New York City is defined by its rapid pace of change but one recent transformation to the iconic skyline has both locals and tourists alike up in arms.

From the Flatiron district in Midtown Manhattan, the view of the Empire State Building is now blocked by an 860-foot skyscraper with just 26 apartments, which are now on the market starting at $7.5 million.

Construction on 262 Fifth Avenue began in 2021 and was completed earlier this year, with a spokesperson saying it “represents a thoughtful and contemporary addition to Manhattan’s ever-evolving skyline.”

But some have been less forgiving. In a Reddit thread, dozens of people have complained about the building ruining the view. “It’s pretty terrible,” one wrote. One New Yorker named Lark made a video yelling at the building and flipping it off, which quickly went viral on social media with 5 million views. On TikTok, an architecture-focused creator told her 300,000 followers that 262 Fifth Avenue was a “waste of space.”

“It’s ugly,” Addie, a tourist who declined to give her last name, told The Independent last month near Madison Square Park.

Rise of the ‘pencils’

For the past 15 years, ultra-thin, so-called “pencil” skyscrapers have risen across Manhattan, with developers banking that the super-rich would be willing to pay for stunning views of New York City, even with limited space.

Since there are few opportunities for wide footprints, developers have exploited a loophole in the city’s zoning laws to skirt maximum height regulations – known as “air rights.”

New York City designates a maximum height for buildings, depending on where it is located. Should developers choose not to use all of their maximum height, they can hold on to those “air rights” and sell them on to developers who want to construct buildings taller than the restrictions allow.

In the case of 262 Fifth Avenue, developers spent more than $5 million buying unused air rights from nearby buildings to allow the building to exceed the district’s regulations.

The loophole has been well used on “Billionaire’s Row”, a group of ultra-luxury residential skyscrapers near the south end of Central Park. There’s Steinway Tower, a 1,428-footer with a distinct staircase-like design; 432 Park Avenue, a 1,396-foot supertall that has been plagued with lawsuits or One 57, a 1,005-foot tower with a curved roof. An apartment in any of these buildings can go for upwards of $90 million, making them available to a select few. That means units can remain empty for months or longer while waiting for a buyer.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 people are homeless in New York, and the city is grappling with an affordable housing crisis.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was elected, in part, on his promises to build 200,000 new rent-stabilized units while reserving another 200,000 homes for affordable housing over the next decade.

The city has also moved forward with a new pied-à-terre tax on people who own high-value secondary homes in the city. The first phase, being implemented next month, will tax co-ops and condos valued at more than $1 million or single-family homes valued at more than $5 million.

‘Its lights would pick me up when I was feeling down’

Lark, an animal rights activist behind the viral video, told The Independent that she was devastated when she realized the Flatiron neighborhood would lose its view of the Empire State Building – which she says inspired her to move to New York in the first place.

“Its lights would pick me up when I was feeling down and the view would hug me,” Lark, who declined to give her last name, said. “It would always tell me to brush myself off and keep going and just keep fighting for the things I want and inspire me.

“This is our Big Ben, this is our Eiffel Tower, this is our Leaning Tower of Pisa. We’re just a young city; this is our view.”

Lark’s outrage led her to make an Instagram “rage page” to post videos and photos criticizing 262 Fifth Avenue.

Some people, however, are more pragmatic.

“The spirit of letting skyscrapers flourish where they can is what makes New York (and other cities) great,” one commentator posted on a Reddit thread about the building.

A representative for 262 Fifth Avenue made a similar point.

“New York City has always been shaped by striking architecture, from early 20th-century landmarks to today’s modern residential towers, and each new addition contributes to that ongoing story. Cities change and evolve, and that continual transformation is what keeps New York City vibrant, relevant, and architecturally significant,” the spokesperson said.

Although it’s now beloved, the Empire State Building faced criticism when it was completed in 1931 during the Great Depression. Though the building was an architectural feat, the tallest in the world at the time, it was criticized as a poor financial investment and earned the nickname “Empty State Building” because it struggled to attract tenants.

‘It’s hard for oligarchs to live in a regular building’

Approximately a decade ago, Boris Kuzinez, the wealthy Latvian-Israeli developer credited with transforming Ostozhenka Street in Moscow, Russia, into a billionaire’s row, decided to turn his skill set to New York, where there was a growing trend for ultra-thin luxury residential buildings.

After all, “it’s hard for oligarchs to live in a regular building,” Kuzinez told the New York Times in 2006.

Kuzinez founded Five Points, the New York-based development firm that built 262 Fifth Avenue, in 2016. Soon, the firm began buying deeds to nearby lots in preparation to build a new high-rise apartment building. By 2017, the New York City Housing Department had approved the new building permit. The developers passed the comment period, when members of the public are allowed to weigh in on the building.

Russian-based architecture firm, Meganom, Danish-based firm, Norm Architects and New York-based SLCE Architects helped design the project.

From the start, concerns about the building obstructing the Empire State Building were there. Meganom co-founder Yury Grigoryan told the architecture and design site, Dezeen, in 2017 that his firm was “checking carefully” to ensure 262 Fifth Avenue did not spoil the New York City view for tourists on the Empire State Building observation deck.

In 2023, Five Points scaled back the design of 262 Fifth Avenue from 1,011 feet to 860 feet.

The result is a concrete structure with triple-plated glass in a double UV coating to protect art collections from natural light exposure. There’s also an open terrace on the 41st floor that allows wind to pass through – keeping the building from swaying – a sophisticated air filtration system, and an open-air infinity pool near the top.

Units range between $7.5 million for a single-floor apartment to $18 million for a two-floor apartment.

New Yorkers, however, remain underwhelmed. “Awful. It’s distracting from what is a beautiful piece of architecture,” Christy, a woman on Fifth Avenue who declined to give her last name, told The Independent, while peering up at the skyscraper.

She continued: “I am a total capitalist. So, I think if you make money, you make money. But to put a building up where the apartments start at $7 million – where do you go to live when you’re a kid who’s just graduating college? I don’t know how you do that.

“Who wants to build a building and say, ‘I’m going to charge you $500 a month?’ No one is going to do that.”

“But that’s an abomination,” she added.

Lark has launched a GoFundMe page in the hopes of starting a legal non-profit that will fight to preserve air rights for New York’s iconic buildings beyond the Empire State Building.

“It’s not a skyscraper blocking a skyscraper. It’s not just New York history, it’s American history,” Lark said. “It was a sign of humanity and hope during the Great Depression and getting 262 down is hope, again, during what we’re all going through.”

Graig Graziosi contributed reporting to this story