Following the groundbreaking deal last month to develop Panasonic’s $190 million
headquarters in Newark, the Brick City Development
Corporation will roll out a program starting this summer to lure new corporations to six
specific sites in the city’s downtown area.

Brick City Development Corporation, the city of Newark’s economic development
corporation, is currently in talks with local investors to pitch the six shovel-ready sites to
companies looking to develop new corporate offices. The city is hoping to take advantage
of below market rents and a new spurt of development that will lure potential employers
away from New York or other parts of New Jersey. [more]

Related President Jeff Blau and the Gateway Center

Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, a 1-million-square-foot, $500 million project, has been awarded LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the second largest project to achieve core and shell LEED certification in the Northeast, according to its developer. Related Companies built the market as the first national retail complex in the Bronx. Gateway Center is 95 percent leased, 91 percent occupied and includes a mix of retailers and restaurants, including BJ’s, Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Marshall’s, Raymour & Flanigan, Staples, Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and Applebee’s. The Gateway Center is expected to generate more than $20 million in annual tax and revenue for the city, and the project will create an estimated 2,100 permanent retail jobs and 2,900 union construction jobs in the South Bronx, Related says. TRD

[more]

Related President Jeff Blau and the Gateway Center

Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, a 1-million-square-foot, $500 million project, has been awarded LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the second largest project to achieve core and shell LEED certification in the Northeast, according to its developer. Related Companies built the market as the first national retail complex in the Bronx. Gateway Center is 95 percent leased, 91 percent occupied and includes a mix of retailers and restaurants, including BJ’s, Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Marshall’s, Raymour & Flanigan, Staples, Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and Applebee’s. The Gateway Center is expected to generate more than $20 million in annual tax and revenue for the city, and the project will create an estimated 2,100 permanent retail jobs and 2,900 union construction jobs in the South Bronx, Related says. TRD

[more]

Jeff Blau

Save for a few short-term dips, the real estate market in New York has run full steam ahead since the recession of the early 1990s, when Jeff Blau joined the Related Companies out of college.

And what a run it’s been for the 41-year-old president of the privately held real estate juggernaut, which developed One Union Square South, the mixed-use tower that helped revitalize its downtown neighborhood, and Time Warner Center, which played a similar role at Columbus Circle. On the purely commercial side, Related has also developed the Gateway Center, a three-month-old mall by Yankee Stadium that’s brought big-box retailing to a low-income area.

Blau talked to The Real Deal about the economy, how distressed assets may provide opportunities and the importance of affordable housing.
[more]

Phillip Morrow is the president and CEO of SoBro, the non-profit South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, whose goals include improving affordable housing in the area, restoring use to vacant properties, and helping small businesses. Morrow has been with the organization since 1996. Prior to joining SoBro, Morrow was responsible for housing and economic development projects for the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, personally supervising the construction or rehabilitation of over 5,000 residential units in Harlem. The Real Deal spoke with Morrow about rezoning and redevelopment efforts that are underway in the South Bronx. [more]

Rendering of the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market

New York City-based discount department store Conway Stores has taken
18,000 square feet at the Related Companies Gateway Center at Bronx
Terminal Market, located near the new Yankee Stadium, bringing the
approximately 1 million-square-foot mall to 90 percent occupancy.  Abe
Cohen, president of Conway, and Adam Goldschmidt, Conway’s in-house
director of leasing, represented Conway in the deal. Peter Ripka of
Ripco Real Estate brokered the deal on behalf of Related. So far, two
stores have opened at the mall — Home Depot, on April 23, and Staples,
on June 6 — with the next tenant, Target, scheduled to open July 26.
Restaurant chain Applebee’s projects an opening of its location at the
mall at the end of August. [more]