March 2015 » Market Analysis » NY New Developments

March 2015: NYC New Developments


Major Developments

Manhattan Borough President and a City Council member have been talking to developers to find a new plan for the historic South Street Seaport site to prevent a 494-foot tower from being built.

The city is looking to revamp a program where property owners can transfer unused air rights to others. -The requirements are so difficult that only 10 successful transfers have been made out of almost 1,000 landmarks.. Those transfers took place in Midtown or Lower Manhattan.

The NY state's attorney general's office is closing a 36-story, illegal hotel owned by an affiliate group. The property at 49 East 34th Street was supposed to be a condominium, but its owners who received millions in tax breaks for the creation of affordable units turned it into a hotel instead, charging $239 per night for a studio and $359 per night for a two-bedroom unit.

Moinian Group.">The Moinian Group obtained a $310 million CMBS loan from Morgan Stanley for two adjacent office buildings on Fifth Avenue.

Morris Adjmi's newest office building by the High Line in West Chelsea will be seven stories tall and have a three-story cantilevering addition.

The state will partner with Development Companies to build a nearly 1.9million-square-foot mixed-use office, academic and medical complex in the East Bronx. The 33-acre, state-owned site at 1500 Waters Place, located between the Hutchinson River Parkway and Pelham Bay Parkway, currently houses a psychiatric facility.

A new 12-story office building is being planned in the West Village. A two-story commercial building be demolished so a new 35,766 square feet of commercial space and include ground floor retail, along with offices on the second through 12th floors. No demolition permits have yet been filed for the site, at 74 Eighth Avenue, between 13th and 14th Streets.

A developer is planning to break ground next year on a 438-key property on Hudson Yard site.

Continuum Company is looking to build a 525-foot-tall, 24-story mixed-use project in East Harlem.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a revised plan by Youngwoo& Associates to convert the Bronx General Post Office into a retail and dining destination.

The Howard Hughes Corp. paid around $31 million to buy more than 300,000 square feet of air rights at the South Street Seaport.

RXR Realty is in contract to sell a 50% stake in six New York-area office buildings to private equity company the Blackstone Group.

A Real Estate Partners firm secured a $72 million loan for its planned renovation of its 138,000-square-foot Midtown South office building at 119-125 West 25th Street.

An investment firm is closing on the acquisition of the 689-room Times Square Hotel for $535 million. The new owner could build where there is now a swimming pool, or demolishing the entire structure and erecting a 900,000-square-foot tower.The new owner could develop about 600,000 square feet as-of-right, but if the site were put through the city's uniform land use review process the building could grow to 900,000 square feet.

H&M is leaving its current flagship store at 2 Herald Square across the street from Macy's, making way for another major brand to lease the 60,500-square-foot space.[

Moinian Group.">The Moinian Group and Brookfield Properties received approval for tax abatements totaling $180 million for their respective Hudson Yards developments.

Italian luxury fashion house Moschino is expanding its stateside operation to New York City with plans for a Soho storefront.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and 21st Century Fox could be moving into new headquarters when their Midtown lease expires in five years.

RadioShack's 68 store leases in New York are up for grabs. Manhattan has 25 of these stores. The company is going to close a number of its stores, while others will survive as part of an agreement with Sprint to create a "store within a store.

Intercontinental Exchange Group, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is leaving its 381,000-square-foot space at 20 Broad Street when its lease expires next year.

The Knickerbocker hotel recently opened it's doors in Times Square, with a $240 million renovation.

Following the American Bible Society's $300 million sale of its headquarters at 1865 Broadway, long-time tenant the Museum of Biblical Art is looking for a new location.

Facebook signed a lease that will add 80,000 square feet to its existing Greenwich Village office at 770 Broadway in a deal priced at more than $100 per square foot.

Chobani is expanding its space threefold and getting the test kitchen when it moves into 200 Lafayette Street.

A private real estate firm has launched sales at 866 United Nations Plaza, its converted 471,000-square-foot class A office building on 48th Street between First Avenue and FDR Drive.

Whole Foods, Marshalls and Michaels inked the largest leases in Brooklyn in 2014.

Publicis Group is consolidating its New York offices at 1675 Broadway, renting 580,000 square feet altogether in a renewal of its480,000-square-foot and a 120,000 expansion and extending their lease until 2031.

The developers and Hamlin Ventures will market seven luxury condos with a total sellout of $70.7 million. They paid more than $30 million for St. Patrick's Old Cathedral School in Nolita,.

Moinian's development firm is planning to pay more than $200 million to buy building bonuses for its 67-story, mixed-use office tower in Hudson Yards.

Joseph Chetrit secured a $129 million loan related to the $192 million acquisition of the Hotel Carter in Times Square. The property at 250 West 43rd Street is in need of about $125 million in repairs.

L&L Holding's planned skyscraper at 425 Park Avenue, which will be the first new construction in 40 years on Park Avenue. The building is being built entirely on spec, with no tenants signed yet.

The American Bible Societysold its headquarters at 1865 Broadway for $300 million to a real estate investment trust. The Bible Society, an organization that translates bibles into different languages, picked the winner from about 25 domestic and international bids
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