New York City Development News

[desertpunk]

Curbed

Developer Has Big Plans For 57th Street, But Are They BIG?

Monday, November 8, 2010, by Joey Arak

On Friday we dabbled in the Durst Organization's plans for the far west end of 57th Street, where a big empty lot and an old neon sign factory surrounded by glassy new apartment towers are set to be replaced by...a five-story office building. As Curbed commenters were quick to point it, this made absolutely no sense, especially since a previous proposal for the site included a massive high-rise. But that's what the Durst family applied for at Twelfth Avenue and 57th Street through the Department of Buildings, and that was the story—until the Observer's Matt Chaban did some more digging and felt that the five-story thing is just an as-of-right placeholder for something bigger. Maybe even BIGger.

Before:
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After?


Great Dane! Is Twelfth Avenue getting some foreign-flavored starchitecture?

As we mentioned last week, the building's Schedule A form shows parking for 538 cars and 250 bikes. That's a lot of vehicles for just a few floors of offices. Not to mention that the site is in a corner of town where residential buildings are sprouting like weeds, including the 38-story Helena, a luxury rental right next door built by, wait for it, the Durst Organization. The smart money is on this site going the same route, but what's with the secrecy? As the Observer pointed out, the site is zoned commercial. The Dursts got a rezoning to build the Helena, and we're guessing they'll try to do the same here, but City Planning tells us no application has been filed yet. Speculation time!

City Planning boss Amanda Burden loves her some foreign starchitects, which helped get other zoning variances approved—like Christian de Portzamparc's Riverside Center a few blocks north, and (most of) Jean Nouvel's Tower Verre. Could the Dursts be working behind the scenes with City Planning to come up with something flashy for this remote part of Hell's Kitchen? SLCE Architects was listed on the latest permit, but one Curbed commenter wrote, "I have a secret about this site I can't share but I can promise SLCE is only the executive architect. You're going to be in for a rather pleasant surprise."

Well here's a rather pleasant guess. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, the young former protégé of Rem Koolhaas who heads up white-hot international firm BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), is opening a New York office and working on a top-secret high-rise condo in Manhattan, which he told an interviewer would be "a new hybrid that combines the classical New York high-rise and the traditional European block, with a courtyard in the middle." Sounds just flashy enough, no?

UPDATE: Faced with the undeniable awesomeness of the Bjarke Ingels comic, the Durst Organization now tells the Observer that the architect is indeed working on an 80/20 residential building for the company.

[desertpunk]

Eventi Lights

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all photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curbed/

[desertpunk]

42 Story Doubletree Hotel Pops Up In FiDi


Did anyone even notice this one?

[desertpunk]

Curbed

BREAKING: NYU Drops 40-Story Tower, But Here Comes Plan B!

Thursday, November 18, 2010, by Joey Arak


The now-cancelled "Pinwheel Tower".

NYU has routinely defeated those who have opposed the school's expansion efforts over the years, but a 93-year-old man has just derailed the Purple People Eaters' plan to build the tallest tower in Greenwich Village. The school announced that it is withdrawing its proposal to build a 38-story hotel/residential tower on the superblock containing Silver Towers, the landmarked complex designed by I.M. Pei. It was only Monday when we discussed the possibility of Pei opposing the new "Pinwheel Tower" and what that would do to NYU's plan, which needs Landmarks Preservation Commission approval.

According to an NYU statement, Pei has informed the school that he's not on board with the glassy new building. That all but guarantees that the LPC, which would be facing immense community opposition to the building, wouldn't be very gung-ho, either. So it's victory for preservationists in the first big battle regarding the NYU 2031 plan, but here's the thing: Plan B ain't going to please too many folks, either.

Brace yourself, Villagers, because here she comes!

NYU says it plans to move ahead with a new as-of-right building on the site of the Morton Williams supermarket at Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place, just behind the trio of Silver Towers buildings. When NYU was trying to win support for its 38-story building, it basically used the as-of-right Morton Williams killer (which is shorter but fatter) as a threat, i.e., if you don't let us build this big pretty thing, look what we'll do! Now they're doing it.

Here's NYU's statement on the matter:

NYU today announced that it will begin work on its Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) application seeking approvals to build on the blocks near Washington Square Park that are already owned by the University. The University will withdraw its application for a fourth tower in the landmarked section of the southern superblock; its ULURP application will instead include a building on the site currently occupied by the Morton Williams supermarket.

