[1] Originally known as Kips Bay Plaza, the project was developed by Webb & Knapp as middle-income rental apartments, but was converted to condominiums in the mid-1980s.
[5] The complex occupies an area of three city blocks, or approximately 7.5 acres (3.0 ha), bounded by First and Second avenues and East 30th and 33rd streets and includes two residential high-rise buildings each with 20 floors.
[8] At a conference held in January 1949 to preview updated plans for the new medical center, City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses said "west of this area a great deal remains to be done" and revealed that discussions were taking place for the development of a state housing project on First Avenue opposite Bellevue Hospital, which would be a start in making improvements in the area to the west.
[8][11] The medical center had a particular interest in the urban renewal project as it was facing a shortage of housing for staff and personnel at its new complex located on First Avenue across the street from the proposed redevelopment.
[16] The project would also involve the razing of 168 stores, several garages and lofts, a laundromat, a dairy, and a stable,[12] as well as the Nathan Straus branch of the New York Public Library.
[18] After the land was condemned by the city, it was sold in December 1954 to University Center, Inc., the private sponsor of the project, which was a group of 93 investors headed by David Moss.
[20] Apart from the usual difficulties of finding new housing for the displaced tenants, the project sponsor was also faced with the challenges of relocating a flock of 100 homing pigeons that resided atop a tenement at 328 East 33rd Street.
[26] The Committee on Slum Clearance Plans ultimately forced University Center, Inc. to surrender the NYU-Bellevue project, which was taken over by Webb & Knapp in June 1957.
[27][30] In addition to changing the name of the project to Kips Bay Plaza, Webb & Knapp modified the site plan to reduce the number of buildings, electing to construct two 20-story apartment towers on the north and south sides of the superblock.
[34] In an interview, Pei recalled that Zeckendorf "was willing to gamble with me on using concrete" in Kips Bay Plaza's construction, at a time when most apartment towers used brick.
[48] The movie theater in the shopping center was designed to be a "luxury" showcase of first run films;[49] it opened on October 16, 1962, when it hosted the double premiere of Requiem for a Heavyweight along with the Criterion Theatre.
[57] In October 1972, Kips Bay Plaza and the adjacent shopping center were purchased from Alcoa by a group led by William Zeckendorf Jr.,[58][59][60] who paid over $20 million for the complex.
[60][61] The younger Zeckendorf said he had a "great belief in the future of the New York City residential market";[60] the purchase took place seven years after his father's company Webb & Knapp had gone bankrupt.
[63] The Lee National Corporation bought a majority stake in Kips Bay Towers Inc. in 1979, with plans to convert the buildings into condominiums.
[64] NYU had considered purchasing Kips Bay Towers in 1978, which it intended to continue operating as a rental property, but was advised against doing by so primarily due to the strength of the complex's tenant association.
[66] While the shopping center on the west side of the superblock had opened in the 1960s, the site along First Avenue that had been allocated for a professional building remained as a vacant, fenced-in lot through the mid-1980s.
[73] The site was eventually redeveloped into Greenberg Hall, a 10-story building designed by Pomerance & Breines that opened in 1986 and contains 215 apartments used by students from the NYU School of Medicine.
[1][74] By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Kips Bay Towers' residents included a large number of diplomats and doctors,[75] along with many families.
[77] At the end of the decade, the shopping center along Second Avenue, between 30th and 32nd streets, was redeveloped by the J. D. Carlisle Development Corporation as Kips Bay Plaza.
[79] While the new shopping center was being constructed, a collapse in the shoring around the 35-foot-deep (11 m) excavation caused a landslide and opened up a large hole in the children's playground on Kips Bay Towers complex, requiring it to be rebuilt.
Funded by a rebate from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the solar array became the city's largest, being able to produce 54 kilowatts (72 hp) of electricity.
[83][84] In 2010, the Doe Fund submitted an application to the New York City Department of Transportation to convert the service road on Second Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets into a pedestrian plaza, which drew mixed reactions from the local community.
[85] A Fairway Market supermarket opened at Kips Bay Plaza in 2012; the complex's other retail tenants at the time included Petco and Staples.
[86] The proposal to close Second Avenue's service road was ultimately canceled in 2013 when J. D. Carlisle, the owner of the Kips Bay Plaza shopping center, withdrew its support of the project due to opposition from two of its tenants, AMC Loews and Fairway Market.
[1][30] S. J. Kessler and Sons were listed as associate architects on the project; the firm had helped design the original plans for University Center, Inc. and was retained by Webb & Knapp to do the working drawings for Kips Bay Plaza.
[34] In contrast to typical glass curtain walls, which Architectural Forum described as "flat and fragile", the recessed windows were also intended to give the building a sturdy appearance.
[103] Pei tried to increase the number of rooms in the buildings to obtain a larger FHA loan, so he placed numerous three-bedroom apartments at either end of each residential tower.
[48] Pei had designed small air-conditioning units underneath each window, but these were replaced by bulkier air conditioners midway through the development process.
[78] Robert A. M. Stern and the co-authors of his 1995 book New York 1960 described the Kips Bay Towers as "a deliberate departure from the prevailing neighborhood fabric of brownstones and tenements", although they wrote that the buildings' facades "reinforced" the Manhattan street grid.
[115] A letter written by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in support the designation of University Village as a New York City landmark noted that Kips Bay Plaza "has already lost much of its integrity due to an unsympathetic and out-of-scale shopping center that overwhelms the site", referring to the new retail complex on Second Avenue that had opened in 1999.