Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
I fully expect this tower to be built as-is, and relatively soon. It it wasn't for the global economic collapse, it would probably already be rising.
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned on this thread, but Merrill Lynch signed a tenative agreement to anchor this tower back in late 2007. They wanted the full 3 million square feet. They backed out when the recession arrived.
Oh, and this tower would bring huge benefits to the City. Vornado is offering to basically rebuild the subway pedestrian tunnels that connect the Times Square station all the way down to Penn Station, and then east almost all the way to Fifth Avenue.
These tunnels were sealed off in the 1970's, due to the city's economic crisis.
|
And the version they were planning for Merrill was approaching 4 msf, which is why Silverstein was also increasing his Tower 3 at the WTC. The approval for this tower is similar to the Tower Verre in process only, meaning it has to go through the 7 month approval process. Because Vornado also owns the Manhattan Mall (and a lot of other property in the immediate area) they are seeking a zoning change on both sites that would give the project an extra 270,000 sf. They are also seeking a zoning change that would allow for that podium/base, which doesn't meet the streetwall guidelines. At last check, the podium was
lower that what was required.
But the biggest bonus would come from the multiple transit improvments, almost a half million sqare feet (474,000). This ties directly into the city's plans for the Moynihan Station redevelopment. Further, it's where the city is encouraging large commercial towers, creating a modern office district around the country's busiest transit center. It's why you already have as-of-right towers like the 1,200 ft Manhattan West tower planned just a couple of blocks away.
_
But this tower gets the jump on those other towers because there is no expensive platform to build here. Also, this is a relatively small office tower, as far as the giants go in New York.
The 1,190 ft single tenant tower has only about 1.5 msf of office space. (Single here doesn't mean the tenant will take
all of the space. Overall, it will be about 2.82 msf, including about 334,880 msf of "amenity" space, probably hotel).
The 1,216 ft multi tenant tower has about 1.9 msf of office space, but although taller, it's a slightly smaller tower of 2.66 msf. That would include about 361,711 sf of retail space that would replace the trading floors of the single tenant tower.
Add to the fact that there is no major new office space coming under constuction in Midtown, and this immediately becomes site number one, if it wasn't already. And although this tower competed directly at one time with the WTC, basically there are tenants who would never move Downtown anyway.
So in short, there are no major concerns here as far as the approval process goes. The noisy battle ahead will come from the Hotel Penn advocates, who have already been butting heads with the LPC and the CPC, with little success.
As I mentioned earlier, the city is pushing for the redevelopment of the area, but it's the developers who have to get it done...
Quote:
http://www.observer.com/2008/city-pu...ynihan-station
City Pushes for Warren of Walkways Under and Around Moynihan Station
By Eliot Brown
March 11, 2008
The improvements the city is considering, the cost of which may be borne by private developers and landowners, include a reopening of the so-called “Gimbel’s passageway,” a tunnel that would connect Penn Station to Herald Square and the N, R, Q, and W subway lines on Sixth Avenue; a possible walkway along 33rd Street in a below-grade moat-like space on the northern edge of the Farley Post Office; and improving subway stations in the area.
Members from two community boards, among other attendees, were briefed recently by the Department of City Planning on the planned improvements being considered, which are preliminary and would be part of a zoning change connected with the Moynihan Station project. The planning department, led by director Amanda Burden, has previously expressed the desire for pedestrian improvements in the area, as have community and civic groups such as the Municipal Art Society.
The tunnels and other pedestrian improvements would likely be paid for by some of the developers and landowners building in the area.
Given the extraordinary amount of development rights associated with the project, the buildings could be very large—attendees to the meetings with the Planning Department said they were told a building of 1,100 or 1,200 feet could rise on the east end of the Vornado Realty Trust-owned block just north of Penn Station, between 33rd and 34th streets. That would be 100 or so feet shorter than the Empire State Building.
|
We're really just getting warmed up with what will be developed in the area.