Rentals in the Frank Gehry-designed tower 8 Spruce Street located near City Hall are going to start next year at about $80 per square foot. One real estate insider said the blended price for the entire 900-unit building — which will be the tallest residential building in the city — could be more than $90 per square foot. This week in Insights from The Real Deal, we spoke with investment sales broker Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services, about comparables that may be used to determine leasing prices in the tower, and what impact the building could have on land values going forward. The project, formerly known as Beekman Tower, is being built by Forest City Ratner, with marketing and leasing by Citi Habitats Marketing Group. The building’s rental website lists prices for studios through three-bedrooms from $2,000 to $15,000-plus. TRD [more]

From the December issue: Why is it that the nearly completed 8 Spruce Street, a silvery pylon formerly known as the Beekman Tower, seems so thoroughly sad and unimpressive? Say what you will about Frank Gehry’s previous projects; at least they were never dull — until now. His latest effort, which bids fair to be the tallest residential tower in the city, as well as the eighth-tallest building in the city, beetles above the main campus of Pace University and glowers across the expanse of City Hall Park over at the Woolworth Building. [more]

Starchitect Frank Gehry urged a gathering of Pratt Institute students to “be real about [their] responsibilities,” as they enter the field of architecture, according to the Architect’s Newspaper. Gehry, who designed the new residential tower at 8 Spruce Street, formerly known as Beekman Tower, said that subtle changes in design can often make a large impact on the final product. At 8 Spruce Street, for example, Gehry said the integration of bay windows was enough to elevate the building’s image, both inside and out. As for advice for the students? “Grab ideas as you can get them,” Gehry said. “Be yourself and you’ll like what you do.” [Architect's Newspaper]
[more]

Frank Gehry and his Beekman Tower

Beekman Tower, the 76-story residential skyscraper designed by starchitect Frank Gehry and developed by Forest City Ratner, is slated to open to renters early next year under the name “New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street.” As New Yorkers begin to get used to the new Downtown skyline neighbor since Beekman’s arrival, the Wall Street Journal sat down with the 81-year-old Gehry to talk about his inspiration. “With its stair-steps, it has a New York persona. I think I’ve nailed that part of it,” Gehry said. “I think it talks to the Woolworth Buidling. I like that juxtaposition. It sure as hell doesn’t talk down to it. It holds its own.” Although Beekman has already made a major splash on the New York real estate scene, this is only Gehry’s second major project in the city, after the IAC headquarters building on the Hudson River. He had been behind the original design of Ratner’s Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards and a proposed new Guggenheim museum on the East River, but neither of those projects came to be. [more]

From left, renderings of 15 Penn Plaza, Beekman Tower and One World Trade Center

The city’s approval last week of the 15 Penn Plaza office tower near the Empire State Building is an indication that New York is poised for one of its biggest waves of skyscraper development in decades, according to the Wall Street Journal. The mixed-use development planned for west of Penn Station would further transform Manhattan’s skyline, as changes are already happening Downtown, with Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower and One World Trade Center at Ground Zero rising to 36 stories. Some of the plans, such as 15 Penn Plaza, have been opposed, attracting criticism from people wanting to preserve the Empire State Building’s spot in the skyline. But the new projects are being supported by the City Council and other elected officials. Supporters are also pointing out that the city needs to modernize office space to preserve its competition against other global cities like London and Hong Kong. However, most of the projects aren’t going to progress until the economy improves, more financing becomes available and demand for commercial space picks up, the Journal said. [WSJ]

[more]

From left: Joe Sitt, MaryAnne Gilmartin and Andrew Kimball

The developers of three significant — and often controversial — Brooklyn projects commiserated about the challenges of building in the borough at a [more]

From left: Joe Sitt, MaryAnne Gilmartin and Andrew Kimball

The developers of three significant — and often controversial — Brooklyn projects commiserated about the challenges of building in the borough at a [more]

Forest City Ratner’s Beekman Tower, the 76-story, Frank Gehry-designed spire at 8 Spruce Street is expected to draw crowds of prospective luxury renters when it opens for business in six months’ time, brokers told Crain’s. Far from creating a glut of vacant units, market observers said the 867-foot tower’s 903 apartments will be in high demand both for their views far above any of its competitors and their location in one of the fastest-growing residential neighborhoods in the city. The leasing office is slated to open its doors in the first quarter of 2011, and rents are expected to be in the $80 per square foot range. [Crain's] 

[more]

From left: Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Stephen Kotler and Citi Habitats’ Gary Malin

Much like the sales market, Manhattan rental transactions are up and inventory is shrinking, though rents are still lower than last year, according to first-quarter market reports released today by Prudential Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats. Elliman’s report, which is based on data from the Real Estate Board of New York and other sources in addition to the firm’s deals, tracked 2,663 rental transactions in the first quarter of 2010, up 16.3 percent from 2,290 in the same period last year. Citi Habitats, meanwhile, said it did over 2,650 rental transactions in the first quarter, up from roughly 2,300 in the prior-year quarter. At the same time, listing inventory for rentals fell 30.8 percent, according to Elliman. To see a story about the Manhattan rental market for all of 2009, click here. [more]

From left: 80 Dekalb Avenue, BKLYN Gold, Beekman Tower and Cliff Finn of Citi Habitats

Citi Habitats’ managing director of new development marketing, Clifford Finn, gave The Real Deal the scoop on several new development rentals the company will be marketing this spring.

In early April, Citi Habitats will begin leasing units at the Ashley, a 209-unit luxury rental building developed by Extell Development. Located on 63rd Street between West End and Riverside, the Ashley is the sister rental tower to new condo the Aldyn. Starting in mid-May, Citi Habitats will be handling rentals at the Addison, a 270-unit project on Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn from Broadway Management Company, the developer of new Manhattan condominium Sutton57. Rentals of the Addison’s studios and one- and two-bedroom units will start in mid-May for summer occupancy, Finn said.

Downtown Brooklyn has exploded with new rentals recently, including another project Citi Habitats is marketing, Forest City Ratner’s 354-unit 80 DeKalb Avenue. Also in May, Citi Habitats will start leasing at Lalezarian Properties’ new rental project at 350 West 37th Street at Ninth Avenue. The 80/20 project is tentatively being called “Townsend,” though that could change. [more]