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

[Perklol]

Originally Posted by NYguy

The immediate area is just that - the area around the Farley building. The plan has always been to sell the air rights for development around the immediate area, specifically to create a dense office district along the lines of Grand Central, though it wouldn't reach that scale. They were at one time going to use development rights to build a skyscraper directly out of the building itself.

Now I understand. Thank you.

However, that seems like the last thing Related/Brookfield would want. Competition to build an office tower in a superior location. Midtown East rezoning would go in effect until 2017 so it would not compete with the Hudson Yards or WTC. The same should happen here.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Eveningsong

Now I understand. Thank you.

However, that seems like the last thing Related/Brookfield would want. Competition to build an office tower in a superior location. Midtown East rezoning would go in effect until 2017 so it would not compete with the Hudson Yards or WTC. The same should happen here.

Keep in mind that it was Related and Vornado that formed the team to reap the benefits of the air rights sale from Farley, as well as redevelop the area around it, using the massive air rights from both Penn Station and the Farley to build massive towers, some of which would have been taller than anything in the Hudson Yards.

Also, we're only talking about 1.5 msf or air rights. That would amount to a very average sized office tower for Manhattan.

Vornado owns the most property in the immediate area, at one point planning the Penn East and West towers (shown in the model below). Seems they would benefit the most from any sales. Related also owns large footprints that could benefit.




Brookfield, meanwhile, won't be able to transfer the development rights of 450 anywhere else on the Manhattan West site. If they could combine those rights with any development rights from Farley, you could see a considerable tower developed somewhere.


This area has always been considered by the City to be in the same plan to develop the west side.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Keep in mind that it was Related and Vornado that formed the team to reap the benefits of the air rights sale from Farley, as well as redevelop the area around it, using the massive air rights from both Penn Station and the Farley to build massive towers, some of which would have been taller than anything in the Hudson Yards.

What ever happened to that plan? Does that mean we're going to get a relatively short/fat tower?

I almost feel like NY could use one of those with all the tall skinny buildings going up

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

What ever happened to that plan? Does that mean we're going to get a relatively short/fat tower?

That plan was scrapped years ago, in large part because MSG backed out of plans to move into the Farley, and not enough financial support for the project.



http://chelseanow.com/2014/03/state-...t-of-rfp-loop/

State Leaves Locals Out of RFP Loop





BY SAM SPOKONY
March 12, 2014

Recent actions by New York state officials toward selling major development rights to fund the Moynihan Station project have been called calling an “unwelcome surprise” by local electeds — who are now calling for transparency and adherence to process, as the project goes forward.

...In a step toward funding Phase Two, which would transform much of the Farley Building’s interior into a Grand Central-esque terminal, ESDC released a Request for Proposals (RFP) on February 6, seeking a broker for sales of the building’s 1.5 million square feet of unused air rights. Those sales could lead to more dense development in an area just blocks away from the forthcoming Hudson Yards and Manhattan West projects, which will, respectively, create 17 million and 5.5 million square feet of new mixed-use development. All responses from potential brokers were received by March 6, and the state plans to choose the contract winner before the end of March, according to the RFP.

The problem is that ESDC never informed local elected officials or community board members about that February RFP, leaving them all to learn about it weeks after it had been released.

By law, ESDC has the ability to transfer air rights without regard to local zoning laws or the wishes of local stakeholders. But Gottfried and the other electeds called on the state agency to put any air rights transfers through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) — which would allow for direct recommendations from Community Boards 4 and 5 and the borough president, as well as requiring approval from the City Planning Commission and the City Council before the transfers could go forward.

“Given the volume of air rights available, we strongly believe that community members and urban planners must be included in the earliest stages of identifying appropriate receiver sites [for the air rights],” the March 5 letter read.

The elected officials’ primary concern is that a lack of such inclusion could lead to increasing and unwanted overdevelopment in the area around Penn Station. And alongside their request for ULURP, the local electeds also asked the state to include provisions in its plans that would spread the Farley Building’s air rights outside that immediate area.

...The state’s February RFP did not say that future transfers of the development rights will go through ULURP.

