From left: Durst Fetner CEO Harold Fetner, Ian Schrager and 855 Sixth Avenue

Developer Durst Fetner Residential is abandoning hotel plans as well as cutting the height of its planned high rise at 855 Sixth Avenue three blocks south of Herald Square. [more]

Robert Durst

Real estate heir Robert Durst has gone to court in an attempt to get the investigative files on his missing wife whom he was suspected of killing more than 20 years ago, the New York Daily News reported.

Durst, brother of Durst Fetner head honcho Douglas Durst, argued that the investigation has stagnated and that there is no longer any reason for the Manhattan Surrogate Court to hold more than $80,000 in life insurance left by Kathleen Durst, missing since in 1982 and presumed dead.  [more]

A rendering of 625 West 57th Street

The City Council’s Land Use Committee approved Durst Fetner Residential’s development at 625 West 57th Street, a 32-story, 753-unit pyramid-shaped development in Hell’s Kitchen near the Hudson River, Crain’s reported…. [more]

A rendering of 625 West 57th Street

Final City Council approval for Durst Fetner Residential’s development at 625 West 57th Street is being stymied by a dispute over an affordable housing provision, Crain’s reported. The council was expected to vote Tuesday on the fate of the 32-story, 753-unit pyramid-shaped development in Hell’s Kitchen near the Hudson River, which had received approval from the City Planning Commission in December. But the affordable housing issue pushed the meeting to today. As part of the city’s 80/20 program, 150 units are slated to be affordable, a provision for which Durst Fetner received tax abatements…. [more]

A rendering of 625 West 57th Street

The City Planning Commission yesterday approved Durst Fetner Residential’s 625 West 57th Street, a 753-unit development at the Hudson River, the New York Observer reported.

The striking pyramid design, by Bjarke Ingles Group, includes a central terrace that is almost the size of a football field, the Observer said. [more]

Durst Fetner's West 57th Street pyramid

More than a year after unveiling plans for a pyramid-shaped building on West 57th Street near the West Side Highway, Durst Fetner Residential will begin carrying the plans through the land-use review process. According to the Wall Street Journal, the developer will start the seven-month effort, which includes votes by the City Planning Commission and City Council today. [more]

From left: Durst Fetner CEO Harold Fetner, Ian Schrager and 855 Sixth Avenue

Contrary to previous reports, Ian Schrager will not bring a Public Hotel to Durst Fetner Residential’s Herald Square development site, the New York Post reported. A Durst spokesperson said the partnership “couldn’t make the financials of the deal work” for 855 Sixth Avenue, at West 30th Street, and that the developer is in talks with other hotel brands instead. A design won’t be finalized until a hotel is on board. [more]

Hal Fetner, CEO of Durst Fetner Residential

American International Group, usually known as AIG, is jumping back into the real estate investment game after years of trying to minimize its real estate business in the wake of the firm’s near collapse and bailout in 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported. AIG, which received more than $90 billion from the government to keep it afloat during the financial crisis, had been selling off the assets in its $24 billion real estate portfolio, which features trophy properties from around the world. [more]

From left: property owner Baruch Singer and the waterfront site 44-02 Vernon Boulevard

A foreclosed, abandoned and stalled waterfront construction site in Long Island City, Queens, shows little sign of progress, the Daily News reported.

Property owners Baruch Singer and Marshall Weisman have reportedly spent the past eight years cleaning the site, a former oil refinery located at 44-02 Vernon Boulevard, by removing contaminated soil and treating water. [more]

From left: 1280 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 102nd Street and 1212 Fifth Avenue

A trio of Upper East Side developments will test the traditional northern boundary for luxury buildings, the Financial Times reported.

The projects — 1280 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 102nd Street and 1212 Fifth Avenue — will test the East 96th Street line Manhattanites have long considered the separation between the Upper East Side and Harlem. But the new developments offer the amenities of buildings to the south and all three were designed by “brand-name” architects. While 1280 Fifth Avenue and 4 East 102nd Street are new developments, by Brickman and Durst Fetner Residential, respectively, 1212 Fifth Avenue is a conversion.

The Robert Stern-designed 1280 Fifth, the furthest north, at 109th Street, is anchored by the African Museum of Art. … [more]