NEW YORK | 250 Water Street | 2 x 470 FT | 38 FLOORS

[chris08876]

Howard Hughes buys Milstein’s Seaport site for $180M

The Milstein family has ended a decades-long plan to develop one of the South Street Seaport’s largest vacant lots.

Milstein Properties, which has owned the site at 250 Water Street for nearly 40 years and faced downzoning and litigation in its repeated development efforts, sold it to Howard Hughes Corporation for $180 million, the Dallas-based developer confirmed to The Real Deal.

The one-acre site, currently a parking lot, offers nearly 290,000 buildable square feet, property records show. The property also has the addresses of 304-312 Pearl Street, 2-8 Peck Slip and 116 Beekman Street.

The deal, which pencils out to a little over $620 per square foot, consists of a $53 million initial payment and a mortgage for the balance. The financing has an initial interest-free term of six months, with three six-month extension options at a rate of 6 percent annually, Howard Hughes said. The second and third extension options each require a $30 million paydown.

Howard Hughes said it has not yet decided its plans for the site. The deal was reported earlier Monday evening by the New York Post.

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TRD

[chris08876]

Milstein lends $130M on Seaport site it long owned

Milstein Properties is having separation anxiety in South Street Seaport.

The company changed its role at 250 Water Street, a one-acre parking lot and development site that it owned for nearly four decades. The company, which sold the site earlier this month, has gone from owner to lender, originating a $129.7 million loan for Howard Hughes Corporation’s acquisition of the property, according to documents filed with the city on Friday.

The property was sold free of debt, property records show. The site, which offers nearly 290,000 buildable square feet, changed hands in a $182.7 million deal. Its alternate addresses are 304-312 Pearl Street, 2-8 Peck Slip and 116 Beekman Street.

When the sale was announced earlier this month, Howard Hughes disclosed that the deal would include a $53 million initial payment and a mortgage of an unspecified amount. The loan will also have an initial interest-free term of six months followed by three six-month extension options at a 6 percent annual rate.

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TRD

[NYguy]

Howard Hughes hasn't been as successful with residential plans in the district, but we'll see what they go for here. Perhaps they could transfer some development rights to the site. I posted this in the 80 South St thread, but who knows what plans are afoot...

https://therealdeal.com/2018/04/25/h...treet-seaport/

Howard Hughes eyes 600K sf of air rights at South Street Seaport
Developer’s plans for the New Market Building are unclear

By Kathryn Brenzel
April 25, 2018

[NYguy]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/2018/...k-slip-school/

Howard huge: Locals fear new Seaport tower after Howard Hughes Corp. buys lot across from Peck Slip School





June 14, 2018
BY COLIN MIXSON

The Howard Hughes Corporation has purchased an acre of undeveloped asphalt across the street from Peck Slip School, horrifying local preservationists, who are already manning the barricades in anticipation of another protracted fight against an oversized development.

“Howard Hughes is now going to wade in on a controversy that has angered the community for 25 years, just when they were trying to make peace with the community,” said Michael Kramer, a volunteer on the steering committee for Save Our Seaport. “We are working on various strategies to protect this historic district.”

Howard Hughes purchased the site at 250 Water St. that’s currently being used as a parking lot by owner Peck Slip Associates — which is controlled by the Milstein family — for $180 million dollars, adding the property to a portfolio that includes the Seaport’s Tin Building and the soon-to-open shopping and entertainment center at Pier 17, in addition to a stake in the Mr. C Hotel on Peck Slip, the developer confirmed.

The new owner hasn’t shared its plans for the site yet, but Howard Hughes may be looking to transfer air rights left over from its other Seaport properties, which — if the developer exercises its option for the city-owned New Market building — could balloon up to 627,000 square feet, according to its annual report from 2017.

If that is the plan, however, Howard Hughes would still have to undergo a public review process culminating in a City Council vote to get a zoning text change on the site, in addition to other permits needed to exceed the permitted building height, according to Diana Switaj, Director of Planning and Land Use at Community Board 1.

CB1 members are anticipating a large project at the site, given the developer’s record, and the board will definitely weigh in on the repercussions of construction there when Howard Hughes eventually unveils its plans, according to the group’s leader.

