Feng Shui Experts: New Tower 'Bad Chi'

NewsCore - Feng shui experts say Vornado's proposed 67-story tower just two blocks from New York's iconic Empire State Building could create negative "chi" -- energy -- in the neighborhood, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

Vornado Realty Trust's proposed 15 Penn tower would also likely affect visitation to the Empire's 86th-floor observatory, which would look directly into the face of Vornado's "Giant Finger."

"It is diminishing the chi away from the Empire State Building," said Judith Wendell of Sacred Currents, a local feng shui practitioner who said the Empire's visibility is critical to its strength.

"Symbols are important," Wendell said. "The building is getting swallowed up and its potency is diminished."

The potential negative chi may also kill a major deal for Empire State Building owner Malkin Properties.

The company has been secretly negotiating a nearly 500,000-square-foot likely consolidation lease with Hong Kong-based global manufacturing sourcing and supply company Li & Fung, which is its tenant there and at two other properties.

But Li & Fung CEO William Fung is a believer in the ancient Chinese system, which promotes positive energy often through the orientation of buildings, and could be put off by the impacts of the proposed Vornado tower.

The City Council still needs to give the Vornado's project its permission before the tower at the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania at Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street, can go ahead.

The 67-story, glass-walled tower would soar up to 1,216 feet (370 meters) -- 34 feet (10 meters) shorter than the Empire State Building.

Read more: NEW YORK POST