This is a partial view of a really ugly building that’s going up a few blocks from my apartment. The tagline on the (extremely out of date) movie billboard, Whoever Wins – We Lose, is apt. It’s shoddy architecture, it’s BEIGE, and it’s downright ugly.

The street sign is blurry (not to mention tiny) in this photo, but the building fronts onto the Bowery. It’s but one of several new projects that are transforming New York City’s original Skid Row into something else entirely.

I’m trying to keep an open mind, but it seems like way too much. I am most concerned about the dramatic shift in population density, and the influx of a way more affluent populace. Traffic patterns, services, community character – it’s all in flux.

Mr Lockhart Steele covers NY real estate development far more comprehensively over at Curbed. I’ll leave it to him to do the community and cost analysis of these endeavors.

This is not the first appearance of the Alien Building here on UnBeige – it was the topic of my charter Crimes Against Urbanity post. The photo in that item was taken from a further distance. As you can see, it’s just as ugly when you get up closer.

Send your ugly building photos to jen AT unbeige DOT com.