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Wagner College Receives $15 Million Through Build NYC

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:30:16 -0400

Wagner College will receive $15 million in funds to renovate two buildings on its Staten Island campus through a new lending facility that was introduced late last year by the city.

The debt was part of $37 million approved yesterday by the Economic Development Corporation, the city organization that oversees the funding vehicle, which is called Build NYC.

Main Hall

Wagner will use the loan to improve and repair two buildings, the college’s historic Main Hall and a dormitory building. Main Hall, a striking Gothic building that is one of the scenic campus's most iconic structures, will receive a host of repairs, including brickwork and the replacement of its roof.

“Main Hall has served as Wagner’s signature building, a splendid example of collegiate architecture,” Richard Guarasci, Wagner College’s president said in a statement released by the EDC. “I am pleased, then, that we have been able to undertake this project. Once work is completed, this wonderful building will be... restored to its former glory.”

The rest of the money was granted to three other educational groups, the Corlears School, the Metropolitan Montessori School and Yeshiva Har Torah, which will receive $10 million, $9 million and $3 million respectively, all to refinance existing debt.

Build NYC is a funding window that allows non-profit groups and educational insitutions to issue bonds to finance real estate development projects and other construction related spending. The vehicle is not paid for by the city but private buyers of the bonds such as banks or other investors and offers below-market interest rates for the borrower because the proceeds on the debt are triple tax exempt.

The assistance provided to these institutions is further proof of Build NYC's growing importance to the City's non-profit sector," Seth Pinsky, president of the EDC and Build NYC’s chairman said in a statement. "By reducing costs, Build NYC will better equip these four leading New York City educational establishments to cultivate the next generation of talented students, and make certain the City remains the home of the best and brightest minds on the planet."

Is Walmart Finished in New York? Greg David Thinks So, and That’s Bad for Walmart

Matt Chaban — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:50:37 -0400

Walmart is in a pickle, and not the kind that can be found in the canned goods aisle. Following the Mexican bribery scandal, pols high and low have reaffirmed their opposition to the store. But they are not the only ones. Even some of the big box retailers staunchest supporters have come out against the company, namely Greg David.

The Crain’s columnist and former editor for three decades of the influential business weekly is a big believer in capitalism and its important role in shaping the city—he just wrote a book about it. To that end, he has long supported Walmart’s efforts to open a store in the five boroughs (14 times at last count). Yet now, in light of the scandal, even Greg David doubts Walmart will ever open in New York. And he believes this is all Walmart’s fault. Read More

In Wake Of Crane Collapse, Bloomberg Imposes New Licensing Requirements

David Freedlander — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:50:14 -0400

When a crane collapsed in Hudson Yards earlier this month, killing one and injuring four, it set off a big battle between the Bloomberg administration and the crane operators union, the Local 14 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

The administration wanted stricter standards and crane operators to pass a national certification test; the union said that the administration was merely doing the bidding of real estate developers, who wanted to break their hold on construction jobs, and said that New York City was such a unique environment that a national test wouldn’t be appropriate.

Today, it appears as if the administration won. Read More

Inside Steiner Studios

Matt Chaban — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:24:48 -0400

The Observer recently got a tour of Steiner Studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yards, the launchpad for Doug Steiner’s urban real estate empire. Join us as we go inside what will soon become the largest film production studio outside of Hollywood.

More Starchitecture for Hudson Yards! Robert A.M. Stern Bringing His Throwback Magic to 30th and 10th

Matt Chaban — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:26:02 -0400

It may be bigger than Baltimore or Stamford, and it will probably be prettier, too. The plans for Hudson Yards continue to impress, as the office towers get refined and high-profile firms sign up to do the residential buildings. The first big news was that High Line designers Diller Scofidio + Renfro would be responsible for one of the apartment buildings, and now The Observer has learned that none other than money-minting godhead Robert A.M. Stern is designing another.

