NEW YORK | 255 West 34th Street | 400 FT | 33 FLOORS

[Crawford]

These are two different assemblages along 34th Street. The Vornado assemblage is across the street from the Chetrit assemblage.

Hopefully we'll get further info on this new assemblage in the new year, as Chetrit filed demo permits a few days ago.

[Cynicism]

.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Cynicism

Wow, 150000 buildable square feet. What a steal!

Is it Black Friday yet?

I'm not sure if you've ever made a logical post on SSP.

Are you trolling for "cynical" commentary on the price per square foot, on Black Friday shopping habits, or did you just post to the wrong thread? The world may never know.

[chris08876]

Brooklyn firm goes solo, snags $48.5 million loan for retail project near Penn Station

Cornell Realty Management splits with partner Chetrit Group and will go ahead with a plan for its half of a West 34th Street development

After spending years purchasing retail properties along West 34th Street together, Manhattan-based Chetrit Group and Brooklyn-based Cornell Realty Management have dissolved their partnership and split the parcels between them. Each will take 80 feet of frontage between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

Now Cornell Realty is planning a four-story retail project on its half of the holdings, and has received a $48.5 million bridge loan from lender Madison Realty Capital. The debt allowed Cornell to buy out Chetrit, take control of the properties on the west side of the block, with an address of 257-263 W. 34th St., and begin prepping the site.

"This is a prime retail location, and it has only become more so over the last few years,” said Josh Zegen, managing principal of Madison Realty Capital, which closed on the loan within 10 days of being approached by the developer.

In fact, a number of upgrades to the area have been announced or are already in the works, which have the potential to pull shoppers west from an existing 34th Street retail hub closer to Herald Square. Not only has Vornado Realty Trust stated its intent to upgrade the area surrounding the transit hub, where it owns a substantial amount of property, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced earlier this month that the much-maligned station itself would get an upgrade, and progress would be kick-started at Moynihan Station in the James A. Farley Post Office building next door. In addition, the 7 train late last year began rolling into its new terminus at the site of Hudson Yards nearby.

"There's a lot coming" Zegen said.

Madison Realty Capital provided Cornell Realty $42.5 million at closing and agreed to provide $6 million in future funding.

It is unclear when construction would begin, but the retail project is slated to be 35,000 square feet and clad in glass to allow natural light into the building. Such trappings would be ideal for a larger, single-use tenant, but could work for a number of smaller retailers as well. If need be, the upper floors could also work as commercial space, according to Zegen.

Chetrit has not announced plans for its half of the West 34th Street site. Although retail would be a natural move, a hotel wouldn't be out of the question, because the developer and Cornell Realty had initially proposed a 17-story development with a 180-key hotel with retail on the site when they first started assembling properties along the strip.

=============================
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...alert-20160125

[Cynicism]

.

[chris08876]

While not related to this assemblage, some big news and possible changes for the area. Vornado being the ones in charge. Makes me wonder about the ambitious plans for this assemblage.

Good to know Vornado is "“knee deep" in work for the area. These stretches of buildings needs to be developed pronto. 34th Street could do better.

================
================

Vornado to combine Penn Plaza buildings into 4.2M sf megacomplex

As part of its mission to revamp its Penn Plaza portfolio, Vornado Realty Trust plans to combine its One and Two Penn Plaza office buildings into a 4-million-plus square foot complex.

“The goal here is to achieve market rents as much as 50 percent higher as market rents,” CEO Steven Roth TRData LogoTINY said on the company’s earnings call Wednesday morning.

Vornado owns some 9 million square feet of office and retail properties surrounding Penn Station, and as the city’s office market has shifted west with projects like Hudson Yards and Manhattan West, the mega REIT sees a high-payoff opportunity in investing in the area.

Roth said the company is “knee deep” in planning multiple projects in the area, including combining One and Two Penn Plaza into a 4.2 million-square-foot complex.

Roth said combining the buildings would give the landlord more leeway to move tenants around, and add amenities like new food outlets.

“We can afford to put an amenity complex into those 4-plus-million-square-feet buildings that are not economic even in a half-a million or a million” square foot building, Roth said. As the company looks to attract TAMI tenants, he added, Vornado is looking to replicate much of what the “tech industry is doing on their big, huge campuses.”

The two buildings are separated by 33rd Street, a portion of which the city’s Department of Transportation shut down over the summer as a test-run for a public plaza.

