The city’s first new non-smoking residential development will open at 1510 Lexington Avenue between 97th and 98th streets next month. Meanwhile, a new Web site to allow residents to voice concerns over the Columbus Village development on the Upper West Side has launched, and Lower Manhattan’s 76-story, 1.1 million-square-foot Beekman Tower will celebrate its topping out ceremony on Spruce Street between Nassau and Gold streets Thursday. Click here for more. TRD [more]

Two rental complexes on the West Side of Manhattan are slated to start leasing, adding hundreds of rental units to the market. Leasing at Stellar
Management and Chetrit Group’s Columbus Village complex, which has 710
units in five buildings, is expected to start this month. Rents in the
complex, which stretches from 97th to 100th streets between Columbus
and Amsterdam avenues, start at $1,895 a month for a studio. And Larry
Silverstein’s two 60-story towers — comprising Silver Towers at 600 West 42nd
Street — will add 1,042 market-rate and more than 200 affordable
apartments to the market. Market-rate rents start at $2,300 a month.
When asked how he planned to lease all the units, Silverstein said,
“Beats the hell out of me … I’ve been asking myself [that] for weeks.”
Silverstein also said that people are always moving to the city, and
there has never been a surplus of rental housing. [Post] and [NYT] [more]

Although some Upper West Side residents say the Columbus Village
complex looks like it’s on hold, the development’s project manager said
the buildings should be ready for move-in by Memorial Day. The
five-building complex, at Columbus Avenue and 97th Street, will add 710
new rental units to the city, with Prudential Douglas Elliman as the
exclusive marketing and leasing agent. The complex’s pricing and
availability details will be revealed in two weeks, a spokesperson
said. The development has faced harsh criticism from community groups and
the Manhattan borough president, and has faced legal battles over the
legality of the construction and the need for an environmental review. [more]