...neither ESDC nor Governor Cuomo’s office responded to questions about whether or not they will agree to that as the process moves forward. This newspaper also contacted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office to ask if the mayor will call on the state to go through ULURP, but they also did not respond.

[NYguy]

http://newyork.construction.com/new_...17s-agenda.asp

Big Thinking, Big Projects Underpin Brookfield's Agenda





03/14/2014
By Tom Stabile

When Brookfield Office Properties unveiled plans to develop a long dormant site on Manhattan's West Side last year, it would have been fair to question whether the global firm would complete the $4.6-billion project. After all, it had owned some parcels on the six-acre property spanning West 31st to West 33rd streets between 9th and 10th avenues for more than 15 years and had started and stopped development before on the property, where much of the "land" was a yawning pit over busy railroad tracks.

Brookfield served notice at the start, however, plowing $340 million of its own cash into the first $680-million phase of its 7-million-sq-ft Manhattan West project. And instead of leasing the complex machinery necessary to create a 115,000-sq-ft platform across the rail tracks, it simply bought the expensive, custom-built equipment outright.

"No one would purchase a crane to build a building," says Joseph Byrne, project executive at Turner Construction, construction manager on the Manhattan West platform, which was one of the region's top starts last year. "It is rare that an owner buys a piece of equipment. It would be rare even that a general contractor like Turner would purchase a piece of equipment."

Buying the equipment, called a launching gantry, which is now installing 240-ft-wide panels as part of the project's massive platform, allowed the developer to overcome the schedule, size and safety constraints of building over the tracks, says Henry Caso, a Brookfield vice president. In doing so, the firm was also buying certainty, reducing risk and avoiding the impact of more conventional methods, he says.

"We hope there will be someone interested in the launcher looking to develop over some other train yard somewhere in the world," Caso says. If not, he adds, Brookfield plans to sell the giant contraption for parts.

...Brookfield is actively participating in the region's development rebound, Wharton says. "I think there's a lot of opportunity," he says. "Part of the reason is a lot of pent-up demand, where there wasn't financing available so a lot of construction was put on hold."

...Brookfield engaged neighbors and elected officials on behalf of its Manhattan West project, in part because it knew that with the site lying fallow for years, it needed extra dialogue. "The kinds of things that concerned them were easily addressed—more information rather than less, and being up front," Kanner says.

The firm worked for three years with Community Board 4, participated in neighborhood quality-of-life meetings and implemented extensive communications, including weekly e-mails to the public about site activities. It monitored noise mitigation and worked with neighbors' concerns, including halting construction during student move-in and move-out days at the nearby Fashion Institute of Technology.

...Brookfield's safety program includes tailored training for a railroad environment as well as multiple layers of prioritized safety communications. Its staff includes a licensed safety manager for each site who coordinates with the general safety manager, a provision that exceeds code requirements.

Those policies will get extensive use on Manhattan West, which will include a 65-story commercial office tower, a 60-story sibling tower and a 700,000-sq-ft residential tower. Overall, it will have 4 million sq ft of new construction, 2.1 acres of public space and an extensive $200-million renovation of the 1.8-million-sq-ft property at 450 W. 33rd St. that Brookfield acquired in 2011. That building—with REX as architect and Tishman Construction as construction manager on the rehabilitation—is getting reclad with a glass exterior and major upgrades to building systems and its lobby while tenants remain in place.

Manhattan West has roots in a property Brookfield acquired decades ago, Caso says. It later acquired more portions and started construction in 1997, but stopped when market conditions soured. Afterward, it acquired even more parcels.

The project is enormous even by New York standards, says Dick Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress. "The thing I like about it more than just generating work in the industry is that it's a real vote of confidence in the far West Side," he adds.

Jay Simson, president of the ACEC New York chapter, says that the design of the platform, by Toronto-based Entuitive and McNary Bergeron of Broomfield, Colo., is a showcase for high-end engineering. "If you think about the ability to transform such an area in demand, and the fact that they're going to build it while the trains are still running, it's pretty significant," he says.

The platform will serve as the bottom level of a parking deck about 25 ft above tracks serving New York's bustling Penn Station, Caso says. When rail agencies gave the team short time frames and restricted access, it led to the plan for the launcher. The approach is like bridge-building, creating 16 giant sections by attaching batches of 39 precast concrete panels, each 50 tons, with epoxy and post-tensioning.

