Taking all comers.

One of New Yorkis best kept architectural secrets has dramatically moved out of the shadows this year. Ismael Leyva and his team of 27 at Ismael Leyva Architects (ILA) have designed some of the most salable and important residential buildings going up today.

Leyva has developed a solid and successful relationship with The Related Companies and he has fruitfully collaborated with better-known architectural stars such as David M. Childs and Robert A.M. Stern.

Ismael Leyva founded ILA in 1996, after a successful tenure at another leading New York City firm. Leyva is considered a master at solving complex design challenges made more-difficult by irregular sites and other challenges. His staff has an impressive depth of experience on such varied institutional buildings such as libraries, single-family homes and schools. In addition, Leyva has a talented team running his newly established interiors department.

Besides Leyva hinself, the office is made up of two principals, Jafar Tabaei and Francis Pisani; one Senior Associate, Radu Serban; and two Associates, Saeed Khalili and Carlo Panfilo.

"I founded Ismael Leyva Architects because I wanted to work on a wider range of projects," said Leyva in a recent interview, conducted from his spacious and airy office in midtown Manhattan. "Now, we are working on the Time Warner Center, the Farley-Penn Station redevelopment and on what promises to be New Jersey's tallest residential towers. We are wrapping up some big projects and ready to take on new challenges."

Origins

Originally from Veracruz, Mexico, Leyva completed his first work as a residential architect in Acapulco, Mexico. As the resident architect for a luxurious new resort hotel in that vacation destination, he first made the connections that would bring him to New York City in 1978. Here, during several years of ever more impressive work, Leyva help design one of the first complexes to go up in the new downtown neighborhood of Battery Park City.

In 1982, Leyva began working with CK Architects, another New York architect.

Leyva had responsibility for most of this firmis residential buildings in the years following 1989. He was in charge of design and production on such standouts as Trump International Hotel & Tower, The Promenade, Manhattan Place, The Horizon, The Strathmore and The Monterrey.

Though recognized as one of the nationis leading residential architects, Leyva longed to work on more varied projects and to tackle new challenges. These desires led him to found Ismael Leyva Architects in 1996.

Projects

One of Leyva's key clients since founding his own firm has been The Related Companies. Leyva has worked for Related as the residential architect for The Park Imperial, the residential towers of Time Warner Center and two luxurious rental projects in Chelsea. He is the design consultant for San Francisco's tallest residential building, also a Related development.

Another Related project for which Leyva was the architect is the highly regarded condominium, The Chatham, which Leyva designed in association with Robert A.M. Stern. The New York Times praised the plans Leyva created for The Chatham as "variations on the great pre-war layouts of Rosario Candela."

"I feel privileged to work with some of the best minds in the business," said Leyva. "I never cease marveling at the abilities of the excellent team at The Related Companies, including David Wine, Jeff Blau, Bruce Beal, Robert Puddicombe, Michael Spiro and -- of course -- Steve Ross."

New Jersey's

Tallest Residential Towers

In New Jersey, Leyva and principal Francis Pisani are guiding a tremendously complex project through the final weeks of its design stage. The project is to be known as Millennium Towers and will include a spacious retail mall, a NJ Transit light rail station, an amenity-laden two-acre rooftop plaza, a restaurant some 41 stories above the earth, and two residential towers that will be New Jersey's tallest.

Farley-Penn Station

Principal Jafar Tabaei is responsible for ILA's integral role in the Farley-Penn Station project. ILA has specific responsibility for reprogramming, planning, design and preparation of construction documents for approximately one million square feet of United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities in the James A. Farley Building (1913) and Annex (1935). The buildings are located between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, and 31st and 33rd Streets.

The Farley Building is one of the nationis most famous post offices due to its imposing Revival style and Heroditus frieze, which reads: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

"Today, the USPS occupies the entire Farley and Annex buildings," said Tabaei. "But ILA's work will allow the agency to restructure its operations and free up 409,000 SF on the basement, first floor and a portion of the second floor of the Farley Building for the new Penn Sation."

For Leyva, the Farley project is the perfect vehicle to carry his firm into the next several years of rapid growth.

"We have transcended our origins as only a residential firm," he said. "The Farley project and our other institutional work gives us a solid base for taking on almost any Worthwhile opportunity that presents itself."