The 1.6 million-square-foot Two Penn Plaza, located above Penn Station, is leased to McGraw-Hill and the Dolan family’s Madison Square Garden Company. Roth said the plan is to “re-skin” the building, replacing the punched windows with ones that will stretch nearly from floor to ceiling, making the building “look like it was built recently.”

The CEO said plans for the 2.7-million-square-foot One Penn Plaza would resemble a more conventional upgrade. He said it was premature to put a price on the renovations.

Market rents in the area average $55 per square foot, and Vornado has reportedly completed deals at $60 per square foot recently.
The company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade buildings like 7 West 34th Street and 330 West 34th Street, and has hinted at more to come as projects such as Governor Andrew Cuomo’s goal to jumpstart a new Penn Station hit the pipeline.

=========================
http://therealdeal.com/2016/02/17/vo...2m-sf-complex/

[Submariner]

One Penn Plaza needs to be sent to the fires of Hell where it belongs. It and MSG are revolting dumps. There isn't much to be pleased with here, unfortunately.

[Busy Bee]

Yeah it seems like the message of the story is "we're making a grand new Penn Station even less likely."

[sparkling]

Chetrit files plans for 300-key hotel on West 34th Street
Developer to build 33-story tower at assemblage near Penn Station

April 05, 2016
Rey Mashayekhi

The Chetrit Group has delivered plans for an assemblage it owns on West 34th Street near Penn Station, filing permit applications for a new 33-story hotel holding 300 rooms on the property, according to documents submitted Tuesday to the Department of Buildings.

The mixed-use, 122,400-square-foot hotel development at 255 West 34th Street is set to include retail space on the cellar level and first and second floors. Guest amenities will include a fitness room on the third floor, a hotel restaurant and lounge on the fourth floor, an outdoor pool and pool bar on the sixth floor and a terrace on the seventh floor.

Hotel rooms will start on the ninth floor of the building, which will hold 15 rooms, while the 10th and 11th floors will hold 14 guest rooms each, according to the filing. There will be 15 rooms on each of the 12th through 27th floors, five rooms on the 28th floor and six room on each of the 29th and 30th floors of the property.

The Chetrit Group, led by brothers Joe and Meyer Chetrit, partnered with developer Shifra Hager’s Cornell Realty Management last year to acquire an assemblage of largely retail properties on the block of West 34th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The two firms have since dissolved their partnership and split up the assemblage, with each taking 80 feet of frontage on the block.

Cornell and Chetrit paid nearly $61 million combined for the sites at 251-255 West 34th Street, which Chetrit now solely owns. Cornell is reportedly planning a four-story, 35,000 square foot retail project on its site at 257-263 West 34th Street, with firms having paid more than $20 million for 259 West 34th Street and more than $18 million for 257 West 34th Street.

Chetrit has had its eye on a hotel development on the block for some time, joining Cornell in filing plans for a 17-story hotel-and-retail project at 245 West 34th Street in 2014.

But the developers sold that parcel in a swap deal with investor Charles Cohen, which saw Cohen acquire 245-247 West 34th Street and sell a three-story retail building at 261-263 West 34th Street to Cornell.

Neither the Chetrit Group nor Stonehill & Taylor Architects, the hotel project’s architect of record, returned requests for comment.

Manhattan’s Far West Side is in the midst of a transformation buoyed by Related Companies’ Hudson Yards megaproject, Brookfield Properties’ Manhattan West and planned overhauls to the Penn Station and the Jacob Javits Center.

[Crawford]

This will be a 400-foot tower designed by Stonehill & Taylor. They do retro luxury stuff, so expect something art deco-y.

[chris08876]

Credit: Walpole

[antinimby]

Stonehill & Taylor should be fine. It's Kaufmans and Poons that we need to fear.

[chris08876]

Here's the permit:

Pre-Filed: 04/05/2016 Building Type: Other Estimated Total Cost: $0.00
Date Filed: 04/05/2016 Electronically Filed: Yes
Fee Structure: STANDARD
Review is requested under Building Code:

[...]


