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#41 ·
I don't think so. Since a residential building with a very high-end hotel makes the most sense right now, I envision a tall thin tower sitting upon a retail podium. (If Related fails with its attempts to foreclose 3 Columbus, this site might once again emerge as the new Nordstrom site.)
first they will demolish 3 Columbus before new Nordstrom, which is incredibly unfair
 
#43 ·
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/arti...house-at-46-east-57th-street-for-42-5-million

CIM Group buys townhouse at Drake site
January 05, 2011 11:50AM

By Adam Pincus

Harry Macklowe and 46 East 57th StreetCalifornia private equity firm CIM Group, which paid off lenders to take control of Harry Macklowe's former Drake Hotel site at Park Avenue and 56th Street for $305 million, has acquired an additional property adjacent to the assemblage.

The CIM Group paid $42.5 million for the 18-foot wide townhouse at 46 East 57th Street, city records filed yesterday show. The California company picked up the five-story, 57th Street property through six separate deeds, with values between $417,057 and $14.2 million, city records show.

The five-story building would modestly widen the frontage Macklowe put together on 57th Street, if it is added to the site.

An outside spokesperson for CIM Group declined to comment, other than to confirm the sale price.

Woody Heller, an executive managing director with commercial firm Studley, advised CIM Group on the sale. He declined to comment on the transaction.

Macklowe bought the Drake Hotel at 434 Park Avenue in 2006 for $418 million and the next year tore it down with plans to rebuild a hotel, residential and commercial development. He acquired four of the seven properties along 57th Street in order to give the site frontage on the high-profile street.

But Macklowe defaulted on the project's loans, and Deutsche Bank representing a group of lenders filed to foreclose in August 2008. CIM Group took over the site in January 2010, but real estate insiders say Macklowe is still involved in the project today.

According to property records and foreclosure filings, by 2008 Macklowe controlled 38, 40, 44 and 50 East 57th Street, but not 42, 46 and 48 East 57th Street.

This new addition widens access on the street, but property records indicate CIM Group still does not control 42 and 48 East 57th Street, preventing a new development from building a cohesive street wall on the block.
 
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#44 ·
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busine...ull_townhouse_tussle_udKWzLIs0xG05Og396hJSN/1


February 22, 2011

Steve Cuozzo

REALTY CHECK
That means Turnbull might soon be hemmed in by demolition on both sides, a classic card in a developer's hand to intimidate a holdout.

Meanwhile, Jacob & Co., the high-end watchmaker at 48 E. 57th St., is also refusing to leave. Like Turnbull, Jacob owns its building and confirmed through a rep it's staying put.

Even if Turnbull moves to 50 E. 57th St., keeping that building up along with Jacob's next door would leave CIM and Macklowe with much less sidewalk frontage than they hoped for -- 101 feet rather than 150 feet, according to a zoning lot declaration filed with the city.


James Messerschmidt
SQUEEZE PLAY: Turnbull & Asser (center right, without netting) is snared in a demolition squeeze, as CIM Group works on the Drake Hotel site on East 57th Street.
Of course, if Turnbull -- in the middle of the new building's hoped-for 57th Street façade -- doesn't move, it's a bigger problem. But these things have a way of eventually getting worked out, don't they?

*

In welcome news for Brookfield's World Financial Center, Oppenheimer Funds has made a long-term commitment to remaining at 2 WFC, where it just signed a new, 235,000 square-foot lease directly with the landlord. The 15-year lease with Brookfield will begin when its sublease from Merrill Lynch expires in 2013.

The deal typifies a trend of large tenants either renewing leases years before their expiration or, as in this case, converting a sublease to a more stable direct one equally early on -- reflecting the belief that rents are bound to rise in the years ahead.

Oppenheimer Funds -- not to be confused with Oppenheimer & Co., which is based at 125 Broad St. and negotiating a possible move to 85 Broad St. -- was represented by a Cushman & Wakefield team of Stuart Romanoff, Amy Fox and Robert Constable. Brookfield was repped in-house by Jerry Larkin and Duncan McCuaig.

Oppenheimer Funds had once been at the WFC, but moved temporarily to Midtown after 9/11 and returned a few years later. Romanoff said the decision to stay at 2 WFC was by no means preordained.

"We did go through an exhaustive search," he said. "We looked at the market care fully and Oppen heimer Funds decided it en joyed its occu pancy at 2 WFC.

"They like Brookfield and they're excited about planned improvements at the WFC."

