Emerald City II

Another angle on the photo featured below, with one of the new multi-million-dollar condos on Bayard Street in the background. As this Brownstoner article points out, "The condominium projects underway on Bayard Street are located [outside] the [approved] height-restriction zone, but the developers broke ground in February 2005 and had foundations poured at the site while prior zoning rules, which allowed taller buildings, were still in effect... By racing to get foundations laid before the rezoning took effect last May, the developer managed to sidestep the height restriction."

My upstairs neighbor Ann used to be able to look out her window and see the McCarren track and the Manhattan skyline. For now, I'm graced with a view of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration (built between 1916 and 1921) and the Empire State Building (built in 1930-1) outside my kitchen window - but there's a newly emptied lot behind me with freshly sunk pylons and premonitions of people who will live there when the floors rise up and the ceilings close in. Sky for now...