The number of Manhattan buildings with at least 100,000 square feet of (potential) availability (contiguous or noncontiguous) has climbed over the past year to 82 from 77, though it is down from 84 two years ago. The figures quoted are a catch-all including space currently vacant, known to have a tenant moving out or that is new construction with a completion date.
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As if there was not enough anticipation surrounding the construction of Hudson Yards, here is probably the one reason to trump any other: Danny Meyer will be setting up shop on the Far West Side.
The Related Companies and Union Square Hospitality announced a new partnership today, whereby Steve Ross and his globetrotting development company will take a stake in Union Square Events. While not encompassing all of the restauranteurs operations, USE offers more than just catering but also runs the sports venue operations for Mr. Meyers sprawling eatery empire, and now it will do even more. So no fine dining, necessarily, but Mr. Meyer will be offering a range of culinary options, from private residential dining to catering events in Hudson Yards buildings as well as operating restaurants and outdoor cafes. Read More
To seasoned retail brokers, the very concept of the next big neighborhood in a city that has been developed several times over is, well, naïve. Still, as The Commercial Observer recently learned, most are still looking for a reason to believe.
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That was the easy part.
Now that the High Line has become a smash success, Friends of the High Line has to decided what to do with the third and final section of the elevated park, which surround Hudson Yards. After fighting for decades to preserve and then transform the old rail line, it was not clear this section of track would be preserved or replaced by some alternative park, as the city worked to redevelop the site.
The Related Company and the Bloomberg administration both agreed it should be, and now that their work is underway in creating a new Baltimore on the West Side of Manhattan, so too is the Friends' job of figuring out what should surround it.
That all starts tomorrow night. Read More
Big. Really big. As usual, the erudite Charles Bagli puts it into perspective in all of one sentence:
Still, city officials predict that within two decades, Hudson Yards could have more office space than Baltimore or Portland, Ore., and as many apartments as Stamford, Conn.
Despite the anticipation surrounding Hudson Yards—a new neighborhood cut from whole cloth, full of open space and affordable housing and not a few shiny new offices, and the jobs that come with it all—the truth was, it wasn't much to look at. Even the decade-old and not-much-to-look-at-unless-you're-in-on-the-architectural-joke Time Warner Center was flashy by compare. Then, Related's Steve Ross decided he could do better. It is rare for a developer to have such a change of heart, but it appears the city is better off for it. Read More
Luxury handbag stalwart Coach will relocate its offices to the Hudson Yards, scooping up approximately one-third of the planned south office tower as a commercial condo in a deal that will give the New York City-based company approximately 600,000 square feet.
Coach will move its corporate headquarters and consolidate three New York City offices into the building by 2015. The 1.8 million-square-foot tower, at the northwest corner of West 30th Street and Tenth Avenue, is one of 14 residential, commercial and retail assets envisioned by the Related Companies at its far West Side development site.
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Coach has come to Hudson Yards and classed up the joint as only a luxury bag maker could. Not only did the mayor make the company's lease official today, flanked by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Related's Steve Ross, he announced that following the fashion house's move would be Fashion Week itself, he hopes. They could ride the 7-Train over from Bryant Park, as it was also promised that the extension would be completed as promised by 2013.
But we know what you really care about, the tantalizing new renderings from KPF, who is planning the site and building the two eastern most office towers, the first of which will be home to Coach and open in 2015—full of other firms, too, if you're in the market. Related is still looking to fill, oh, 25.4 million square feet here and there. Read More
It took decades for the New York Coliseum to be torn down and replaced by the Related Companies' Time Warner Center. While most of that time it was a different developer trying to build the damn thing, the fact remains, Related's president Jeff Blau has his work cut out for him. "At Hudson Yards, we're looking at about 2.5-times the Time Warner in that first phase, and the key to getting financing will be getting the office space leased," Mr. Blau said yesterday at the Masters of Real Estate panel hosted by The Observer.
Until he can find tenants for at least a portion of the 4.5 million square feet of office space planned at the megaproject, it will be all but impossible for Mr. Blau to start building. That had been a challenge ever since the economy collapsed in late 2008, not long after Related won the bid to redevelop the rail yards—O.K., so that deal wasn't finalized until 16 months ago, but whose counting—but Mr. Blau said the firm had seen a surge in interest in the past six months, and there are now nine companies actively looking at relocating into offices at Hudson Yards, and they are all looking at leases over a million square feet. Read More
We tend to make fun of people for this sort of thing, but it's true—there's a major New York City neighborhood very much in need of a name. This is not some failed attempt at gentrifying outer Brooklyn or the points south in the Bronx (it's called Riverdale!). This is an honest-to-god neighborhood, or at least it's about to be one when it has all those towers dropped on its head. Read More
It's funny how a story comes about sometimes. Read More
And then it can start building. Read More
Ever since Steve Ross trotted out the much-talked-about fact that Related is under discussion for 18 million square feet of leases at Hudson Yards, The Observer's nose has been pointed way westward.
By far the biggest news we've found is that Credit Suisse-First Boston might be mulling a move to Hudson Yards, according to multiple top industry Read More
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Related's Steve Ross is determined to get his Hudson Yards mega-development built. The developer began demolition work earlier this year, and a slew of new renderings has been trickling out online. He also boldly declared he would secure at least 3.5 million square feet of leases this year. One of those could be Read More
Across the city, hundreds of hammers are poised midair. Many believe that development will be frozen for years to come. But while the sight of New York City's 600 stalled construction projects is difficult to ignore, those deep inside the industry say signs of a new boom are beginning to appear.
"It seems that there's going Read More
