Billionaire Wants To Build Glass Penthouse On UWS Building

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A virtual meeting for the Upper West Side Community Board 7 is not the first place you'd expect to find billionaire investor Bill Ackman. However, that is exactly where Ackman was last week, petitioning the board to let him build a glass penthouse at 6-16 West 77th Street at the corner of Central Park West.

Ackman gained approval in October from CB7's Preservation Committee to create the penthouse. His most recent appearance was at last week's full board meeting.

"We love the site. We love the Upper West Side," Ackman said during his remarks. "My wife and I wanted to raise our new family here, we have a two-and-a-half-year-old child. Our approach here was to build something that would be additive to the neighborhood."

An eye-catching penthouse on the top of 6-16 West 77th Street would not be a new phenomenon. Ackman's vision would be a replacement for a penthouse that's there now, described by many as a pink box.

Ackman, who has lived on the Upper West Side since 1992, pointed to a variety of reasons why he should be allowed to go forward with his penthouse replacement.

He noted that while the building is 120 years old, the pink penthouse is not part of that original architecture and is "crumbling." He added that the construction will stay 50-feet below the height limit.

Ackman continued by touting his hiring of Norman Foster for the project, one of the most acclaimed architects currently working.

"It will be beautiful and it will have minimal impact," Ackman said during the meeting. "We want to live peacefully with our neighbors."

Ackman, who Forbes says is worth $3.3 billion, said that most of the people objecting to the penthouse construction also lived in the building and were opposed because of possible construction noise — not because of issues of architectural integrity.

While there are community board members who lived in the 6-16 West 77th Street building that were opposed to the penthouse, there are also non-resident members that stood against the design.

"The immodesty of the penthouse apartment is disturbing, it uses the 6-16 building as a strap for a platform temple to a titan," a CB7 board member said. "It stares at humanity and wildlife beneath."

There were plenty of community members that spoke during the meeting that supported Ackman's design.

One of those Upper West Siders is a recognizable one in the architecture community — Paul Goldberger.

The former architectural critic for both The New York Times and The New Yorker said that he was "in strong support of the design" for its push to combine the old and new of New York City.

In the final Community Board 7 vote, Ackman's design received the approval it looked for, earning 25 yes tallies, seven no tallies, and two abstentions.

It will now need the approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Nov. 16.

You can watch the full Community Board 7 discussion of Ackman's penthouse below:

The Financial Times was the first publication to report on Acker's glass penthouse.