“Obviously people have the experience of a high rise, or very tall buildings being proposed at the Seaport, and now you’d be concerned they’re going to do the same thing here,” said CB1 chairman Anthony Notaro. “It could effect the school, streets, sanitation, traffic, depending on the size, it could have a big impact.”

Taking an adversarial role to the development will only hurt the community, which should look to work with Howard Hughes in order to ensure that whatever construction occurs there includes benefits for the neighborhood, according to one local real estate guru, who said the developer might be persuaded to include a school, grocery store, library, or other community amenities on the space.

“I think the majority of people actually welcome something on this site, especially if the neighborhood gets something in return,” said Luis Vazquez, a real estate broker and author of the Fidi Fan Page. “There are a lot of things the community needs that can be included in this building.”

[chris08876]

Its expected, the resistance. When I read about this assemblage, I'm like o boy! Anything within or near the seaport really riles up the NIMBY resistance. I'd say this neighborhood is even more feverish than the resistance on the UWS.

[NYguy]

Skyscraper SWAT team in action...


http://www.downtownexpress.com/2018/...s-seaport-lot/

Preservationists plan strategy after developer buys Seaport lot





July 11, 2018
BY JANEL BLADOW

Just days after the announcement that Howard Hughes Corporation was buying the block-size parking lot across from Peck Slip School, the South Street Seaport community rallied to voice its concern. More than 100 people turned up for an impromptu meeting of Save Our Seaport that convened on June 27.

The overwhelming concern was renewed fear that the developer will again try to build a supertall skyscraper to loom over a community where most buildings are just four, five or six stories high.

But HHC’s plans are, as always, a mystery.

“’We don’t know what’s coming next’ is the only answer I can give you now,” said David Sheldon, a SOS steering committee member, who chaired the meeting.

Community Board 1 has requested a marketing plan for the 250 Water St. lot and other sites that HHC own in the Seaport area, but board members are not optimistic that the notoriously secretive developer will be any more forthcoming about its plans now than in the past.

“We’ve been trying to get that from Howard Hughes Corporation since I had a full head of hair,” said Paul Goldstein, co-chairman of CB1 Waterfront and Parks Committee.

Given the price HHC paid for the lot, however, many suspect that building a supertall residential tower would be the only way the developer could make the investment pay off.

HHC may try to transfer the air rights from its other Seaport properties, which combined would allow for a 70-story tower or two 35-story buildings at the Water Street site.

The meeting was held in the community room of the Southbridge Towers complex and most of the people there were residents there, whose views of the Seaport, Brooklyn Bridge and East River could be blocked by a high rise on the one-acre lot bordered by Peck Slip and Pearl, Beekman and Water Streets.

Over the nearly four decades when the lot was under Milstein control, nine building projects have been proposed and defeated by community opposition.

Following the last battle in 2003, the area was rezoned to a historic district, with new construction capped at 120 feet or 12 stories, and locals are determined to hold the line.

“We fought hard for that zoning,” Sheldon said. “We shouldn’t have to give it back.”

To erect a structure any taller than the zoning allows, the developer would need to seek special permission through a process that the community board can influence.

“That’s where CB1 comes in,” said Goldstein, adding that Saul Scherl, who oversees HHC’s Seaport developments, is scheduled to speak at the next CB1 executive meeting in July.

Kramer said that if HHC plans a project within the zoning limits — say, two 10-story buildings — it would possibly take up to a year to design and two years to build, but anything larger would take considerably longer due to the approval process.

“If they want to go taller, there are more challenges,” he said. “Worst case would be it could be built in four to five years.”

[NYguy]

http://tribecatrib.com/content/howar...riance-support

Howard Hughes Corp. Talks Possible Dealmaking to Win Variance Support









By CARL GLASSMAN
Posted Aug. 01, 2018

Some dealmaking may be on the horizon between the Howard Hughes Corp. and community leaders over development of the company’s latest Seaport investment, 250 Water Street.

In June, Hughes Corp. bought the full-square-block parcel from Milstein Properties for $180 million. The company says it has yet to come up with plans for the site, now a parking lot bordered by Pearl, Peck Slip and Beekman. But limited by zoning to a 120-foot-tall, 290,000 square foot building, the developer is talking about possible trade-offs with the community and the city that might win them support for a taller structure.

