Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s failed 2012 Olympic bid paved the way for the development of Manhattan’s Far West Side, which has given birth to 15 residential towers and 12 hotels since 2005, when the International Olympic Committee selected London to host the games.

According to the New York Times, the city rezoned and adjusted land use laws for the area to facilitate development for the Olympics and began planning the $2 billion extension of the 7 subway line to 34th Street and 11th Avenue. Though the Olympics didn’t follow, development has. In addition to the Related Companies’ Hudson Yards site, Avalon Bay is planning a 30-story rental development at 11th Avenue and 29th Street, and the Gotham Organization broke ground on a $520 million residential complex 15 blocks to the north. New parks and a boulevard between 10th and 11th avenues are also on the docket. [more]

From left: David Picket, president of the Gotham Organization, a rendering of Gotham’s rental project on West 45th Street, Joseph Moinan and a rendering of 605 West 42nd Street

The Gotham Organization broke ground today on the largest new construction project in Manhattan, a $520 million development encompassing nearly the entire city block on Manhattan’s Far West Side at 550 West 45th Street between 10th and 11th avenues. The residential portion of the project, which is slated to be completed in 2014, will create 1,238 new rental apartments with 600 of those units expected to be affordable to low-, moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers.

“The groundbreaking for this development is the latest sign that the Far West Side will soon be Manhattan’s next great neighborhood,” Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony, told the crowd. And he’s not the only one with that vision. [more]

A Hell’s Kitchen development site that’s been stalled for more than 30 years has finally closed on financing and begun construction, the Wall Street Journal reported, for 1,258 apartments, more than half of which are affordable, a new school and stores.

The $520 million four-building complex, called Gotham West, sits along 45th Street near 11th Avenue, and is being developed by the Gotham Organization. It will have a 31-story market-rate apartment building with 556 units, 682 affordable units across the other buildings, 20 condominium units, a 670-seat school, stores and private gardens. [more]

From left: Robert Morgenstern and Sabrina Kleier-Morgenstern
From the September issue: Long-time friends Robert Morgenstern and Jeffrey Kaye had often thought about
leaving their respective jobs and going into business together. Morgenstern, a real estate
broker, and Kaye, a vice president at the Gotham Organization, dreamed of starting a real
estate investment firm, and as 2010 drew to a close, they felt the time was right.
“Nothing had been trading for months prior, and suddenly things started to
move,” said Morgenstern, who is married to broker and “Selling New York” star Sabrina
Kleier-Morgenstern. “We had access to some off-market deals. We could get them done
where no one else could.”
In January, they launched Stone Street Properties. Named after historic Stone
Street in the Financial District, the new company will own, operate and manage multi-
family buildings. [more]

Law firm Greenberg Traurig, which had the second biggest real estate division among New York City law firms according to The Real Deal’s 2010 ranking, added Peter Miller to its stable of real estate attorneys yesterday, the company said. Miller previously headed the real estate and finance practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Stroock & Stroock & Lavin, where he represented real estate firms in major transactions throughout the city, most notably Silverstein Properties in its acquisition of a leasehold interest in the World Trade Center. Miller went on to represent Silverstein in negotiations for five separate leases covering more than 10 million square feet. Miller also represented Bear Stearns in its acquisition of 383 Madison Avenue, Edward J. Miskoff Equities in five transactions throughout the city and the Gotham Organization in the development of 200 West 72nd Street. TRD [more]

From left: Fergie, Josh Duhamel, the exterior of 200 West 72nd Street as well as interiors of unit 15E

Singer Fergie’s husband, actor Josh Duhamel, was looking at an $18,000 rental unit at the Upper West Side’s Corner. A former model and star in the TV series “Las Vegas,” which ran from 2003 to 2008, Duhamel was spotted today going into the on-site rental office at Gotham Organization’s 200 West 72nd Street at Broadway. He was shown a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath spread with 1,000-square-foot set-back terrace that wraps around the front of the building, sources said. The unit, 15E, saw a $2,000-per-month price cut from $20,000 to $18,000, although fully furnished it can still be rented for $20,000 a month, according to on-site leasing agent Patty Schmitz. [more]

