21 August,2010 08:11 AM IST | | Agencies
A big-shot developer has one final hurdle to clear in his bid to build a skyline altering skyscraper in the shadow of the Empire State Building.
But there's one person erecting a tower of opposition to the plan: the owner of the Empire State Building.
Anthony Malkin is in an 11th-hour bid to stop developer Steven Roth from tearing down the Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue and replacing it with a high-rise nearly as tall as the crown jewel of the cityscape.
"It's going to be known as the building that has ruined the image of New York City," said Malkin, a co-owner of the Empire State Building.
"Would you put a drilling rig next to the Statue of Liberty? Would they put something like this next to the Eiffel Tower?"
The proposed 67-storey skyscraper, named 15 Penn Plaza, goes before the City Council on Monday for final approval.
It would soar over Manhattan at a height of about 1,216 feet, just 34 feet shy of the Empire State Building's top floor.
The planned commercial tower is also catching flak because it's slated to be built just opposite Madison Square Garden, placing it within three blocks of the city's most iconic building.
Though the proposal has the support of the City Planning Commission and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Malkin is hoping to urge the City Council to force Roth to scale back.