Scherl said the company has begun interviewing architects but “we don’t have plans to file next week, next month, for that matter probably even this year.” Proposals, he noted, will first be presented to the Seaport Advisory Group, an amalgam of community leaders, and elected and other city officials. (Previous discussions with Hughes Corp. about Seaport development took place behind closed doors with a similar body, the Seaport Working Group. It is unclear whether the public and press will be barred from observing these future talks.)

[chris08876]

I checked the BIN for this via the DOB, and nothing yet. No activity or any filings as of yet.

Let's hope they can get the 600k+ sqft of rights to build some nice residential here.

[NYguy]

https://ny.curbed.com/2019/3/28/1828...brownfield-dec

In South Street Seaport, a contaminated lot becomes a flashpoint for a neighborhood
The state received some 250 comments on Howard Hughes’ Brownfield application for the land





By Caroline Spivack
Mar 28, 2019

After a swell of concern over plans to clean up a contaminated block-sized lot in South Street Seaport, officials are in the midst of responding to hundreds of comments before releasing a decision on whether the land is eligible for remediation through a state program.

The Howard Hughes Corporation has applied for inclusion in the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Program after discovering a stew of contaminates on 250 Water Street, including mercury, petroleum, and material used to level land that contains semi-volatile organic compounds. But the site is adjacent to the Peck Slip School, and a cobblestone street that students use as a play area separates the properties—setting off alarm bells for parents who are concerned about their children's safety.

Mimi Raygorodetsky, who is leading the remediation with Langan for Howard Hughes, noted that the cleanup is an unusual situation.

“This site is very unique,” Raygorodetsky told locals at a recent meeting, hosted by Howard Hughes, regarding the cleanup. “There are very few schools in New York that take over a street and sidewalk that adjoins an active construction site; that is not to say that mitigation, not only monitoring, but mitigation measures [can’t] be put in place to make a cleanup safe and protective.”

The city and state have strict rules Langan would need to follow should a Hurricane Sandy-level storm strike the city to ensure contaminates do not flood the neighborhood—this essentially involves removing equipment and any hazardous material stored on the lot and covering anything that cannot be removed.

But residents, especially those who lived through 9/11 and Sandy, are not sold on the plans and want their own independent environmental expert to monitor the site. A cadre of local groups have joined forces to form Seaport Planning and Preservation—made up of Save Our Seaport, residents of the nearby Southbridge Towers, and Children First, a group of mostly Peck Slip parents that formed in response to the cleanup—and have begun consulting environmental experts, according to Eliane Kennedy, the chair of Seaport Planning Preservation.

A cleanup at the site is in anticipation of developing the city-block sized lot, which Howard Hughes purchased for $180 million from Milstein Properties last June. The land resides within the South Street Seaport Historic District, meaning that the building cannot exceed 12 stories. But the developer owns substantial air rights at nearby properties that could in theory be transferred to the parking lot—although it would have to go through an extensive land use process and be subject to a vote by the City Council.

Locals have pressed Howard Hughes for specifics on its plans for the parcel and fear a skyscraper looming over the historic neighborhood just as much as the environmental remediation, but the firm is staying mum on plans for the site. Scherl did note that the company aims to begin conversations on future development on the property with Manhattan Community Board 1 in the next two months.

But regardless of what rises on the property, remediation is inevitable, Scherl said.

“We’re going to develop the site, and in order to develop the site, whether it’s 12 stories, whether it’s a parking garage—it doesn’t matter. It has to be tested,” he said.

[NYguy]

https://rew-online.com/2019/06/howar...ort-evolution/

Howard Hughes taps SOM to guide Seaport evolution

by REW
June 14, 2019

The Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC) has selected Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) to advance a forward-looking plan for the continuing evolution of Seaport District properties.

...SOM will focus on providing a comprehensive plan for HHC’s Seaport District properties in the context of the neighborhood, with a particular focus on the surface parking lot at 250 Water Street as well as other potential improvements to the Seaport District.

