There are some elements of the new design that I like, including the crown (sorely lacking in this city) and the retention of the heritage facades (say what you will about their quality, but none of the previous proposals were satisfactory either in the podium levels).
On the other hand:
- The north-south and east-west facades of the building have nothing to do with each other.
- The triangular patterning fails to tie the building together or bring any interest, and can easily be lost in any cost-cutting moves.
- The verticality of the facades could be broken up with at least some visual breaks like in the previous proposal, which was less visually monotonous.
Overall, I think that there are some interesting opportunities to lean into a whole Daily News Building-Neo-Art Deco aesthetic moving forward from this design.