“From the beginning, we sought a design for the Silver Towers block that was most respectful of Mr. Pei’s vision. Some people disagreed with our proposed approach; others agreed. We believed that among those who agreed was Mr. Pei himself, who expressed no opposition to the concept of a tower on the landmarked site when we spoke with him directly in 2008,” said Lynne Brown, NYU’s Senior Vice President. “Mr. Pei has now had a change of heart. The clarity Mr. Pei has now provided –that the Morton Williams site is ‘preferable’ -- is helpful to us in understanding how to proceed with our ULURP proposal.”

NYU bought the Morton Williams supermarket site on the University Village block in 2001, and intended to build there. But as the plan evolved, it was decided that the preferable option would be to obtain permission from the LPC to build a fourth tower on the Silver Towers site.

The fundamental underpinning of the NYU 2031 strategy has been to plan for the University’s future academic needs in a comprehensive plan for physical space that is city-wide in scope, transparent, thoughtful and predictable. While a full half of projected growth is slated to go outside of the Greenwich Village area, the planning also calls for seeking approvals to build on property NYU owns around the Washington Square area.

A full Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) will be needed for the approval of the entire NYU proposal as it pertains to the Washington Square area. NYU is expected to file a standardized Land Use Review Application with the Department of City Planning under the ULURP in fall 2011.
Not to be outdone, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation's Andrew Berman just put out his own statement condemning, well, everything:
"I am deeply gratified that in the face of overwhelming opposition, including from architect I.M. Pei, NYU has chosen to withdraw its plans for landmarks approval for a 400 ft. tall tower in the Silver Towers complex. However, NYU's insistence on moving ahead with seeking public approvals for its alternative plans for a development on the adjacent non-landmarked supermarket site, as well as the remainder of its massive NYU 2031 expansion plan to add 2 million square feet of space around Washington Square Park, shows that the university still does not get it. NYU should be looking to places like the Financial District to absorb its massive planned growth -- where it would be contextual and welcomed by leaders of that community. We will continue to strongly oppose NYU's massive overdevelopment plans in our neighborhood."

So the battle for Greenwich Village is now out of the Landmarks Commission's hands, but it's by no means over.

UPDATE: The Villager has a story up explaining that Pei's practice partner (say that three times fast!) Henry Cobb sent a letter to the LPC last week saying Pei was strongly opposed to the proposed tower and preferred that NYU build on the Morton Williams site. The new building will be 17-20 stories and 200 feet tall, with roughly the same 225,000 square feet of bulk as the canceled plan.

[desertpunk]

Cool new roof coming soon to the Flatiron District!

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all: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curbed/

[desertpunk]

Curbed NY

Donald Trump Not Impressed By Frank Gehry's Beekman Tower

Tuesday, November 23, 2010, by Joey Arak

Despite the purest of intentions, starchitect Frank Gehry stuck it to Donald Trump by making his Beekman Tower—and we're still calling it that, despite all the "New York by Gehry" nonsense—the tallest residential building in New York, surpassing the Trump World Tower. Now The Donald is firing back. The Observer's Chloe Malle rode with the Gehrmeister up the Beekman's new elevator to get the scoop on the gamechanging luxury rental building, but the most interesting stuff might just be the Trump-Gehry material. The 76-story building is expected to command some of the highest rents in Lower Manhattan, but according to Trump, "it's always very tough to make something successful at the high-end level with a public school in the building." Dragging kids into it? Oh snap!

Gehry has some thoughts of his own on the matter.

Gehry's response to Trump's analysis of the Beekman Tower is simple: The dude holds a grudge. Franktastic tells the Observer he once turned down a Trump project, and The Donald has been chilly to him ever since. Plus, says Gehry, "I don't like his hairdo anyway." Dem's fightin' words! But in his rebuttal, all Trump says is that he doesn't recall what project Gehry is referring to, and, "Maybe I just don't find him interesting. It doesn't mean I don't like him." And scene.

As for what to expect inside the Beekman, here's just the description of a desk:

"The lobby desk is a white concrete jigsaw puzzle the color and heft of Mount Rushmore. Each piece was carved in Los Angeles and shipped cross-country to be assembled on-site, replete with benches carved out of the concrete, dressed with cushions of supple tan leather the color of Earl Grey tea lightened with a drop of milk. Bending and rippling like the carats of an unevenly cut stone, the Gaudi folds of the desk resemble an artfully crumpled sheet of paper."

