Toll Brothers’ plan for Hudson Square condos faces major hurdle: Verizon’s lease

David Von Spreckelsen and the King Street site
David Von Spreckelsen and the King Street site

Many New Yorkers are familiar with that unique form of anticipation that comes from waiting for Verizon to appear at one’s apartment door. But national development firms are not usually beholden to the schedule of the telecommunications giant.

Not so for Toll Brothers, which has a major hurdle to clear before proceeding with its planned condominium tower at 78-86 King Street in Hudson Square: The developer must find an alternative location for Verizon, the tenant currently in place at the low-rise property.

The company wants to build a roughly 150-unit, high-end condominium at the location but has delayed specific plans until Verizon, which stores trucks at the onsite parking garage, can find a suitable new home, David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at Toll, told The Real Deal.

Verizon, whose lease expires in 2017, wants to stay in the neighborhood, if possible, making sourcing a new location tricky.

“A bunch of brokers are on it so hopefully something comes through,” Von Spreckelsen said. “They want to be fairly close to where they currently are, which makes it tough because there are no real bargains for space in that area.”

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A Verizon spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

Cushman & Wakefield is one of the commercial brokerage firms currently seeking out prospective locations on behalf of Verizon. A spokesperson for the brokerage did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For Toll, which nabbed the site for $56.5 million in December, the condo project is set to become one of its major points of focus over the next several years, Von Spreckelsen said. It decided to move forward with its condo plans at the site following the rezoning of the Hudson Square neighborhood.

The company is also building a 38-story Jersey City apartment building as well as a condominium project at a site formerly owned by the Alexico Group at 953-961 First Avenue.