Steve Ross has actually been a regular client of Mr. Stern’s in the past. Read More

Hollywood Along the Hudson: Can Doug Steiner Turn the City’s Largest Film Studios Into an Urban Real Estate Empire?

Matt Chaban — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:40:04 -0400

“People said we were crazy to build in Brooklyn, no one would ever come to Brooklyn,” Doug Steiner said from the rooftop terrace of his biggest development in the borough. The Jersey-born builder was wearing his usual polo shirt and jeans, comfortable in the unseasonably warm weather in late February, the sun glinting off his clean-shaven head. “In those days, there were wild dogs running in the streets,” Mr. Steiner added for effect.

“But look at these views,” he continued, pointing out across Wallabout Bay and the span of the East River beyond. “You’ve got the gritty industrial underbelly of the city in the foreground, the financial capital of the world in the background.” One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building bookended the panorama.

It was 1999 when Doug Steiner brought the family development business to Brooklyn. As he and so many other fortune seekers have since proved, the decision was anything but crazy. But it was not condos or artists lofts that Mr. Steiner was selling. He was in pictures.

Two weeks ago, with the mayor standing just in front of him at the podium, Mr. Steiner opened five new sound stages at his eponymous Steiner Studios inside the sprawling Brooklyn Navy Yards, bringing the total to 15. That is halfway to the ultimate goal of 32 and, at 50 acres, the largest American film production facilities outside of Hollywood—behind Warner Brothers and Paramount, and rivaling the Walt Disney and CBS backlots. Read More

After a Decade and Two Deaths, the City Council Gets Serious About Elevator Safety

Eddie Small — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:52:41 -0400

The hearing room was full and the overflow room was overflowing at the New York City Council’s offices at 250 Broadway this afternoon. Maybe it was the fact that this was the first elevator safety hearing since two New Yorkers lost their lives in elevators in the past year. Maybe it was the fact that this was the first oversight hearing on elevator safety since 2003.

This in a city where most people live and work in high-rise, all serviced by some 60,000 elevators.

The main issue of the afternoon was two new elevator safety bills proposed by the council: one that would require existing elevators to be furnished with more safety devices and another that would require elevator workers to be licensed.

“We require licensing of our plumbers. We require licensing of our electricians. And the lack of elevator licensing is a major loophole,” said councilmember James Vacca, a sponsor of the licensing bill. “It is also a threat to the safety of millions of New Yorkers.” Read More

The Garment District is Booming—and That’s Bad for the Fashion Industry

Michael Ewing — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:30:23 -0400

The Garment District is turning around! Well, kind of.

The Fashion Center Business Improvement District released a report last Thursday that showed an economic gain in the dingy hood, Crain’s reported. But the jobs aren’t in fashion, mostly coming instead from art studios, hotels, restaurants and film. Read More

Where’s the Rent? Supreme Court Witholds Decision on Whether or Not to Hear Rent Control Case

Matt Chaban — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:40:14 -0400

That’s pretty much the full story at this point. “The court has not granted or denied that case yet,” a Supreme Court public information officer just informed The Observer. Such announcements are made every Monday, and so New York will be on the edge of its rent-regulated seats for another seven days. Check back then to see if landlords citywide will finally have their day in court.

Mesothelioma Scores? Asbestos May Drive Islanders to Brooklyn for Good

Matt Chaban — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:49:22 -0400

We already know that the first game to be played at the Barclays Center will not be basketball but hockey, as the New York Islanders are playing an exhibition game there. There has been a lot of talk about the team moving there for good, after its lease runs out at the Nassau Coliseum in Read More

Surprise! Chris Christie Fudged the Numbers When He Killed the ARC Tunnel

Matt Chaban — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:20:23 -0400

It was the shot heard 'round the Hudson, the anti-spending measure that arguably made New Jersey Governor Chris Christie a national conservative star: Killing the ARC Tunnel.