We're guessing, then, that Trump would call it a piece of garbage

[desertpunk]

Barclays Center rises in Brooklyn

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all photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curbed/

[desertpunk]

NY Post

Diamond tower war brewing

Last Updated: 1:54 AM, November 23, 2010
Steve Cuozzo

REALTY CHECK
Most every week, there's "news" about Extell's International Gem Tower on West 47th Street.

Most recently, the project has been approved as a Foreign Trade Zone by the US Dept. of Commerce, which will allow companies based there to enjoy deferred, reduced or eliminated customs duty on imported goods.

But the news many architectural buffs really want -- that the crystalline, 34-story tower is soaring skyward -- is on hold until hopefully soon after Jan. 1, when Extell says it will "go vertical."

Meanwhile, an address with a much lower media profile, 580 Fifth Ave. at the 47th Street corner, persists in its belief that it's the center of the global diamond trade.


OLD & NEW: The current World Diamond Tower at 580 Fifth Ave., which was built in the 1920s, spent $50 million on capital improvements as it waits for Extell’s International Gem Tower (above) to open.

It might seem like a mismatch: a 1920s-vintage rental property owned by a local partnership, versus powerful Extell's ultra-sophisticated 47th Street tower between Fifth and Sixth avenues that's being marketed as condos.

But 580 Fifth's 400,000 square feet are 95 percent leased, while the Gem Tower's 750,000 square feet remain frozen at sidewalk level. In its condo filing with the state attorney general in January 2009, Extell said its tower would be "substantially complete" by October 2010.

And 580 Fifth, also 34 stories tall, carries the trademarked name World Diamond Tower. "Anywhere in the world, if you're in the industry, you just say '580' -- they know it's the diamond tower," said Ken Kahn, a part-owner who is also one of the building's executive managers.

Tenants include the Diamond Club trading bourse and prominent dealer Julius Klein. Asking rents are "in the $50s a square foot," said Kahn, who adds with a chuckle, "I can't tell you that's what you sign leases for."

Kahn's sense of humor comes in handy. Some of his major tenants have signed contracts with Extell chief Gary Barnett to move to the Gem Tower. Among them: the Gemological Institute of America, which has a contract to buy a full floor. "Six of their buyers with letters of intent are from our building," Kahn acknowledged. What happens when the Gem Tower finally opens? He shook his head. "We'll just have to re-rent," he said confidently.

His building is unlike most others in the district.

Neither weather-beaten outside nor run-down inside, its $50 million in recent capital improvements include new elevators, new floors of Brazilian marble, and, next year, a marquee entrance. Its retail space is fully leased. It makes no claim to matching the Gem Tower's 21st Century allure. But Kahn said the "virtual diamond city" of 580 Fifth is ideal for his tenants.

Diamond buyers, stone cutters, wholesalers, security firms and shippers all rely on one another's services -- "everything from receiving rough stones out of the mines to manufacturing jewelry that will be sold to Tiffany," he said. A basement vault is guarded by a 22-ton door. Kahn boasts a close relationship with tenants -- such as creating a central diamond- cutting shop for use by the whole build ing.

Kahn not surprisingly is skeptical about the Gem Tower's promise of luring diamond companies from all over the world, which was partly the basis for tax abatements the project received (and which Kahn opposed in city hearings). "Gary's application to the city was based on adding thousands of jobs. It's not going to happen," he predicted. "They're not bringing jobs in from China and India."

In fact, Extell's commitments for nearly 200,000 square feet include a few foreign firms, including two from India. It's going to be an interesting year ahead on the diamond block.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...#ixzz169U7TTIu

[HK999]

i'm going to post that article in the "International Gem Tower" thread.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...e=2&highlight=

[Teslatron]

Nice Barclays Arena construction pics!

I was just near the CityPoint site and it said Phase 1 to be completed by July 2012. They are still working on the foundation though, so nothing interesting there yet.

[desertpunk]

DNAinfo

Larry Silverstein Seeks Federal Stimulus Funds Before They Go to Waste
November 29, 2010 5:19pm Updated November 30, 2010

Developer Larry Silverstein is seeking $200 million in stimulus bonds for WTC Tower 3.