Neither Romanoff nor anyone else involved would discuss the rent or asking rent. Brokers not involved with the deal suggested that WFC asking rents have risen from the mid-$40s a few years ago into the $60s, but no one was willing to guess about the Oppenheimer deal.

Whatever the price, the lease will further stabilize the WFC, which faces possible moves-out by Merrill Lynch and Nomura a few years from now.

We recently reported that FINRA is negotiating to move into 204,000 square-feet at 1 WFC via a sublease from Dow Jones, part of News Corp., which also owns The Post. scuozzo@nypost.com



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busine...e_tussle_udKWzLIs0xG05Og396hJSN#ixzz1Eh86POTA
 
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#45 ·
That is ...? Demolished the Drake Hotel, and most of these small works for NOTHING.
They did all this, to leave an empty hole in the middle of town, and eventually will build up a mess that pleases no one. :bleep:

Let's wait and see how it will finish this story. I hope it ends in a positive way.
 
#47 ·
By the way, I have a friend who works for CIM who stated that this tower will exceed 1,000 feet.

http://www.observer.com/2011/real-estate/stirrings-two-haunted-assets#

Stirrings at Two Haunted Assets

By Laura Kusisto

April 6, 2011 | 4:04 p.m

Life is stirring again at the ghostly Drake Hotel site.With financing for development sites still virtually frozen, CIM Group has received a $30 million mortgage from Pacific Northwestern Bank on the former home of the Gilded Age hotel, according to public records.

As The Observer reported in February, the spot at Park Avenue and 57th Street is likely the only existing development site with a prime midtown location. The Wall Street Journal once dubbed it "the world's most valuable rubble-strewn lot."

The battle for control of the retail, office or hotel site has been long and complex. Here are the Cliff Notes: Harry and Billy Macklowe bought the hotel for $418 million, plus $543 million in loans, in 2006, and subsequently demolished it over preservationists' cries. But like so many of their prized assets, it was ultimately doomed, and the Macklowes defaulted on the development loan in 2008.

California-based private-equity firm CIM was poised to swoop in and help Billy Macklowe save the site from lenders this January, according to The Journal. Instead, CIM bought the building from Mr. Macklowe's newly formed, eponymous firm for $305.4 million in the same month, according to public records. A William Macklowe Company spokesman confirmed the firm has no involvement any longer.

Sources said CIM still plans to build on the cluster of properties at 434 Park Avenue, as well as 38, 40, 44 and 50 East 57th Street. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

A quiet, but increasingly powerful player on the Manhattan development scene, CIM has also helped pay off loans held by iStar on the Beaver House site at 15 William Street.
 
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#49 ·
I agree, but it makes sense. This parcel has a lot of square feet for a residential tower, and it's in a developer's interest to maximize views in a tower like this.

This, Torre Verre, Carnegie 57 and 225 West 57th will add for 300m+ towers to 56th-57th Streets over the next few years.
 
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#52 ·
So, we are speaking abt FOUR supertalls, only on this tiny stretch of midtown? WOW Add 15 Penn, the Girasole, the 4 existing supertalls and the three WTC supertalls, and NYC will have 13 supertalls in a few years. IF not more.
Also:

1. BRookfield's 2 9th AVE supertalls,
2. the 300m hotel planned for across the street from Javits
3. SHerwood's 10th Ave site; and many other sites in the Yards that have air rights for 300m+ towers.
 
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#56 ·
This probably will be moved to the supertall section, as it's supposed to exceed 300m.

http://www.observer.com/2011/real-es...velopment-site
Stirrings at North America's Most Valuable Development Site



By Laura Kusisto
April 15, 2011


Developers are moving forward with super-secretive plans to begin construction on the most valuable development site in North America.

A team led by the California-based CIM Group has filed an application with the Department of Buildings to begin construction on the site, at Park Avenue and 57th Street where the Drake Hotel once was, according to public records. Associates of Harry Macklowe, which purchased the site for $418 million in 2006, are listed on the application.

The plans submitted to the city call for a mere five-story office tower, but that is a common tactic to get the development moving before plans are finalized or financing is secured.

Industry insiders told The Observer that a 70-story residential tower is planned, with three stories of luxury retail on the bottom. Nordstrom's, which was previously slated to take the retail space, is reportedly still considering it.

The Drake Hotel site has been fallow ever since Mr. Macklowe demolished the Gilded Age reminder. Deutsche Bank sued Mr. Macklowe over an unpaid $30 million debt on the site in August 2008. Los Angeles-based CIM purchased the site from Deutsche Bank for $305.4 million in January. They have also been quietly assembling several townhouses around the site, in preparation for development. Mr. Macklowe is still said to be involved in the planning, with little or no financial stake, according to people familiar with the deal, but not directly involved.