The team is using the launcher, which moves on tracks and is currently situated on a temporary platform, to lift each 240-ft-wide span. With a four-week timetable to install each span, the entire platform will be in place by year's end, at which time construction on other site elements is set to begin, including one of the office towers and the 450 W. 33rd St. renovation. Much of the rest of the project will entail more conventional construction; the towers will rest mostly on bedrock, with some sections cantilevered over the platform, Caso says.

Wharton says when the first office tower and the residential tower come online in 2017 and once Manhattan West and the Hudson Yards projects are complete, the entire area will be "like a new city."

[NYguy]

Those policies will get extensive use on Manhattan West, which will include a 65-story commercial office tower,
a 60-story sibling tower and a 700,000-sq-ft residential tower.

Don't know if that is the final configuration of this ever-changing project. But there is a little new information on the website...


http://www.manhattanwestnyc.com/cont...wer-29594.html

Residential Tower.

The residential building will rise 60 stories with 800 units and offer an array of amenities including concierge service,
pool, spa, fitness and children's daycare.

Hotel.

A 5-star boutique hotel will feature a 9,000-square-foot rooftop garden and signature restaurants

The first office tower will be 1 Manhattan West, but it doesn't look like they've decided which one it will be.

[ILNY]

3.14.14

Third span has been moved on Friday but they had some problems with the launcher's north rail and they decided to drop it. Perhaps somebody has more information.


Ready for lift off.













...here we go.


















[/url]




©ILNY

[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...pment-gets-nod

Expansion of big West Side project gets nod
A plan for an open-space pedestrian link between Brookfield Office Property's 5.4 million-square-foot development west of Penn Station with the 1.8 million-square-foot office building it purchased recently wins City Planning Commission approval.


Joe Anuta
March 20, 2014

The City Planning Commission approved a key zoning modification for Brookfield Office Properties' $4.5 billion Manhattan West project Wednesday. The change will allow it to be linked up with the huge building the company bought just to the west in 2012. The proposal now moves on to the City Council for consideration.

"We are pleased with the commission's decision, and look forward to moving ahead with the project," said Philip Wharton, senior vice president of development at the firm. "We believe the additional open space will be beneficial to the community."

Brookfield had its requested zoning modifications approved years ago, before the financial downturn, for most of the 5-acre complex between Ninth and Tenth avenues and West 31st and West 33rd streets, but after acquiring the hulking 16-story, concrete-clad building at 450 W. 33rd St., the firm decided to return to the City Planning Commission to deck over Dyre Avenue and provide a pedestrian walkway linking that building with the company's new development.

Along with other modifications to public plazas, the deck will bring the public open space to a total of more than two acres, about double what the previous plan contained. All told, Manhattan West is set to include 7 million square feet of office, retail, residential and hotel uses.

Brookfield broke ground on the project in late 2012, and is currently building the platform for it over the tracks leading out of Penn Station to the west through the Long Island Railroad Yards. Last month, the firm also kicked off renovations at 450 W. 33rd St., designed to improve its brutalist aesthetic by sheathing it in pleated glass.

Manhattan West sits a block from an even bigger planned complex, the 28-acre Hudson Yards development, where Related Cos. began construction Wednesday on a portion of the enormous platform it will build over the yards.

http://www.veooz.com/news/MG_UoC_.html

[WestSideGuy]

They haven't started building a new span in a while and from my apartment it looks as if they are disassembling the temporary platform. I guess I'm going to miss out on seeing the rest of the fun.

[NYguy]

Throwback to another era...


http://chelsea.clickyourblock.com/bb...?t=1004&page=2

[NYguy]

http://www.waltersgroupinc.com/proje...nue-overbuild/

Manhattan West 9th Avenue Overbuild

The Manhattan West development by Brookfield Properties, is a massive $4.5 billion skyscraper development which will be built just west of Penn Station in the heart of Manhattan’s
new West Side. The development will consist of two commercial towers along with a third residential building built on land. The end result will transform the Hudson Yards into a vibrant,
mixed-use district of retail and residential housing.

