In January of 1999 President Bill Clinton’s budget proposal to congress included $20 million in funds for East Side Access, a project that would bring the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal, which turns 100-years-old on Saturday. The projected cost back then was $2.2 billion.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction President Michael Read More
The Meatpacking District had already seen rapid-fire gentrification when, in 2008, a Mobil station at the entrance to the neighborhood sold for $60 million and buzz circulated that it would go retail. Months after the sale, the High Line park opened and completed the once-gritty district’s transformation. Now, new owners are redeveloping the old gas Read More
1717 Broadway, a new hotel development that has the distinction of being the tallest in the Western Hemisphere, has topped out at a lofty 750-feet, the tower’s developer Granite Broadway Development and its construction manager CNY Builders announced on Thursday. The building will house a Marriott Courtyard on the lower floors and a 261-unit extended stay Read More
Last year, RXR Realty, led by chief executive Scott Rechler, acquired 620 Avenue of the Americas, a roughly one million-square-foot office building in the heart of Midtown South for over $500 million. The property continues to demonstrate Mr. Rechler’s genius for spotting value. Since the acquisition, the neighborhood’s popularity has only continued to rise – Read More
After three years of lamb-like hesitation, the world’s boldest office tenants returned to the market with a vengeance, proving that, even during times of uncertainty, big deals can still be made. With Bloomberg, Conde Nast and Bank of America leading an aggressive leasing charge, 2011 marked the year of Read More
Since law firm Fried Frank kicked off the holiday gala season with its annual party at Cipriani 42nd Street last week, the commercial real estate industry has been awash in spirits-soaked, caviar-speckled bacchanals from the trendy Dream Downtown to Gotham Hall.And while networking and deals are often the primary objective, so too are dancing, dining Read More
All told, the commercial building sales that actually saw daylight this year transformed the city. And those that didn’t, well, they made a mark, too. From Google to Coach on the upside, and Beacon Properties on the downside, the biggest buys and near misses of 2011 left Read More
On Thursday, Citigroup opened its new flagship store, an Apple-inspired, high-tech location in Union Square designed to entice customers into stopping by to say hello. The store has free WiFi, 24-hour customer assistance —and even comfy seating for premium Citi clients!
The new location will test the hypothesis that a much-maligned bank can win Read More
Following the housing collapse, it may come as a surprise that some of the best buildings built, or at least finished, this year were luxury condos. Yet that has long been the case in New York–just take a stroll down Park Avenue for proof. There are other notable projects as well, including a park and Read More
New York City is a real estate town, meaning the people who help shape it are some of the most important in the city. After 2009, one of the worst years for the industry in memory, 2010 has been surprisingly active, even if a lot of that activity involved deals unwinding. Oh well! 2011 will Read More
Do you hear that? It’s the sound of a thousand commuters throwing their heads on their horns in exasperation at the mouth of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
Not only will they spend precious minutes of family time waiting for the slightest signs of motion, but it turns out this vital piece of infrastructure belongs in a Read More
In less than a week, New Yorkers elect a new governor. Barring a miracle, GOP candidate Carl Paladino will not be heading to Albany.
He will be heading back upstate, however, to his native Buffalo, where he won’t lack for distractions. After all, Paladino built his failed campaign on his private fortune, a development portfolio estimated Read More
Listen to Your Real Estate! Every New York building has a story—here’s some we told.
Throughout the past 12 months, The Commercial Observer reported on tenants actively looking for new space, regardless of whether those tenants (or their brokers, or their landlords) wanted the marketplace at large to know. Information is power! And so forth …
Here are some of the prospective tenants we reported on, including retail and office, Read More
The city had more than a dozen leases of more than 100,000 square feet that were set to expire in 2010, and the fate of each of the top 10 represents various trends in the market. A number of companies, such as law firm Paul Weiss, the National Basketball Association and pharma firm Forest Laboratories Read More