[NYguy]

https://ny.curbed.com/2020/1/30/2108...0-water-street

Is a new tower coming to South Street Seaport’s historic district?
A developer is eyeing an air rights transfer for a contested South Street Seaport lot

By Caroline Spivack
January 30, 2020

The Howard Hughes Corporation has expressed an interest in transferring development rights from three high-profile properties to 250 Water Street, which sits above the toxic remnants of a 19th-century thermometer factory. Renderings presented during a recent community workshop show a building that has a contextually appropriate base, with a taller tower rising above it. This preliminary vision has emerged as Howard Hughes embarks on a master planning process for the South Street Seaport with community input led by architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

City Council member Margaret Chin, who represents the area, is monitoring proposals for the site and currently does not have a position on would-be development in the area, according to her office. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer hopes any plans for the site “take into consideration the context of the area, especially since it is a historic district, and conforms to what is permissible,” Brewer said in a statement.

Howard Hughes purchased the Water Street lot (bounded by Peck Slip and Beekman Street to the north and south, and Water and Pearl streets to the east and west) from Milstein Properties in 2018 for $180 million, after the latter failed to develop the site.

But the developer also controls a significant chunk of the historic Seaport under a lease with the city, including Pier 17, the Tin Building, and the New Market building. Included in its holdings is approximately 311,000 square feet of development rights at 250 Water Street; roughly 415,000 square feet of unused rights at Pier 17 and the Tin Building. Some 212,000 square feet of air rights is also owned by the city at the New Market site.

[NYguy]

Here are a few grabs from that November workshop. Though nothing has been designed yet, it appears there will basically be a tower set back over a low level base.


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[NYer34]

Go with the 'zoning envelope' version.

No tower. It will look like absolute sh** encroaching over the neighborhood.

Much better to step up to the FiDi via the 'zoning envelope' - otherwise you get a little Tour Montparnasse in the Seaport.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYer34

Go with the 'zoning envelope' version.

No tower. It will look like absolute sh** encroaching over the neighborhood.

Much better to step up to the FiDi via the 'zoning envelope' - otherwise you get a little Tour Montparnasse in the Seaport.

The zoning envelope is just what they’re allowed to build before they transfer those development rights from the other sites. So you’d get that squat box - only nearly 3x the height - a monster for the neighboring streets. Meanwhile, the tower would have more height, but much less that bulky mass. But really, whatever get’s built here won’t matter heightwise if a 1,400 ft 80 South Street rises as well.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by NYer34

No tower. It will look like absolute sh** encroaching over the neighborhood.

Much better to step up to the FiDi via the 'zoning envelope' - otherwise you get a little Tour Montparnasse in the Seaport.

Uh, there's a 1,450 ft. tower planned a block to the south.

And Water Street is already lined with giant highrises. It would actually be noncontextual to not build a big tower. The NIMBYs fighting local development live in modern apartment towers just to the west, and don't want their views blocked. The historic district is like two blocks and already surrounded by modern towers.

[NYguy]

[NYguy]

Let the battles begin...


http://www.tribecatrib.com/content/a...rce-opposition

Another Tower Plan for the Seaport: 'There's Going to Be Fierce Opposition'




Screen shot from video of Chris Cooper of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as he shows a model of one of three development concepts for 250 Water Street to a Howard Hughes Corp. "stakeholder workshop." The one pictured is a model of a 990-foot-high building. Video courtesy of Seaport Coalition


By CARL GLASSMAN
Posted Mar. 10, 2020

Six years after losing a bruising battle to build a tower at the South Street Seaport, the Howard Hughes Corp. has set the stage for its next development clash with the community.

Last week, at an invitation-only “stakeholder workshop,” Hughes executives and architects from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill revealed their options for a soaring project at 250 Water Street, buildings that would many times exceed zoning limits in the South Street Seaport Historic District. Among the ideas is a residential tower nearly 1,000 feet tall.

To sweeten the deal, the developer is dangling a host of tantalizing neighborhood investments and amenities, chief of which is a new building for the struggling South Street Seaport Museum.

Along with a 990-foot-high tower are three other concepts for the site, now a parking lot stretching from Peck Slip and Beekman Street. They include an 880-foot tower that rises in stepped setbacks; two towers, one 770 feet tall, the other 385 feet; and a 285-foot-wide, 570-foot-high building.

Each project, which would include 200 below-market rate apartments, features a base about eight stories high meant to fit in with the low-rise neighborhood and, the developer hopes, convince the Landmarks Preservation Commission that the project is appropriate for the low-rise historic district.