13 Building Characteristics

Primary structural system: Masonry Concrete (CIP) Concrete (Precast) Wood
Steel (Structural) Steel (Cold-Formed) Steel (Encased in Concrete)

Proposed
Structural Occupancy Category: II - OTHER THAN I, III OR IV
Seismic Design Category: CATEGORY C
2014/2008 Code Designations?
Occupancy Classification: R-1 - RESIDENTIAL: HOTELS, DORMITORIES Yes No
Construction Classification: I-B: 2 HOUR PROTECTED - NON-COMBUST Yes No
Multiple Dwelling Classification: HAEB
Building Height (ft.): 397
Building Stories: 33
Dwelling Units: 300

=======================
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01
=======================

Some Site History:

122745100 05 NB A PRE-FILED 04/06/2016 0060728 PE SMILOW PENDING
STRUCTURAL WORK AS PER PLANS FILED
Work on Floor(s): SUB,CEL,ROF 001 thru 031

122745100 04 NB A PRE-FILED 04/06/2016 0080090 PE CARNAVAL PENDING
MECHANICAL AND PLUMBING WORK AS PER PLANS FILED
Work on Floor(s): SUB,CEL,ROF 001 thru 032

04/05/2016 122745100 03 NB D A/P ENTIRE 04/05/2016 0048239 PE PATEL PENDING
PROVIDE SUPPORT OF EXCAVATION (SOE) AS PER PLANS FILED
Work on Floor(s): OSP

04/05/2016 122745100 02 NB D A/P ENTIRE 04/05/2016 0060728 PE SMILOW PENDING
STRUCTURAL WORK AS PER PLANS FILED
Work on Floor(s): SUB,CEL,ROF 001 thru 031

04/05/2016 122745100 01 NB H P/E IN PROCESS 04/06/2016 0018369 RA PARKER PENDING
CONSTRUCT NEW BUILDING AS PER PLANS FILED
Work on Floor(s): SUB,CEL,ROF 001 thru 032

02/02/2016 140454791 01 A3 R PERMIT-ENTIRE 02/03/2016 0082770 PE BAILEY NOT APPLICABLE
PROPOSED INSTALLATION OF PIPE SCAFFOLD AS PER PLANS. NO CHANGE IN USE, EGR
Work on Floor(s): OSP

02/02/2016 140454782 01 A3 R PERMIT-ENTIRE 02/03/2016 0082770 PE BAILEY NOT APPLICABLE
PROPOSED INSTALLATION OF HEAVY DUTY SIDEWALK SHED AS PER PLANS. NO CHANGE
Work on Floor(s): OSP

12/21/2015 122635407 01 DM E AP-NPE 12/21/2015 0087797 PE HELMAN NOT APPLICABLE
FULL DEMOLITION OF BUILDING
Work on Floor(s): 001 thru 006

===========================
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...llnumbhous=255

[antinimby]

^ There is clearly something wrong with the city's zoning if the FAR is a 7 for a site that is a 30 second walk from Penn Station.

Nothing less than a 12 FAR is acceptable.

[Submariner]

Are those other dumps being replaced too (i.e. 'Bag Man', etc?)

[chris08876]

Yeah its being replaced. No more bag man. You'll have to resort to the Nigerian immigrants on 5th Avenue that sell the counterfeit bags on weekend nights. That and the 100% cashmere man on Canal Street. I've always said, if you want the life of a really rich person, but at McDonald prices, shop on Canal. $10,000 Rolex's for $20! What a steal!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Yeah its being replaced. No more bag man. You'll have to resort to the Nigerian immigrants on 5th Avenue that sell the counterfeit bags on weekend nights. That and the 100% cashmere man on Canal Street. I've always said, if you want the life of a really rich person, but at McDonald prices, shop on Canal. $10,000 Rolex's for $20! What a steal!

My friend bought a Rolex on Canal Street in the 8th grade. He was very proud of his solid gold Submariner, until I pointed out that he really bought a "Rolexa"

[sparkling]

Four-Story, 28,000-Square-Foot Retail Building Filed At 257-263 West 34th Street, Garment District

REID WILSON 11:00
APRIL 27, 2016

In January, news broke that Cornell Realty Management was planning a four-story, 35,000-square-foot retail building at 257-263 West 34th Street, in the Garment District section of Midtown. Now, the developer has filed applications for the project with the Department of Buildings. The structure will actually measure 28,130 square feet above grade and will feature retail space on the cellar through the fourth floors. The fourth floor will also features an upper mezzanine level that that will be utilized as retail space. Michael Even’s NoMad-based ME Architect is the architect of record. The 44-foot-wide assemblage is currently occupied by three unrecognizably altered four-story commercial buildings. Demolition permits were filed in March to knock them down.

[antinimby]

Four story taxpayer. Ridiculous.

[chris08876]

This has to be temporary or just a filing for the sake of it. It would be beyond a sacrilege to build a 4 story structure on such valuable land. Its just a small portion of the block obviously.