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

LOWER MANHATTAN — The World Trade Center site could get a boost from President Barack Obama’s stimulus package — funds that otherwise might go to waste, according to a state agency.
World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein is seeking $200 million in stimulus bonds to help build Tower 3, a 71-story skyscraper that is scheduled to open in 2015, the Empire State Development Corporation said.

The $25 billion federal Recovery Zone Bonds program expires at the end of this year, so the bonds must be issued before then or they won't be able to be used at all, said Jonathan Beyer, senior counsel at the ESDC.

The bond program is part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and was launched last year to support capital projects in areas struggling with job loss.


The federal government divided the available bonds among hundreds of regions across all 50 states, but some of the regions may not have spent their allocations, ESDC said. Rather than let up to $555 million in "recovery zone facility bonds" allocated for New York go to waste when the end-of-year deadline passes, Silverstein hopes to use the financing at the World Trade Center site.

It is unclear how much of the bond money remains, and the ESDC is contacting the state's cities to find out whether they've used their share.

"We are in the process of trying to determine if there will be any excess capacity," said Frances Walton, chief financial and administrative officer at ESDC.


The ESDC, the state agency that would issue the bonds, held a brief public hearing on Silverstein's proposal Monday morning and is scheduled to vote on it Monday afternoon.

In addition to the stimulus bonds, Silverstein plans to finance the 2.1 million-square-foot tower with federal post-9/11 Liberty Bonds, insurance proceeds, private investment and other public money.



Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20101129/down...#ixzz16nREbkvb

[desertpunk]

Lawsuit Fever Strikes The Domino!



Too dense! Too much traffic! Ruins my view! etc, etc...



NIMBY approved!

[Simfan34]

NIMBYism ought to be a crime.

[rencharles]

Best topic!

[desertpunk]

WSJ

NY REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL
DECEMBER 6, 2010
Vote Could Mark End of Long Quest for Project
By ELIOT BROWN

After years of planning and public tussle with the Upper West Side community, a giant set of apartment towers planned to rise by 59th Street and the West Side Highway is nearing approval from the City Council.



But between now and then, key issues need to be resolved between the developer, Extell Development, and the community. While the size of the project is likely to be close to what Extell wants, the two sides are still debating the amenities that Extell will put into the neighborhood like a school and park.

Both sides say negotiations thus far have been cordial and they expect a vote this week on the 2,500-apartment project known as Riverside Center. "It could be Tuesday, it could be Wednesday—it's hard to know for sure," says Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who represents the district and is negotiating with Extell. "They're going to have to give more."

George Arzt, a spokesman for Extell, declined to offer specifics about how much Extell was willing to commit for the community amenities. "I think that everyone agrees that there should be a project," he said in an interview late last week. "It's just the details that have to be worked out."

Approval from the Council would mark the end of a long quest by Extell, which bought the land in 2005 in a partnership with the Carlyle Group, and then set out change the master plan to allow the company to build apartments on the 8-acre site.

One of the largest privately-held development sites in Manhattan, the project marks the latest of a string of multi-thousand-apartment megaprojects planned in recent years to seek public approvals.

Those projects, including Atlantic Yards, the West Side rail yards, the development of a former Con Edison site on the East Side, and the conversion of the Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn, all have yet to start construction of the housing.


Set at the base of the larger Riverside South residential development—known as Trump City when it was proposed by Donald Trump in the late 1980s—the Riverside Center site was initially planned to be an office building that would host a new world headquarters for NBC.

But NBC backed out soon-thereafter. Once Extell bought the property, the developer set out to sell the Bloomberg administration and the local community on a new plan for five apartment towers.

Since then, the project has been a top priority for Extell, one of the city's most active developers, which sees the project as an opportunity to build valuable apartments with unobstructed views of the Hudson River.

Hiring a sprawling team of two land use lawyers and three lobbyists, the developer has had a constant set of meetings with elected officials and members of the Upper West Side Community Board.

Facing resistance, Extell has offered carrots to the city and the community throughout the process, including a boost in the amount of below-market rate housing and the elimination of a planned Costco.

Extell executives, Ms. Brewer and members of the community board have been in a long string of talks in recent days, spending hours in the offices of Community Board 7. Among other issues, the sides have reached a tentative agreement on concerns that the project's open space was not accessible, participants in the talks said.

But still unresolved are larger issues, including the amount of money Extell will put into community amenities including a school within the project's footprint--the developer has pledged to build the exterior for a 75,000-square-foot school, although the community wants one twice the size—and a park to the west.