At the recent workshop, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect Chris Cooper pitched the towers as reasonably sized compared to other Lower Manhattan skyscrapers, while the base is in scale with the neighborhood. In a video, he is shown pointing to a model of the 990-foot-high building and saying: “You see, that base corresponds to the context. And then the height responds to the rest of the city.”

“I don’t think they once mentioned that 250 Water Street is in the historic district,” said Paul Goldstein, the chair of Community Board 1’s Waterfront, Parks and Cultural Committee, who attended the workshop. “I don’t think the word historic district even arose.”

Community Board 1 and local activists are expected to fight any large-scale project at 250 Water Street during the public land use review required for a zoning variance. And they are likely to oppose the developer’s efforts to scrap a city rule that specifically prohibits its needed transfer to 250 Water Street of 450,000 square feet of air rights from two Seaport properties that Hughes Corp. leases from the city.

That air rights transfer would almost certainly need the consent of Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who said she has her own doubts. She told the Trib in a statement: “With the future of the Seaport District at stake, the community’s priority is clear: we need a conversation about bulk and density that fully takes into account the context of this historic area. At this point, I don't believe the case has been properly made to residents that an air rights transfer is even necessary.”

On a possible air rights transfer, a spokesperson for the city’s Economic Development Corp., the agency that oversees the Seaport properties, emphasized in a statement the long road ahead for the developer, which has to go through a “competitive public procurement as well as multiple land use approval processes.”

“As stewards of the Historic South Street Seaport,” the spokesperson said, “we take the community’s priorities seriously and look forward to engaging further with local stakeholders on how to best equip the neighborhood for the future.”

Hoping to pave a path forward, Hughes Corp. is promising an array of local improvements, including a new $50 million, 30,000-square-foot building for the South Street Seaport Museum at John and South Streets, and a $100 million, 75,000 square-foot building for an undetermined community use, at the site of the current New Market Building. Then there are the host of other possible local improvements, from an upgraded play street for the Peck Slip School to a community theater to a skate park.

“We have a rare opportunity to bring affordable housing to an area where it’s in short supply, secure the long-term future of the Seaport Museum, boost resiliency along the waterfront and provide public realm and infrastructure improvements across the historic neighborhood,” a Howard Hughes spokesman said in a statement.

“This neighborhood like any other neighborhood could use improvements. And we like a lot of the things that have been discussed,” Goldstein said. “But the price is not the price we’re willing to pay, and we’re not that desperate for these things to give away ten percent of the historic district.”

In a resolution passed last November, CB1 repeated its long-standing position for keeping the existing zoning in the Seaport Historic District that “ensures that new buildings maintain the low scale character of this very special area.” The resolution supports a “Seaport Strategic Vision” drawn up by the Seaport Coalition, an activist group that calls the current height limits non-negotiable.

“We certainly can’t stomach the idea that you can buy your way out of the zoning and that you can buy your way out of history,” said Michael Kramer, a leader of the coalition, which includes Children First, Save Our Seaport, and residents of Southbridge Towers. “This is a very fragile and unique neighborhood.”

• Video Link






Concept renderings, inside and out, of a new building for the South Street Seaport Museum at South and John Streets. Credit: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and the Howard Hughes Corp.



I grabbed some additional shots...

[JMKeynes]

I love the last one. It reminds me of 270 Park.

I hope that the a..hole residents and Commie politicians don't kill this.

P.S.: The elevated FDR must come down. NYC doesn't need more cars. The FDR can end at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall exit. Furthermore, I'd ideally like to eliminate the FDR in its entirety and replace it with an East River Park. Traffic can exit at 125th and go down the avenues.

[SkyHigher]

Wow that is a game changer for the Brooklyn Bridge view point. What with 2WTC coming. 1WTC will be crowded out from that view point!

[PhyllisJerry2]

I’m hoping they go with option 2, the setbacks plus a masonry facade as depicted in the renderings will fit right in with both the seaport buildings and the older towers in FiDi (and hopefully provide less fodder for NIMBYs). I think this is a simple air-rights transfer as opposed to a weird zoning lot situation so opponents may not have a legal leg to stand on as is.

As a sidenote, I can’t believe there’s been a surface parking lot on this location for so long.