"It is inarguably the best development site in North America," Eric Anton of Eastern Consolidated told The Observer this week (he is not involved in the development plans). But, he added: "They need to get going. Time kills all deals."

A CIM spokesman declined yesterday to comment, saying the company does not engage in market speculation. Multiple voicemails to Harry Macklowe and his associates were not returned over the last week. Earlier, CIM secured a $30 million mortgage for the site, The Observer reported.
 
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#58 ·
300m+ of high-end skyscraper coming soon!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busine...ake_site_demolition_ok_LpZwwWMHPHAgCHnvh4gvgO


Drake site demolition OK'd


Posted: 12:02 AM, April 19, 2011

Steve Cuozzo

REALTY CHECK

The owners of the bar ren Drake Hotel site have just gotten Buildings Dept. approval to demolish 44 E. 57th St., one of several retail townhouses that stand in the way of a proposed 70-story project they're straining to start. But don't expect it to shoot out of the ground overnight.

Despite the new demo permit and a recent filing for underground work, site owner CIM Group and its development "adviser," Harry Macklowe, seem to have a long way to go before above-ground construction can begin.

Sources say CIM, while downplaying Macklowe's role, is simultaneously tapping his skill as a bare-knuckles negotiator to try ousting pesky holdouts at the site.


SLOW PROGRESS: CIM Group, owner of the Drake Hotel site, has talked to several ultra-high-end hotel operators, but no deal has materialized.
Meanwhile, we're told CIM has talked to several ultra-high-end hotel operators to anchor the tower -- but no deal appears imminent.

At least more demolition is the cards on top of the razing of the Drake, which has left an empty lot at Park Avenue at 56th Street and doomed several handsome retail townhouses on East 57th.

The precious assemblage currently consists of the L-shaped former Drake land at 440 Park Ave. at 56th Street, which wraps around the office tower at 450 Park Ave., and five townhouses on East 57th.

CIM took over the properties last year, following a tussle that resulted after Macklowe, who bought the Drake in 2006 for $410 million, defaulted on a construction loan. It is unclear whether Macklowe's "advisory" role includes equity in the project.

CIM now owns Nos. 38, 40, 44, 46 and 50 E. 57th St. -- but it also covets No. 42, owned by Turnbull & Asser, and No. 48, owned by Jacob & Co. It also wants Buccellati to give up its lease at No. 46.

Gaining control of 42, 46 and 48 would permit construction of a 57th Street façade with 150 feet of precious sidewalk frontage, compared to about the 70 feet it can build using 38 and 40 alone -- or 101 feet with only 38, 40 and 42.

CIM is now ready to demolish vacant No. 44, immediately east of Turnbull. It will happen even as No. 40 to Turnbull's west continues to be dismantled under a permit we first reported two months ago. Demolishing the buildings on either side of Turnbull is a strong inducement for the menswear emporium to swap No. 42 for vacant No. 50 four doors east.

Meanwhile, sources said Los Angeles-based CIM has tried to lure Mandarin Oriental, Taj, and One&Only Resorts to operate a high-end inn on the lower floors, with luxury condo apartments to rise above them.

A bid to lure department store Nordstrom to the site several years ago is "ancient history," an insider said.

CIM declined to comment. A source close to the company insisted the project is entirely CIM's, that Macklowe is merely "an adviser," and that CIM is "very happy with the assemblage it now has."

However, we've learned that Macklowe has been in the thick of prolonged, heated negotiations with Jacob & Co. and Buccellati over possible buyouts.

Although Jacob says it has no intention of selling, an insider termed that "a negotiation tactic." The source said both jewelers nixed what they regarded as "peanuts" buyout offers.

A different source said Macklowe rejected their "demands" a few weeks ago in colorful, unprintable language.

Insiders said CIM and Macklowe have now told the retailers they will "build around" them. Such posturing on both sides is common in holdout battles, but it was unclear whether either side was willing to budge.

Turnbull is a different kind of holdout than Jacob or Buccellati. It's long been in talks with CIM to give up its building in exchange for 50 E. 57th only a few doors east of its current home.

Although nothing's firm, an agreement for Turnbull to move appears on track. CIM has filed with the city to "renovate" the interior of 50 E. 57th St.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busine...ition_ok_LpZwwWMHPHAgCHnvh4gvgO#ixzz1JxueWhE0
 
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