below market rates are very pleased and pursue their own financial interest by fighting tooth and nail not to have their rents raised to what others pay. They do not want their rent level protections to be altered in any way, even if over the longer term it would solve the NYC housing problem, and the politicians are loathe to do anything to change this, because their financial interests require that they be reelected. So when I read the comments that blast the selfish or greedy landlords or developers, I think to myself that the same can be said for those who level those charges, since they also are guided by their own pursuit of money. I am sure there are exceptions, but I find it hard to find them.
Please don’t turn the UWS into a midtown clone with glass high-rises and no history or sunlight.
Hopefully a new high rise.
In the spirit of McGlades, restoration, I’d like to propose demolishing the current structure at the Southeast corner of Columbus & 67 St. to reopen Thomas’ Luncheonette a one-story pharmacy and lunch counter with the best dark chocolate hot fudge sundaes in the world. This place epitomized the true NYC coffee shop, with the friendly guys at the counter who’d call you by name. When ABC bought the property in 1962, the Luncheonette and the current Thomas’ Drugs moved to its current location on Columbus, with the Luncheonette in the adjacent building on the corner of 68th St. until 1975 or so. Back to the future.
Good reporting by the WSR! Thank you.
Great reporting on this, thank you! Please keep us informed with follow up stories.
Ex tell Will stop at nothing to get what it wants as has been proven time and time again. It’s one thing to have a super tall it’s another to have an ugly super tall as a glance towards 57th St proves
Profound grasp of the obvious: proximity to Central Park, Lincoln Center/Fordham/Mount Sinai West/MLK, A&D campuses is ideal for a new resident demographic including families, students, teachers and more useful professional services. I like the idea of safe residential with good support and shopping (grocery/pharmacy etc) but not more super slims. It’s still the UWS neighborhood and I want to keep the neighborhood look and feel.