Brookfield to pay $93M for three Manhattan West bonuses

Brookfield Office Properties, which recently finished decking over the railroad tracks under its planned Manhattan West project, will pay $93 million to buy building bonuses needed to erect its residential tower on the site.

Brookfield filed an application with the Department of City Planning last week to purchase 740,348 square feet worth of District Improvement Bonuses for its 3 Manhattan West tower, which is slated to rise 62 stories. The company plans to break ground on the mixed-use building early next year.

When the city rezoned the area in 2005 to pave the way for high-density residential-, office- and hotel-development it put in place some complicated mechanisms designed to shape the neighborhood.

While Brookfield’s site directly west of the Farley Post Office between 31st and 33rd Streets has a base floor-to-area ratio of 12 – the largest in the Hudson Yards district – that buildable area cannot be applied to residential development.

So with the exception of 8,931 square feet of commercial space – most likely ground-floor retail — nearly 99 percent of the tower will be constructed with the building bonuses, which finance infrastructure improvements in the neighborhood such as the 7 Train extension to the Far West Side.

The per-square-foot price, which is pegged to the consumer pricing index, rose to $125.36 earlier this year, setting the total cost at $92.3 million.

Brookfield’s application indicates the building will hold 844 residential units, a modest increase from the number listed on previously filed building applications.