David Picket, CEO of Gotham Developers, the company responsible for the up-and-coming Upper West Side rental building the Corner at 200 West 72nd Street, sat down with the New York Times to talk about his latest ventures and what it’s like being in a fourth-generation family business. Although Picket said that his father “never, ever forced” the business on him, he contend that it was always an option. After nearly entering the litigation field, Picket said he realized that the family business was his true calling. “My dad, at the time, needed somebody, and we sat down over a few lunches and basically worked out a deal,” Picket said. “I had a contract and a salary and a title.”

At left: Contestants (Right to Left) Christiane King and Amy Sarabi relaxing in their Atlas NY digs. At right: (Right to Left) Ben Chmura, Jay Nicolas Sario and Seth Aaron Henderson take a break from competing while hanging out at Atlas NY

Atlas New York, the longtime Manhattan home of “Project Runway,” gave The Real Deal an exclusive sneak peak at this season’s contestants lounging in their apartments at the 48-story Garment District rental tower. During filming of the seventh season of the hit reality show, the 16 contestants lived in six one- and two-bedroom apartments at the Atlas, according to the Gotham Organization, the building’s developer. The building is located at 66 West 38th Street, a short walk from Mood Designer Fabrics on 37th Street, where the show sends its aspiring fashion designers in search of fabric. The show premiers tonight at 10 p.m. on Lifetime. Atlas — which features concierge service and a 4,000-square-foot rooftop terrace — also housed the contestants during the show’s first five seasons, Gotham said, while Season 6 was filmed in Los Angeles. The show did not pay Gotham for the apartments. To celebrate the show’s return to Manhattan, the city temporarily renamed Fashion Avenue “Project Runway Avenue” and presented a proclamation naming Jan. 13 “Project Runway Day.” The show outfitted the apartments with geometric patterns created by colorful wood trim and carpet squares, Gotham said, but the apartments were returned to their original condition and rented out once filming was completed.The Atlas was also the host of a New York Moves magazine interior design competition late last year, in which HGTV host Krista Watterworth and New York City-based designer Oskar Torres went head-to-head to try to design the “quintessential Manhattan apartment” in under 45 minutes.
[more]

David Picket, president of the Gotham Organization, inside 200 West, his firm’s new rental on West 72nd Street.

From the December issue: West 72nd Street and Broadway epitomizes old New York. Brick-and-terra-cotta icons like the famed Dorilton mix with the bright lights of Gray’s Papaya. But there’s a newcomer that looks more like South Beach, splashing glass amid the stately stone.
Named 200 West for its 72nd Street address, the 19-story rental tower broke ground in 2007, near the height of the boom, and is scheduled to start leasing in February. In addition to the 196 apartments, the building, which wraps an obtuse-angled corner, also has a total of 50,000 square feet of big-box-style, multilevel space for three retailers. That’s in a neighborhood where stores typically measure a fraction of the size. “We will certainly liven up that corner a lot,” said David Picket, president of the Gotham Organization, the developer of the $220 million project and one of its three investors. The others are Philips International Holding and Rhodes NY. [more]

From the August issue: In a bad economy, the plight of the unemployed gets most of the
attention. But as the ranks of New York City’s jobless increase, and
more people downsize apartments or take on roommates to deal with the
economic downturn, they also send their landlords’ utility and
maintenance costs skyrocketing in rental buildings.
“Where you get lots of move-ins and move-outs, you worry about
damage at the building,” said David Picket, president of the Gotham
Organization, which operates more than 1.7 million square feet of
residential and retail real estate in New York and other parts of the
Northeast. “Even in a good market, it’s a fine line,” he said. “When you boost
rents up, which forces certain people to leave, you create certain
costs for yourself that you don’t have if people stay in place.” In a bad market, however, those costs don’t come with the added benefit of higher rental income. Comments

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