The community is also urging more below-market rate housing than the 20% that Extell has committed, and it wants to ensure it would be built at Riverside Center, and not elsewhere.

"We think the 'asks' are extremely reasonable given the size of this application," says Mel Wymore, chairman of Community Board 7. "It's been a good long haul, and at least for the last year, it's been very intensive."

The push-and-pull over amenities represents the end-game of the negotiations. Earlier, the two sides were fighting over the size of the development.

The original site plan from the 1990s allowed for 2.4 million square feet of development, but Extell has been asking for an additional 600,000 square feet, an amount it says it needs to make the project economically feasible.

Ms. Brewer says the plan was "definitely too big."

But with other issues monopolizing discussions, participants said that Extell is almost certain to get much of the additional square footage it is seeking.

Even if the project is approved, it remains unclear when the project would be completed, as construction financing for projects remains in short supply.

[desertpunk]

Frank Gehry's I.A.C. HQ and Jean Nouvel's "Vision Machine" Dec. 5

image hosted on flickr

curbed

[Middle-Island]

Gehry seems to have calmed down -- that after MIT sued him over his nonsensical and disastrous design up there. Cracks, leaks in his freaky peaks and outcroppings that required costly repairs.

[desertpunk]

Hotel Chatter

Four Seasons Downtown NYC To Break Ground In 2012
December 7, 2010 at 9:00 AM | by MsRebecca | 1 Comment



It's been awhile since we've heard any rumblings about the Four Seasons Downtown New York, so even though this news tells us that the wait for the hotel continues, at least it's progress.

Real Estate Channel brings us word that the condo-hotel project being developed by Silverstein Properties will finally break ground in 2012.


Larry A. Silverstein delivered this news himself, almost three years after announcing the project. He believes financing will at last become available and that the building will be completed in 2014.

Tentative plans call for 175 hotel rooms (and 143 luxury condominiums), with the hotel portion on the first 22 floors and the condos on the floors above. Four Seasons Hotels will manage the hotel.

If the name Silverstein sounds familiar, it's probably because this is the same man and firm that is developing three buildings at the World Trade Center site. The rendering above shows what those buildings should look like against the existing downtown skyline. The Four Seasons building in the picture is the tall building to the left of the green-roof of the Woolworth Building. Next to the lit-up Church Street.

With Andaz Wall Street and W New York Downtown already making the FiDi a much more fun place to be, we look forward to an injection of Four Seasons luxury ... in 2014. It's on the calendar!

[desertpunk]

Riverside Center Wins Vote!

Extell has to spend on parks and a school, but the 5 tower design passes!

[desertpunk]

Crain's

Published: December 09, 2010 12:40 PM
Modified: December 09, 2010 1:12 PM
Bank of NY Mellon axes plans to move
Calls off search for new 450,000-square-foot home; bank had looked at 1 World Trade Center and had talked to Larry Silverstein about his towers at Ground Zero.

Much to the disappointment of the city's big landlords, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has called off its search for roughly 450,000 square feet as it opted not to sell its headquarters at One Wall Street. “We are no longer exploring relocating our corporate headquarters in New York,” said a spokesman for the bank. He said after conducting a search, the company failed to find a deal that met the bank's long-term needs and made economic sense.

BNY Mellon's move is noteworthy because it runs counter to brokers' nearly universal insistence that this is a great time to lease space because rents have fallen as much as 50% from peak levels in third quarter of 2008. With vacancy rates and availability rates starting to slip, brokers say it is only a matter of time before rents begin to increase.

Still, it is unclear how much the bank was willing to spend or how much it wanted to make from the sale of its building. Like all banks, BNY Mellon was hurt by the financial crisis, although analysts suggest it weathered it better than some of its rivals.

Back in the spring, when the bank announced it was considering selling its One Wall St. headquarters, experts noted that most potential buyers would want to convert the 50-story, 1.2-million-square-foot property that was built 70 years ago to residential use. Meanwhile, the bank tapped Jones Lang LaSalle to lead a search for space.

Sources said it had kicked the tires at One World Trade Center and had also talked to Larry Silverstein about leasing a portion of one of his towers at Ground Zero. New buildings, however, typically charge much higher rents than older properties.

A spokesman for One World Trade's leasing agent didn't have an immediate comment, and Mr. Silverstein declined comment.