While for the first time since 2000 Manhattan will see an entire year go by without the opening of a significant new office tower, the borough is gearing up for a surge in new office construction mid-decade, according to recent analysis by the New York Building Congress, released yesterday.

Manhattan added about 20 million square feet of new office space between 2001 and 2010, a modest offering by historical standards. Nearly 4 million square feet of new office space was created annually in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It is remarkable how little office space was actually added in Manhattan during the recent building boom,” said Richard Anderson, president of the Building Congress. — Katherine Clarke [more]

Extell Development is following through with its plans to begin vertical construction at the site of its future International Gem Tower with or without a construction loan. The Wall Street Journal spotted workers erecting the 34-story tower’s steel base yesterday, and noted that despite its lack of construction financing, it is now one of just two New York City sites where large-scale office buildings are going up. (The other being, of course, the World Trade Center). According to Raizy Haas, Extell’s senior vice president, the Diamond District project, on 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will be complete by the end of next year. [more]

Even as the land sales market has improved in Manhattan overall, the number of developers actively trying to put together sites remains just a handful, far fewer than during the boom. One of the city’s leading professionals in the business, Dov Hertz, an executive vice president at Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, spoke with Insights from The Real Deal about the current number of deals he believed are underway in Manhattan, and about the time someone backed out of a deal to sell air rights.

Hertz leads the acquisitions arm of Extell, one of the most prolific residential developers in the city. He has led or had a hand in Extell’s major assemblages, including two projects still under development, the 34-story International Gem Tower at 50 West 47th Street and the 74-story Carnegie57, at 157 West 57th Street, spanning the mid-block between Sixth and Seventh avenues and 57th and 58th streets. He has also put together sites for completed residential towers, including the 110-unit Lucida, at 151 East 85th Street; the Ariel East and West; and the 22-unit 535 West End Avenue.

In addition, Robert Knakal, chairman of investment brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services, weighs in on how many sites are being assembled now, and where they are located. [more]

The steel for Extell Development’s International Gem Tower at 44 West 47th Street is set to rise the last week of March or the first week of April, Extell’s Raizy Haas told the Post. The $750 million, 34-story condominium tower, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, had its design by Skidmore Owings & Merrill unveiled nearly four years ago. But since the October 2008 market crash badly hurt the diamond industry, progress on the tower has been delayed. Now, Extell and Tishman Construction have just turned on their public information hotline as work begins, giving details on trenching, sandblasting and related activities for this month and next. Comments

Gary Barnett and 20 West 47th Street

Gary Barnett won the 14-story office building located at 20 West 47th Street at a judicial sale today in the rotunda of the State Supreme Court building at 60 Centre Street, with a winning bid of $73 million (note: correction appended).

Barnett, president of Extell Development, beat out multiple bidders, including Parkway Realty and Bluestone Group, for the building between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

“We think the price for a 150,000-[square-foot] building, close to Fifth Avenue, with a large jewelry exchange made sense for us to purchase,” Barnett said in an e-mail. “We expect the whole block to be upgraded once the International Gem Tower (which his firm is building on the same block at 50 West 47th Street) goes vertical, which will be within two months.” [more]

The Gem Tower and Raizy Haas, senior development vice president with Extell

Extell’s upcoming International Gem Tower has 100,000 square feet worth of contracts, plus another 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of space that’s in negotiation, Raizy Haas, the company’s senior development vice president, told the Post. The 34-story project at 44 West 47th Street was designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill as a new home for the gem business and is being sold as commercial condos. The Gemological Institute of America took on one floor, or 30,000 square feet, in January, and several Israeli companies have reportedly signed contracts since then. The foundation is complete and construction is slated to finish in 2012. “We’ll be out on the street in the next few months bidding out work to the major trades — steel, concrete and elevators,” Haas said. [Post, 4th item]
[more]

Extell’s 34-story International Gem Tower at 44 West 47th Street has just won a shiny new occupant. The Gemological Institute of America has signed a contract to buy one floor, or 30,000 square feet, in the building for its New York laboratory. The deal allows GIA to streamline its current multi-floor space at 580 Fifth Avenue and take advantage of the modern security systems offered in the Diamond District’s new Gem Tower, where the foundation is complete and where construction is slated to finish in 2012. Terms were not disclosed, but GIA is a major deal for Extell President Gary Barnett, who has reportedly been vying for the non-profit since the Gem Tower project began. “This purchase will increase our efficiency and help GIA manage its long-term costs,” said Donna Baker, president and CEO of GIA. [Post, 1st item]

Extell Development has filed plans
to build a 24-story hotel at 30 West 46th Street, just a block away
from its $750 million Gem Tower, which began construction in May.
Extell has several new projects in the works. The
developer filed plans for a hotel at the site of the Antiques
Garage flea market, at 112 West 25th Street, last week, and another hotel and residential development at 157
West 57th Street in February. The developer also has two residential
buildings planned for 147 West 21st Street and 225 West 58th Street.

Gary Barnett’s (right) Extell Development has purchased 30 West 47th Street.

Extell Development sold a 10-story building at 30 West 47th Street for nearly $8 million less than the company paid for it last year after stripping it of air rights needed for its nearby Gem Tower. Extell sold the property at 30 West 47th Street to Jemsa Realty for $42.5 million May 14, after going into contract in January, according to property records published yesterday. The developer bought the property for $50.1 million in June 2008, then transferred air rights from the building to its under-construction, 32-story tower at 50 West 47th Street, city records show. By Adam Pincus
[more]

Extell Development filed plans with the Department of Buildings last
month to lower the height of its planned Gem Tower in the Diamond
District to 32 stories from 39 stories, and its overall floor area to
about 750,000 from 850,000 square feet. A ceremony will be held today
with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Extell CEO Gary Barnett to launch the
$750 million project at 50 West 47th Street, although it’s not a done deal. Extell still needs
a construction loan for the project, but Barnett said he is confident
that he will obtain financing next year after he’s secured buyers’
commitments for most of the diamond-user space in the tower, which is
marketed as industrial condominiums. [more]