Clockwise from top left: 51 Astor Place architect Fumihiko Make, a rendering of 51 Astor Place and leasing agent Paul Glickman of Jones Lang LaSalle
Despite tough times for office leasing, Edward Minskoff’s luxury office tower at 51 Astor Place — set to premiere in May — will still ask rents as high a $115 per square foot, the New York Times reported. The developer is hoping the neighborhood’s quirkiness will attract technology companies. [more]
From left: 52 Cooper Square, a Muji store and 51 Astor Place
Japanese enviro-retailer Muji will lease an 8,600-square-foot space at 52 Cooper Square, in the East Village, for a ten-year term, brokers for the building’s landlord told The Real Deal today. Henry Goldfarb and Stanley Lindenfeld, brokers with commercial firm Lee & Associates, said impending changes in the area spurred Muji’s decision. [more]
A rendering of 51 Astor Place
With new projects such as 51 Astor Place and the Hyatt Union Square, Fourth Avenue is being reincarnated as a high-end neighborhood, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Hyatt Union Square, which is yet to announce an opening date, will offer 178 upscale rooms and suites starting at $319 a night. It is located at East 13th Street, north of the Fumihiko Maki-designed 51 Astor Place, a 13-story mixed-use office and school building being developed by Minskoff Equities. Those familiar with the area, however, say that the transformation has been in the works for a while…. [more]
From left: 1 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center and 51 Astor Place
Manhattan’s slumping office market is about to be delivered a huge blow next year, according to the Wall Street Journal, when 6 million square feet of new office space will be delivered to the market — the most since 1989.
The unsteady global economy and the compression of the financial services industry have hampered demand for office space in recent quarters. [more]
A rendering of 51 Astor Place
Edward Minskoff’s ambitious 51 Astor Place project now has a website, Curbed noticed, and it reveals the juicy details of the development, including additional renderings.
The 12-story Fumihiko Maki-designed office building will offer two roof decks and an outdoor plaza with an Alexander Calder sculpture. The lobby will have an art installation “constructed of back-lit cast glass, which complements the building’s overall design,” Curbed noted. Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise given Minskoff’s notable 20th century art collection. [more]
From left: renderings of 250 West 55th Street, Manhattan West and 51 Astor Place
The city’s low office vacancy rates and slowly rising rents are overshadowing a disturbing office leasing trend, according to the New York Post. Ground-up office projects have been unable to secure major tenants, which in turn has stifled development.
Yesterday’s news that Silverstein Properties might cap off 3 World Trade Center at seven stories because of its inability to land a tenant, is just the most recent example. [more]
Airy, open-plan office spaces, once seen as difficult to rent, are commanding some of the highest office rents in Manhattan since the recession, the New York Times reported, some more than $100 a square foot. These spaces, with dramatic city views, can be found in Midtown towers like 499 Park Avenue and 250 West 55th Street, the Times said, as well as downtown at 1 and 3 World Trade Center, now under construction.
Also desirable for their floor plans are buildings like 51 Astor Place, 28-40 West 23rd Street and 30 Rockefeller Center, where investment company Lazard is redesigning its 430,000 square feet on the top floors.
“Constantly now, we see firms wanting to build dramatic space,” said Peter Turchin, an executive vice president at CBRE. … [more]
Edward Minskoff’s Minskoff Equities has closed on a construction loan valued at between $165 and $200 million with Bank of America for 51 Astor Place, the real estate company’s new office development near Cooper Union, the New York Observer reported.
Minskoff is confident in the success of the 400,000-square-foot property, which is slated to be completed by 2013, he said, despite not having signed any tenants so far.
“It will surpass the Bank of America building [at One Bryant Park] in some ways,” he said. To some brokers, rents at 51 Astor Place, which will range from about $88 to $115 per square foot, the Observer said, seem a little high. … [more]
State authorities reached a deal with the city and the United Nations to revive stalled plans for a $340 million new U.N. tower earlier this month, the New York Observer reported. That means that Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, who was selected to design the building when the idea first emerged in 2004, will be dusting off his blueprints alongside local partners architecture firm FXFowle and getting back to work.
“We have a saying around the office,” Dan Kaplan, a principal at FXFowle, told the Observer. “It takes a long time for things to happen suddenly.”
Much of the design work has already been completed for a 35-story tower on the site at the southeast corner of First Avenue and 42nd Street, but it will require some changes, Kaplan said. … [more]
Developer Edward Minskoff is preparing to break ground at 51 Astor Place, he told Real Estate Weekly, a 400,000-square-foot office tower between Third and Fourth avenues and 8th and 9th streets. Minskoff’s firm, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, will begin demolition of the building currently sitting on the site by the end of this year, REW said.
With other developers avoiding risks as the economy continues to fluctuate, Minskoff is betting that 51 Astor will attract tenants once built, saying it will be superior to Manhattan’s comparatively shabby office stock.
“It’s a state of the art building that’s going to be more technologically advanced than 98 percent of other buildings today,” Minskoff said. “Companies that want to operate their businesses efficiently and effectively realize now that they need great space to do it.”… [more]
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