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LAST WEDNESDAY'S groundbreaking for a $445-million office and residential project at the former site of Madison Square Garden may have been a bit hokey - the outline of a basketball court was taped to the mud to evoke the land's sporting past. But the affair marked the fruition of a 2 1/2-year campaign by William Zeckendorf Jr. and his partners to win approval of the project from city officials and, not least important, community residents.
The vacant block, bounded by Eighth and Ninth Avenues and 49th and 50th Streets, has been a parking lot for more than a decade.
Real estate experts say the project is significant because it marks an attempt to broaden the definition of Midtown. "It's a clear sign of confidence that development is shifting to the West Side," said Stephen Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. "The opportunities are basically west of Eighth Avenue . . . This is a sign that the market is there and that there's going to continue to be growth in Midtown."
Plans call for 661 townhouse and high-rise apartments, 57,000 square feet of retail space, a plaza, and a 47-story, 1.5-million-square-foot office tower that will house the headquarters of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, the advertising agency. The project, called Worldwide Plaza, is scheduled for occupancy in 1988.
"It's been a real struggle," Zeckendorf said before the groundbreaking. "The financing didn't fall together until within two or three months of the deadline {for...