NEW YORK | 1 Manhattan West | 995 FT | 71 FLOORS

[Lecom]

With the wide, open plaza anchored by two bulky towers, this complex's street presence might be similar to that of the old WTC.

[Dac150]

What an amazing surprise to come home to after a weeks long vacation. I am very excited for the further development.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Dac150

What an amazing surprise to come home to after a weeks long vacation. I am very excited for the further development.

Also, lost in the excitement of the growing list of supertalls is the quietly growing list of 900 footers planned or proposed right now. Those are nothing to laugh at either, but they're being overshadowed by the supertalls.

[CoolCzech]

NYTimes.com

February 21, 2008

Work to Begin on Platform Over Tracks on the West Side
By CHARLES V. BAGLI

Despite a flagging economy, Brookfield Properties says it will start work in June on a $600 million platform over railroad tracks near Ninth Avenue, where it plans to build two towering office buildings.

Brookfield, a major commercial landlord in Manhattan, has owned the property between Ninth and Dyer Avenues, between 31st and 33rd Streets, for more than 22 years. But it has had difficulty luring a prominent company to what has long been regarded as Manhattan’s last real estate frontier.

The company now says that the time is ripe to begin work. Development is pushing westward, and the site is only one block west of Pennsylvania Station. The vacancy rate for Manhattan office buildings is still relatively low, and the credit markets should recover fairly quickly from the subprime mortgage crisis, said Richard B. Clark, chief executive of Brookfield.

“For a long time, we believed that the West Side would be the city’s next commercial zone,” Mr. Clark said. “It’s clear that the time is now to make something of this site.”

Brookfield’s project is no simple matter. More than half of the five-acre site is over railroad tracks, which extend from Pennsylvania Station to the West Side railyards. Brookfield must build a three-acre platform, while trains continue to run below, before it can start putting up its first building. It hopes to sign a major tenant during the two years the job is expected to take.

Brookfield’s architect, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has designed two towers, a 1.9-million-square-foot building at the northeast corner of the site and a 3.4-million-square-foot building at the southeast corner.

In many respects, the project is a warm-up for the West Side railyards, where five developers are competing for the development rights. At the railyards, between 10th and 12th Avenues, from 30th to 34th Streets, developers will have to build two 13-acre platforms, at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. They would then have the right to build 12 million square feet of high-rise office and residential buildings.

Brookfield is one of the five companies expected to submit a second round of bids to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority next Tuesday. But concerns about a slowing economy have grown since the sale process began, and many real estate executives and government officials worry that developers may reduce their offers.

Brookfield is not alone when it comes to pushing forward with new office projects. Even so, some real estate executives warn that some of those projects could be postponed, especially if the developer lacks an anchor tenant, and new buildings may not rise over the West Side railyards for years to come.

Over the past five years, developers have largely ignored office projects in favor of erecting lucrative residential towers, even though the destruction of the World Trade Center sharply reduced available office space. In that time, developers built only 16 commercial buildings with a total of 14.4 million square feet, according to the Real Estate Board of New York.

As companies expanded, space became tight and commercial rents soared, with many prime buildings now fetching more than $100 a square foot in annual rent. So developers are once again putting up office towers, some without an anchor tenant. There are four towers under construction, with a combined total of 6.7 million square feet, and another four towers with 11.3 million square feet planned.

SJP Properties is building a 1.1-million-square-foot tower at the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street. Twelve blocks to the north, Boston Properties is excavating a site between 54th and 55th Streets for a 39-story, 1-million-square-foot building that is scheduled to be finished in 2010. A year from now, Boston Properties and its partner, Related Companies, plan to start a second tower, with 900,000 square feet, at Eighth Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets.

“We obviously continue to feel good about west Midtown,” said Robert E. Selsam, senior vice president of Boston Properties.

At the World Trade Center site downtown, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is building the 2.6-million-square-foot Freedom Tower, and JPMorgan Chase has signed a deal to erect a 1.3-million-square-foot building nearby. And over on Church Street, the developer Larry Silverstein is beginning work on what will be three 60-story skyscrapers with a total of 6.2 million square feet.

[Dac150]

This is excellent that this train is begining to roll. An exciting development this will be, given the fact of the construction process.

[NYonward]

Brookfield likes Manhattan as much as Toronto
Real Estate Weekly
Daniel Geiger
2/22/2008

But will Brookfield build on 9th without an anchor?

Yesterday The New York Times reported that Brookfield Properties plans to begin readying its development site on 9th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets for construction of up to 5.5 million square feet. The decision to begin the work, which entails building a platform over the LIRR rail yard tracks that run beneath the site, was first reported by rew-online.com on February 7 after the company’s chief executive, Richard Clark, mentioned that the construction would commence during a conference call that day.

The Times’ story provides a first look at renderings of the curvaceous pair of office towers that Brookfield wants to build on the parcel. The question is whether the firm will begin building the skyscrapers, once it has prepared the site, without an anchor tenant in place. The New York Observer, in a post yesterday, indicated that the answer to that would be no, a logical assumption considering the uncertain demand for office space now that the economy appears to be entering a pronounced slowdown.

On top of that, Brookfield is one of the bidders for the West Side rail yards a block west of its 9th Avenue site. Millions of square feet of office space and residential development are planned for the rail yards site, a major project that may discourage Brookfield from adding more supply in the area on speculative basis.

