But this 6.4-acre parcel is not sitting in the middle of a decaying rust-belt city. It is nestled in the middle of Manhattan, between 38th and 41st Streets on First Avenue, overlooking the East River, amid a residential real estate boom.
Yet it has sat fallow for six years, long enough for young trees to rise at the edges of the property.
How one of the most valuable undeveloped pieces of earth has sat empty for years — even after New York City approved a $4 billion project there in 2008 — is a mysterious and confusing tale of ambition, infighting, clashing personalities and bad timing. At its heart is Sheldon H. Solow, an irascible but talented billionaire developer who is an intermittent presence in his office on 57th Street after a career that reaches back more than a half century.
"This lot seems to be a prime candidate for development in the current market," said Ross Moskowitz, a real estate partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, who is not involved with the Solow site. "With interest rates still very attractive and the capital markets looking for product, there appears to be unlimited appetite and demand for residential housing in New York."
Mr. Solow is not talking. Nor is his son Stefan, 38, who appears at the office, but not often at the same time as his father.
"I can't tell you anything," said a family adviser, Thomas D. Thacher III.
Mr. Solow, 85, does not have much time to make his move. He must build the foundation for the office building or one of several apartment towers by November, or risk losing his permits and public approvals.
Mr. Solow, a tall, well-dressed man who has been plagued by rumors about his health for three years, is an imposing figure with an impregnable confidence in his own vision. He has amassed quite an art collection, which includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Botticelli, Morris Louis, Balthus and Rothko.
He solidified his reputation in the 1970s when he built the swooping, 50-story office tower at 9 West 57th Street, which remains one of Manhattan's most sought-after addresses because of its unobstructed views of Central Park. By Mr. Solow's past account, he collaborated with the architect Gordon Bunshaft on the design.
The developer has a fierce determination to do things his way, regardless of others' advice or economic pressures. He refused to rent out the underground retail space at 9 West 57th for 30 years, waiting for the right tenant. Finally, Mr. Solow installed his own restaurant, Brasserie 8 ½, and lined the walls with some of his art.
Mr. Solow has also developed a reputation as one of the country's most litigious individuals, responsible for at least 200 lawsuits. He has sued friends, enemies, tenants and banks, not often with success.
In 2000, Mr. Solow and the Fisher real estate family won a hotly contested auction for 9.2 acres of land along First Avenue. The hole in the ground is the largest of three noncontiguous parcels between 35th and 41st Streets that made up the property, which he bought from Consolidated Edison for $630 million.
Mr. Solow spent nearly $100 million demolishing the Waterside power plant there and cleansing the land of toxic materials. In 2008, he had won city approvals for a $4 billion project designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill that included seven towers, five acres of public gardens and walkways, a public school and affordable housing. He also shed his partner, the Fisher family, after a bitter falling out.
The property between 38th and 41st Streets, on the east side of First Avenue, was to include a semicircular public pavilion designed by the architect Richard Meier.
But the city was in the grips of a severe recession, so little happened.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 20, 2013
An earlier version of this article misspelled part of the name of a tenant at 9 West 57th Street. It is Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, not Ruane, Dunniff & Goldfarb.
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