The move was unprecedented, reversing decades of Robert Moses-inspired shovels-in-the-ground unstoppability for public works. And now it appears to have been little more than a political gambit. The Times has gotten a copy of a new Government Accountability Office report showing that Governor Christie grossly exaggerated the costs his state would bear if it went ahead with the multi-billion project to create a new rail connection between Manhattan and Secaucus. Read More

In Defense of the Upper West Side Retail Rezoning: Enough With the Banks Already!

Matt Chaban — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:54:52 -0400

While real estate and business groups opposed the Upper West Side rezoning that places restrictions on retail establishments, James Gardener, a native of the neighborhood and The Real Deal's architecture critic, makes a compelling case for the legislation.

He argues that the rezoning improves not only the retail mix on the stretch, not always great, but also the street life, that most essential of New York experiences, a landmark more important even than the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, perhaps. For after all, it is at street level where so many of us live, not in these hokey locales. Read More

The Bespoke Builder Gets a Bespoke Suit: Tommy Craig Celebrates Three Decades at Hines

Matt Chaban — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:43:23 -0400

Hines New York chief Tommy Craig's meeting downtown ran an hour longer than expected yesterday, leaving everyone back at the the 499 Park headquarters a little bit more tippled than expected but otherwise thrilled when Mr. Craig walked through the glass doors to his surprise 30th anniversary party. Read More

Has Digital Dumbo Reached Maximum Capacity? Techies Drive Down Vacancy Rates for Office Space

Nitasha Tiku — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:41:32 -0400

At an industry breakfast yesterday, the commercial real estate brokers at Cushman & Wakefield announced that New York City has reached a tipping point: For the first time since 1999, the information and media sector (including technology) beat out financial services terms of office leasing.

In the first quarter of 2012, information and media accounted for 27.8 percent of office leasing by square footage, compared to the financial sector's 26.3 percent. "New York is not just a financial town anymore,” Cushman's managing director Ken McCarthy told the Real Deal.

You don't have to tell Dumbo. Yesterday, the Brooklyn Paper reported that commercial vacancy rates in the neighborhood are down to 2 percent, prompting city planners to try to make Downtown more appealing to Brooklyn's creative class. "Everyone in the tech industry wants to be in DUMBO," said the paper. And here we thought the ideal spot was spitting distance from Union Square Ventures. Read More

Let’s Make a Deal! How Mike’s Mild-Mannered Closer Seth Pinsky, Got the City Building Again

Nitasha Tiku — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:15:48 -0400

Imagine, if you will, the landscape of New York City 15 years hence. A drive to Citi Field in Willets Point takes you past a pleasant if overpriced cluster of residential buildings, rather than seedy chop-shops. Roosevelt Island is home to a sprawling $2 billion applied-sciences campus spinning out an army of developers to populate ping-pong-table-clad start-up clusters from Dumbo to Union Square. On Manhattan’s far West Side, the rezoned stretch of Hudson Yards offers millions of square feet for office space, housing and retail and 14 acres of open public space. You can already see traces of a more built-up, scrubbed-down New York in Luna Park’s freshly-painted Scream Zone, the first new roller-coasters Coney Island has seen in 80 years, and the rapidly-metastasizing arena at Atlantic Yards, which will soon play home court to the rebranded Brooklyn Nets.

It’s hardly a scenario Seth Pinsky could have imagined in September 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed just seven months into his tenure as president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), a non-profit subsidiary of the Mayor's office charged with fostering economic growth across the five boroughs.

At the time, Mr. Pinsky was a 36-year-old former lawyer and investment analyst, only a few years removed from a private sector gig refinancing real estate deals for the big banks as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb. He had one big win under his belt—jump-starting the World Trade Center redevelopment project—but he didn’t have “a political bone in his body,” as one insider put it. “People kept saying to me, ‘Wow, you’re the head of the Economic Development Corporation? We’re in an economic meltdown!’’ Mr. Pinsky told The Observer.

“At the time it meant, ‘You must be really crazy.’” Read More