Our Role

The project started with the creation of a temporary steel and wood platform to support the first phase of the project. Phase One consists of the construction of a segmental pre-cast,
post-tensioned, long-span box girder deck spanning approximately 240 feet over 14 active rail lines.

A specialized Launching Gantry and hauler/straddle carrier, being unloaded, assembled, and erected by our Metropolitan Walters team, is being used to install a 120,000-square-foot
platform that will create the foundation of the development. With the Launching Gantry in place, our team will unload 16 pre-cast segmental concrete box girders, each weighing
over 2,100 tons, spanning 240 feet.

The end result will create a bridge that will span the train tracks bordered by 31st Street, 9th Avenue, 33rd street and Dyer Avenue in New York City.

http://www.mcnarybergeron.com/projec...ghts.php?id=43

[NYguy]

http://commercialobserver.com/2014/0...anhattan-west/

Ready to Launch: Jerry Larkin’s Vision for Manhattan West





By Al Barbarino
4/02/14

Earlier this year, a machine known as The Launcher got to work on the foundation upon which Brookfield Office Properties’ 7.2-million-square-foot mixed-use Manhattan West project will rise.

So far, the metallic-yellow workhorse has methodically placed three of 16 concrete bridge spans atop a set of uncovered Amtrak tracks that lead to Penn Station, the rest of which are expected to be in place by year’s end.

As The Launcher continues to work ahead of schedule at the task, the “neighborhood of the future” is becoming more and more of a reality, as marketing efforts to land an anchor tenant for the development’s first commercial tower intensify.

“People are starting to see that it’s all happening,” Brookfield’s Jerry Larkin, the director of leasing at the firm, told Commercial Observer. “We’re basically talking to every type of tenant out there.”

Over the past several weeks, Mr. Larkin has ramped up his efforts, running dozens of potential tenants through two marketing suites located at Brookfield’s Grace Building at 1114 Avenue of the Americas as well as their downtown headquarters, giving potential tenants a glimpse into the colossal project with 3D models and virtual presentations.

“Firms now are looking to work in a more collaborative environment, so we’re building a very collaboration-friendly building with high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass, column-free spacing and all the technological features a tenant in today’s market is looking for,” he said.

The building at 1 Manhattan West, at the corner of Ninth Avenue and 33rd Street, will be a 2-million-plus-square-foot, 67-story building. It will feature column-free floor plates between 33,000 and 38,000 square feet, with “a beautiful, generous lobby with 50-foot soaring ceilings,” glass frontage along Ninth Avenue, and “an opportunity for someone to brand the Hudson Yards district as the first building they will see as they are coming over.”

“We want to make it as easy for our prospects to understand what our dream is, and hopefully we land the big one,” Mr. Larkin said. “I’m not sure who it’s going to be, but it will be a household name for people in New York City and it will be of the first-class nature of the project.”

In addition to 1 Manhattan West, the project will include another office tower of similar size, design and scope, a residential tower, a landscaped two-acre plaza and 200,000 square feet of retail split between the new development and the $200 million redevelopment of 450 West 33rd Street. A residential building, the first on the new construction agenda, will rise 60 stories, with 800 to 900 units. A five-star boutique hotel will feature a 9,000-square-foot rooftop garden and signature restaurants.

“We know that our bread and butter is the office space above, so the most important thing is to get the right mix [of retail] that doesn’t take away from the office space and provides all the amenities that tenants need,” Mr. Larkin said.

Plans also are in place to integrate the 1.8-million-square-foot 450 West 33rd Street into the complex, which is expected to be complete before any of the new construction starts in early 2016. The modernization includes exterior re-cladding, a new lobby, new mechanicals and elevator upgrades to create “an inspiring workspace full of natural light.”

“Today, it is not a very attractive building,” Mr. Larkin admitted. But when the redevelopment is through, he said, “it will be the most modern 100,000-square-foot-plus floor plate building in Manhattan,” noting the dearth of modern floor plates of this size in Manhattan.

The anticipated result, with an additional mix of luxury and “aspirational” retail, restaurants and cafés, is not unlike the concept at Brookfield Place, currently in the limelight as it undergoes its own transformation. It epitomizes just about everything a development firm could ask for in a densely packed Manhattan market, offering tenants, New Yorkers and tourists free waterfront concerts and an upcoming luxury retail lineup.

