Gary Barnett’s Extell Development is planning a 1,200-foot-tall tower at the former ABC headquarters at 77 West 66th Street, on the Upper West Side. Photo by Jim.henderson on Wikimedia.
A new supertall residential skyscraper proposed for the Upper West Side would become the neighborhood’s tallest building by a wide margin. Extell Development founder Gary Barnett met with Manhattan Community Board 7 last month to discuss plans for a 1,200-foot-tall tower at 77 West 66th Street, the former Disney campus. The 90-story building would surpass the height of Extell’s tower at 55 West 66th Street, across the street. Hoping to avoid another prolonged legal battle like the one that development faced, Barnett told the board he plans to include 100 affordable units in two smaller buildings as a gesture of “peace” with the community.
The proposed skyscraper would rise across the street from Extell’s 50 West 66th Street, another controversial project that was completed late last year following years of legal battles. Barnett first filed permits for that tower in 2017, but lawsuits challenging the height of its oversized mechanical floors, designed to inflate the building’s overall height, delayed construction, as 6sqft previously reported.
In 2020, the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals allowed Extell to proceed with the project. The board said the mechanical space was appropriate and rejected the challenge from the preservation organization Landmark West, which said Extell abused the zoning code by including the tall mechanical floors.
The site at 77 West 66th Street qualifies for “as of right” development under existing rules, meaning the project does not require a special permit or variance by the City Planning Commission, according to The Spirit. The city granted the designation decades ago as part of its effort to attract ABC to the Upper West Side, as reported by West Side Rag.
Barnett plans to meet with the community board again next week to ease tensions with residents, even though current zoning allows Extell to build the tower without special approvals.
Council Member Gale Brewer, who represents the neighborhood, has called for permanent on-site affordable housing. In a resolution passed last month, Community Board 7 stated that 20 percent is an appropriate target for affordable units and emphasized that these homes should be permanently affordable.
During the board meeting, Barnett said he was prepared to dedicate two buildings on-site—one new development and one existing building—to 100 units of affordable housing. He emphasized that the inclusion of affordable homes was entirely voluntary.
“What I’m getting out of this, really—it’s not make or break—is just peace,” Barnett said. “I’m not interested in a fight. God willing, we have enough here to build something good, hopefully do well. I just don’t need it.”
He added: “We fought and won the last battle, and we’ll win this one too if we have to. I’d just rather not, when there’s already enough voluntarily on the table to get a lot of good done here and for the local community.”
The site previously housed ABC, including broadcasting facilities for ESPN and several ABC television shows. Extell purchased the property, along with a nearby site at 54 West 67th Street, in 2022 for a combined $931 million from Silverstein Properties and Seven Valleys, according to The Spirit.
That March, the developer secured at least $900 million in acquisition financing from Guggenheim Partners and Aquarian Holdings. Later that year, Extell released its first blueprints for the site, which included multiple towers, the tallest rising to 1,577 feet. However, the proposal stalled, and Extell scrapped the project indefinitely.
In December 2024, the developer filed plans for two smaller buildings on the property that would include affordable housing.
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