From left: One Sutton Place South (credit: PropertyShark) and an overhead view of its backyard (credit: Google Maps)The residents of the co-op at 1 Sutton Place South have ended a 10-year battle with the city over a portion of their backyard overlooking the East River. The New York Times reported that residents of the 13-story building, located between 56th and 57th streets, have agreed to share the 10,000-square-foot patch of the building’s elevated backyard with the city and transform it into a community park. Each party will contribute $1 million to the construction of the park. [more]

From the August issue:

Click the image for more

Compiled by Russell Steinberg [more]

From the August issue:

Click the image for more

Compiled by Russell Steinberg [more]

Rendering of esplanade plan

Local officials are seeking input from East Side residents on plans to develop new public park space along the East River as part of a land swap deal with the United Nations, DNAinfo reported. Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed off on a new law that would allow the U.N. to build a new office tower on the site of Robert Moses Playground, on First Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets, in exchange for improvements along the East River esplanade. [more]

The new Willis Avenue Bridge will sail into place today and will be lifted above the East River, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan on hand to mark the final stage of this decade-long project, NY1 reported. The 350-foot, 2,400-ton span traveled up the Hudson River last month, the last leg of a trip that started near Albany a year-and-a-half ago. Until today, it was stored neared the shoreline of the Harlem River. The new $612 million bridge will replace the 109-year-old bridge of the same name connecting Harlem and the South Bronx. Traffic will be permitted on the new bridge in November. [NY1]

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The WTC Memorial and One World Trade Center are underway, but the fate of other Ground Zero projects remains unclear.

From the January issue: Development in Lower Manhattan, perhaps more than anywhere else in the
city, is characterized by big ideas. The biggest and most obvious
developments are related to Ground Zero, a site that at present is more
notable for its building delays than its progress. Still, prominent
World Trade Center-related projects, including the September 11th
Memorial, are expected to be finished within the next few years. Beyond the World Trade Center, big Lower Manhattan projects
underway include the construction of the tallest residential tower in
the city and work on the East River Waterfront. Other developments,
such as towers near the Battery Tunnel and the redevelopment of the
South Street Seaport, have fallen victim to the down market. Here are some of the plans floating around that, if brought to fruition, would fundamentally alter Lower Manhattan.

Developer Sheldon Solow sold a small piece of his 9.2-acre East River
development site to the city’s School Construction Authority for
$33.25 million.

The parcel at the northeast corner of First Avenue and 35th Street is
about a third of a complete block he owns through his East River
Realty Company. Although part of the larger $4 billion East River
development plan, it is two blocks south of the largest parcel in the
project that runs on the east side of First Avenue between 38th and
41st streets.

The city signed the contract and closed on the purchase of the
23,581-square-foot parcel Dec. 23, city property records published
today say. The deed did not provide a street address, but identified
the property as lot 2 on block 967.

The zoning on the approximately half-acre lot permits a 10 floor area
ratio, city records show, that allows building up to 235,810 square
feet, putting the price at about $141 per foot.

City schools spokesperson Marge Feinberg said in an e-mail that it was
difficult to locate new schools. [more]

It may have Manhattan’s highest natural point (265 feet, in Bennett Park), but Washington Heights did not see the steep peaks in activity and prices that so many Manhattan neighborhoods experienced in the past few years.

As a result, the neighborhood — which stretches from the Hudson to the East rivers and from 155th to Dyckman streets — has avoided the complete and utter cratering that many other Manhattan neighborhoods have seen in the last couple months.

This month, as part of a monthly feature looking at what kinds of deals are closing in different neighborhoods, The Real Deal found that Washington Heights saw a 76 percent drop in closings in the past year. While that may seem steep, pricing held up far better than other, more upscale areas.
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Politicians and residents spoke out against billionaire developer Sheldon Solow’s plans to build six high-end high-rise residential towers and an office tower on a nine-acre former Con Ed property between 35th and 41st streets. The Dept. of City Planning has begun reviewing Solow’s proposed zoning changes for the midtown East River waterfront site. Nearby, the United Nations has begun a nearly $2 billion redevelopment of its headquarters. more [Metro]