“We are creating the same type of community feeling with all the amenities, public spaces, communal areas and retail on the scale of Brookfield Place,” Mr. Larkin said. “We’ve had Elton John perform, Bruce Springsteen perform, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and many other different types of events, and we’re going to take those uptown to Manhattan West as well to create a sense of community for the tenants and the residents.”

Brookfield Office Properties and other major developers, most notably Related Companies at Hudson Yards, are betting big on the Far West Side. They look to the success of the High Line, proximity to public transportation and the city’s investment in additional infrastructure—like the extension of the 7 subway line and planned changes to the Moynihan Station—as the fodder that will support growth and make the Hudson Yards district. Mr. Larkin anticipates a booming addition to a metropolis now filled mostly with aging buildings.

“It is obviously the neighborhood of the future because of how young the office stock is going to be,” he said. “If you think about Midtown Manhattan, the average age of the office stock is between 50 and 70 years old.

“You couple that with the huge increases of residents moving into the neighborhood and that brings in the retail, the restaurants, the nightlife, the shopping, all to create a dynamic and vibrant neighborhood.”

Mr. Larken has been on board at Brookfield since 1997, and as senior vice president and director of leasing for the firm’s New York and Boston portfolio he said he has overseen some 21 million square feet of office leasing that in part spans Manhattan, with key holdings in all three major submarkets.

[babybackribs2314]

Not going to happen! At least until the 2020s.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by babybackribs2314

Not going to happen! At least until the 2020s.

Why do you say that?

[babybackribs2314]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Why do you say that?

Because there is a glut of office space, companies don't want this kind of product, and the location is worse than comparable towers that are rising/set to rise at the WTC and Hudson Yards.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by babybackribs2314

Because there is a glut of office space, companies don't want this kind of product, and the location is worse than comparable towers that are rising/set to rise at the WTC and Hudson Yards.

Manhattan has the lowest office vacancy rate in the U.S., so I would hardly call it a "glut" of office space.

I personally would prefer to be Downtown, at the WTC site, because I live in Brooklyn, and my life is mostly Downtown, but the average corporate user would definitely prefer this location over WTC.

That's why office rents are higher in Hudson Yards, and much higher in Midtown in general, compared to Downtown.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by babybackribs2314

Because there is a glut of office space, companies don't want this kind of product, and the location is worse than comparable towers that are rising/set to rise at the WTC and Hudson Yards.

You think? If I am not mistaken, leases for commercial space last quarter, in both mid and downtown, were at near record highs. In the WTC3 thread, there was an article posted today showing that Class-A office space is starting to be at a premium, and rents are increasing accordingly.

Both the South and North towers at Hudson Yards have solid occupancy rates (isn't the south tower nearly full?) and I've heard from a friend of a friend at CBRE that the Girasole has a great deal of potential tenant interest. That same friend also says that large corporations are increasingly looking to move into modern office space, something the WTC, HU and MW provide in spades. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think Brookfield would be spending the massive amount of money required to build this platform unless they were at least fairly confident they would be able to sign leases.

[babybackribs2314]

Originally Posted by Submariner

You think? If I am not mistaken, leases for commercial space last quarter, in both mid and downtown, were at near record highs. In the WTC3 thread, there was an article posted today showing that Class-A office space is starting to be at a premium, and rents are increasing accordingly.

Both the South and North towers at Hudson Yards have solid occupancy rates (isn't the south tower nearly full?) and I've heard from a friend of a friend at CBRE that the Girasole has a great deal of potential tenant interest. That same friend also says that large corporations are increasingly looking to move into modern office space, something the WTC, HU and MW provide in spades. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think Brookfield would be spending the massive amount of money required to build this platform unless they were at least fairly confident they would be able to sign leases.

It seems to me that the biggest trend is towards converted spaces in places like Chelsea and SoHo.

Tenant interest =/= financing, though. There has always been speculative interest in 2/3 WTC, yet look what is happening there...

