The New Gold Coast

Thirty-five years ago, a rising star on the New York real estate scene, Sheldon Solow, put the finishing touches on an eye-catching new office tower at 9 W. 57th St. The shiny, black glass building, held together by a white frame, has since been viewed by many as a crown jewel of Midtown, attracting top-end tenants and offering an iconic, modernist structure near the southern edge of Central Park.Now, at 79, Mr. Solow is embarking on a project that could redefine his legacy: to build, just south of the United Nations, a complex of six skinny glass towers, four at more than 600 feet. It’s a development that would change the skyline view from the east and create a new gold coast along Midtown’s eastern edge.A billionaire, Mr. Solow is one of the real estate industry’s more enigmatic figures. His peers call him a reserved and determined developer, a builder with patience — he first agreed to buy the nine-acre site from Consolidated Edison in 2000 — and a persistent litigator. He has carried on protracted legal battles with corporate giants, including J.P. Morgan and Avon Products, about tenant-related issues.A dropout of New York University, Mr. Solow was ranked last year by Forbes magazine the 204th richest American, with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion. He is an active real estate trader — he bought the office building at 20 W. 57th St. for $60 million this summer — and has given to philanthropic organizations as varied as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Jewish charities. He declined to be interviewed for this article.With a Community Board hearing scheduled tomorrow on his proposed East River development, which is likely the largest privately owned piece of developable land in Manhattan, Mr. Solow’s plans are winding through the public approval process, bringing the man who seems to avoid the spotlight into the public eye for what could be this fall’s most high-profile development battle. The plans call for more than 5 million square feet of new development, including upwards of 4,100 units of housing, according to the environmental impact statement.In the surrounding neighborhood, the plans have drawn critiques from residents and elected officials, who have criticized, among other issues, the heights of the buildings and the amount of parking.Members of Mr. Solow’s company, East River Realty Company, have met with local residents and officials numerous times, though the chairman of the Community Board 6 committee devoted to the development, Charles Buchwald, described the interactions as “one-way presentations.” Mr. Buchwald said East River Realty has been resistant to changing significantly the density and layout of the project. The project architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, say the building heights have been cut and retail has been added to the plan.In overseeing his various residential and commercial landholdings, Mr. Solow seems to devote much of his attention to the legal arena, and has sued his tenants, contractors, landlords, and rival bidders, often pressing appeals for years. While he has won a number of battles, he has seen many more defeats, and judges have legally barred him from further litigation on some matters and sanctioned him for frivolous litigation.His supporters say his actions in the court are representative of a man who believes strongly in the law, seeing cases through to their end when he believes he has been wronged.“Sheldon is a very principled individual, and at times he believes in protecting his rights and principles,” one of Mr. Solow’s attorneys, Warren Estis, said. “If someone breaches their agreement with you, and it involves significant damages, it’s a prudent way to proceed.”His critics see his actions differently, calling him a tenacious fighter who will often have a legal bill that is millions of dollars more than the amount he was seeking to recoup.“He treats litigation as sport,” a partner at Ropes & Gray, Jerome Katz, whose clients have been sued by Mr. Solow over a lease dispute, said. “He is repeatedly sanctioned, but apparently he has still not been sanctioned yet enough to deter him from brining these types of suits.”Mr. Solow’s company sued Mr. Katz’s clients, alleging an elaborate scheme was set up to charge him a price on his lease higher than was fair. A judge, Marcy Friedman, threw out the case in 2005, writing in her decision that the causes of action “not only are premised on an implausible, if not absurd, factual scenario, but also lack any legal basis whatsoever.”In a separate legal matter, Mr. Solow was alleged to have anonymously taken out ads in the New York Times and New York Post that appeared as legal notices to make bankruptcy claims against the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Peter Kalikow. Peers say Mr. Solow’s persistence seems to carry over to his real estate projects, where the developer is deeply involved in the design process.“Sheldon has his strong feelings about things,” the president of the Real Estate Board of New York, Steven Spinola, said. Mr. Solow “cares about what his buildings look like,” Mr. Spinola said, and he has a strong drive to develop buildings with iconic design.The plans for the buildings south of the United Nations, with their relatively simple, modernist design, have been strongly guided by Mr. Solow, according to a partner, Marilyn Taylor, at the principal architecture firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill.“He brings a very, very modern eye — it’s the same eye you can see in 9 West 57th,” Ms. Taylor said.The City Planning Commission and the City Council need to approve the project, and elected officials are pushing for alterations.“I have serious concerns about the project,” Council Member Daniel Garodnick said. “The buildings are too big, and too dense for the neighborhood.”

The New Gold Coast

The New Gold Coast

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