But during the conference call, Clark made an interesting comparison when assessing the risk of developing projects in the different office markers where Brookfield has a presence. Houston, which Clark described as a strong market because of the concentration of energy sector tenants there, was a city where Brookfield wouldn’t develop on spec because he said that other developers are planning projects that could quickly create a glut of supply.

“It makes us nervous,” Clark said. “It’s more risk than Toronto or New York.”

In Toronto, Brookfield is in the process of building a new office complex, the Bay Adelaide Center, whose later phases may be built on spec. If Brookfield likes Manhattan as much as Toronto as Clark seemed to suggest, could that mean the REIT may in fact go ahead with the 9th Avenue project, especially if it doesn’t win the right to develop the rail yards?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by tonyo

In Toronto, Brookfield is in the process of building a new office complex, the Bay Adelaide Center, whose later phases may be built on spec. If Brookfield likes Manhattan as much as Toronto as Clark seemed to suggest, could that mean the REIT may in fact go ahead with the 9th Avenue project, especially if it doesn’t win the right to develop the rail yards?

That's a question that can't be answered in the short term.

Brookfield’s project is no simple matter. More than half of the five-acre site is over railroad tracks, which extend from Pennsylvania Station to the West Side railyards. Brookfield must build a three-acre platform, while trains continue to run below, before it can start putting up its first building. It hopes to sign a major tenant during the two years the job is expected to take.

But two years is a lot of time to work it out. I was surprised with the speed tenants were found for the west side railyards, and this site sits in between that and the MSG/Penn Station development - both developments larger than this one. I'm confident they'll get a tenant, even if it's just spillover. This will be the key that ties it all together.

[Swede]

1. I love the renderings, 'cept for the plaza. Not a fan of plazas, tho the new pedestrian bit in the middle (32nd street) is a nice touch.

2. it's not 4 towers and 4.7M sqft anymore, is it? so what should the thread title read? 1,216ft / 935ft | 66s / 60s ?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Swede

it's not 4 towers and 4.7M sqft anymore, is it? so what should the thread title read? 1,216ft / 935ft | 66s / 60s ?

That's correct. The heights may change, but that's what it is now. Manhattan West.

[NYguy]

This is turning into one of my favorite Manhattan developments.

From the Manhattan West website:
http://www.brookfieldpropertiesmanhattanwest.com/

A look at the plaza, and comparison with the Hudson Yards proposal...

__

[CoolCzech]

That new canopy design reminds me of Childs's "Potato Chip" concept for the Moynihan station project...

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by CoolCzech

That new canopy design reminds me of Childs's "Potato Chip" concept for the Moynihan station project...

It does. It also adds an openess to an area where there isn't any (the site is in between 2 superblocks) and the plaza has a more natural feel to it because its where the street would be if the grid continued there. The alternative would be another enclosed wintergarden (WFC) or Time Warner Center. Not good for a site that lacks pedestrian circulation. This (pedestrian plaza) was also mandated by Hudson Yards zoning, and for good reason.

[NYguy]

Brookfield is out at Hudson Yards...

curbed.com

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Brookfield Out at Hudson Yards

YARDSMANIA—The MTA just sent out a statement regarding the revised bids for the West Side Rail Yards: "In January, the MTA asked each of the five development teams that submitted proposals for the Hudson Yards to submit revised proposals adhering to a deal structure preferred by the MTA. The deadline for responses was today. We received revised proposals from four teams, which we are reviewing. Brookfield Properties did not submit a revised proposal. The MTA continues to adhere to the existing schedule." This is not surprising, given Brookfield's new money-sucking mini-Hudson Yards just to the east. Relive the good ol' days by checking out Brookfield's bid. R.I.P.

[Scruffy]

curses. now it'll be like having an awesome pair of shoes and i half goes missing

[gttx]

Neither of those buildings has any doors on the ground floor. Seems like a big thing to just ignore in the renderings...

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by gttx

Neither of those buildings has any doors on the ground floor. Seems like a big thing to just ignore in the renderings...

The finished product will be more detailed. We're probably a year or more away from even that, because a tenant has to sign on. Which reminds me, the NBA once considered moving to a tower over the site. Situated directly accross the street from the new Madison Square Garden, the site would seem a pefect location. Maybe the Dolans need that scrutiny.

[Lecom]

Those are clearly just crude massings, though very well rendered. Putting a pretty reflection on a render is much easier than going into detail with the actual model.

[CGII]

Methinks the fact that massing models for these buildings (which look quite like Brookfield's proposal for the Hudson Yards) were released relatively shortly before Brookfield dropped out of the Hudson Yards makes me wonder if they had seen the whole thing coming... In fact, I'm willing to bet that the Manhattan West towers will ultimately be the same as their Hudson Yards towers.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by CGII

In fact, I'm willing to bet that the Manhattan West towers will ultimately be the same as their Hudson Yards towers.

Probably, though the sizes of the towers are very different. SOM has been working on the Manhattan West site for some time now, even before Brookfield put together its west side bid. Its very possible that the west side plan took on aspects of this one, and much effort went into making that proposal more detailed because of the competition. There's no competition for the 9th Ave site, so they can take their time with normal planning here. Also, keep in mind that this particular development has gone through its own changes, so it could be just the opposite.

[Dac150]

Wow, that is a shame given that they were clearly liked the most in the eye of the public, and would've done the most justice to the skyline. All I can hope for at this point is that Tishman doesn't win the bid. Now my loyalty is to Vornado. Once again, a real shame.