I definitely *hope* the demand for all these new towers will exist, it just seems like everything has continued to lag. Using the HY office buildings as examples isn't the best thing either, given they have been massively subsidized & Related is delivering their tenants' space at cost.

I think Related will likely take up most of the potential new tenants that would otherwise choose Brookfield's MW development, as they have several towers in addition to the HY N/S buildings (the former WPC site, and the McDonalds tower) which will accommodate the overflow. Both of those skyscrapers have better locations than MW with regards to proximity to the new 7-train extension, as well.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by babybackribs2314

Because there is a glut of office space, companies don't want this kind of product, and the location is worse than comparable towers that are rising/set to rise at the WTC and Hudson Yards.

Actually, the location is better than the rest of the towers at the Hudson Yards when you consider everything:





There is the 7 line connecting to the west side, but people who can will walk the extra block or two rather than taking lines up to 42nd just to transfer to another crowded subway line. They do that now, walking much greater distances. And that's not even counting the commuters into Penn Station (NJ Transit/LIRR) who will obviously have to pass Manhattan West before getting to the other towers.

Originally Posted by babybackribs2314

I think Related will likely take up most of the potential new tenants that would otherwise choose Brookfield's MW development, as they have several towers in addition to the HY N/S buildings (the former WPC site, and the McDonalds tower) which will accommodate the overflow. Both of those skyscrapers have better locations than MW with regards to proximity to the new 7-train extension, as well.

As far as Related's office towers go, there are five of them, so lets see:

1. 10 HY (Coach tower) is practically full already

2. 30 HY (north tower) is practically Time Warner's playground, though there is still space to be had in the tower. But any tenant looking for enough space to anchor one of the Manhattan West towers isn't likely to settle for the "leftover" space in a building where Time Warner has probably already got the best of everything.

3. Related has one more large office tower planned over the railyards. But that will be during the second phase, and work on that platform won't even begin until the towers of the first phase are all built. That's no direct competition.

4. 50 HY (McD's site) will be a large tower, but a lot needs to happen before that can move forward, including consolidation, demolition, excavation, etc. When we hear the McDonalds is closing, we'll know something is imminent. But I don't feel it's direct competition either, though probably not as far off as the 3rd railyard tower.

5. 55 Hudson Yards. Office space, but not really quite the same, as Related is looking for a smaller type tenant for that space:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...orm-in-january

Among the two new projects added to the Hudson Yards plan is the redesign of the 47-story tower at 1 Hudson Boulevard, which would be primarily an office building for law firms, Cross said.


http://chelseanow.com/2014/02/hudson...ern-rail-yard/

Samuelian specifically highlighted 55 Hudson Yards......Referencing the building’s smaller size — at 710 feet tall, a good deal shorter than 10 Hudson Yards — Samuelian jokingly called 55 Hudson Yards “our boutique building,” and said Related will be focused on attracting a tenant base there that will be quite different than the massive companies moving into the two towers below West 33rd Street.

So I don't feel that 55 HY is any direct competition either, at least not for any major space.

Other nearby sites inclue 3 Hudson Boulevard, a smaller tower that could be mixed-use, and the possible consolidation of the Hudson Spire/Sherwood site that would return the potential for large floor plates there.

Manhattan West will be primed and ready to go by the end of the year. As a matter of fact, the residential tower is going to go first anyway, so there will be action regardless of the state of commercial tenancy. With the 3-year construction timetable, they could start the first office tower 2 years from now, and still have it built before 2020.


Now back to the focus of the towers themselves, it looks like we've almost come full circle. A comparison of the office tower plan most became familiar with, and the current one...


Old:

66 stories - 3.4 msf - 1,216 ft
60 stories - 1.9 msf - 935 ft


Current:

67 stories - 2 msf + - ?ft
60 + stories - 2msf - ?ft

http://manhattanwestnyc.com/content/...est-29593.html

[ILNY]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://commercialobserver.com/2014/0...anhattan-west/

Ready to Launch: Jerry Larkin’s Vision for Manhattan West

By Al Barbarino
4/02/14

Did you notice that residential building will have 60 stories? So are we back to the black tower? Blue glass tower looks shorter than 60 floors.


Credit:YIMBY


Credit:YIMBY