A rendering of One Hudson Yards

Though construction on Related Companies’ Hudson Yards megaproject has just about begun, there is already a push to create a Business Improvement District in the neighborhood, DNAinfo reported.  [more]

A rendering of One Hudson Yards

After being stalled for more than a year, Extell Development Company has released new renderings of its Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed One Hudson Yards project, Curbed reported…. [more]

A rendering of Hudson Yards

The tale of commercial development in Midtown Manhattan is of a gradual westward expansion, with the oldest office stock located along Park Avenue and the newest buildings situated on the West Side, according to a new report by brokerage Avison Young seen by the New York Observer.

Development in Midtown kicked off after World War II and started along Park Avenue, with iconic buildings such as 375 Park Avenue and 200 Park Avenue breaking ground. These buildings traditionally catered to financial services tenants such as JPMorgan Chase and UBS. Seventy-eight percent of Park Avenue’s building stock was built between 1950 and 1970, the report shows.  [more]

From left: Related CEO Jeff Blau, Related EVP John Jacobsson and a rendering of the Hudson Yards project

The Related Companies has hired John Jacobsson, a managing partner and veteran of AREA Property Partners, as an executive vice president, the company told The Real Deal today. In the newly-created position, Jacobsson will pursue new business and raise money both domestically and internationally, especially from large institutional players, he said. [more]

Hudson Yards rendering

The northernmost stretch of the High Line will frame and be defined by the Hudson Yards megaproject, and park officials and the development’s major players, such as Related Companies, are touting the benefits of each other’s projects to their own, Crain’s reported.

Related is currently focused on the the eastern portion of the development, and has secured Coach as an anchor tenant for its 1.7 million-square-foot building known as South Tower. Coach sees the tower’s proximity to the High Line as a major draw, company executives told Crain’s. [more]

Hudson Yards rendering

Related Companies and Amtrak have agreed to begin work on a new rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, the New York Post reported.

Construction on the 800-foot-long “box tunnel” will begin this summer right under Related’s Hudson Yards megaproject and is expected to cost between $120 and $150 million, primarily funded by federal dollars. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who championed the deal, told the Post that it marked “a red-letter day for the future of New York-New Jersey mass transit.” He recognized the agreement as a commitment to a new tunnel for the first time since New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie nixed plans for a $15 billion four-track project in 2010.  [more]

Starwood’s Barry Sternlicht and Hudson Yards

In the latest sign that the construction loan market is getting back on its feet, Starwood Property Trust is nearing the final steps of issuing a $450 million construction loan to the Related Companies for the first phase of the Hudson Yards development, the New York Observer reported. The loan is slated to close in the next 30 days. [more]

From left: The groundbreaking ceremony and a rendering of the Hudson Yards

The multibillion-dollar Hudson Yards development has been making a major push to woo prospective corporate tenants, the New York Times reported. Hudson Yards — which will span from 30th to 42nd streets, between Eighth Avenue to the Hudson River — is expected to create roughly 25 million square feet of office space, 3,200 hotel rooms and 20,000 residential units, a quarter of which have already begun construction. The project’s major players — including Related Companies, Brookfield Office Properties, Extell Development Company, the Moinian Group and Alloy Development — have started to put money into marketing. … [more]

Jay Cross

From the January issue: The Related Companies broke ground last month on its 26-acre Hudson Yards development, and Related Hudson Yards President Jay Cross should have no trouble keeping the project afloat. A former competitive sailor, Cross holds 10 North American, national and world titles, and represented his native Canada in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He was also on the 1980 Olympic sailing team, but never competed because of the Canadian boycott of the Moscow Olympics. “That was too bad, because that year we really had a shot at a medal,” Cross recalled. “We were in the top five then.” In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he participated as a coach and an alternate. Cross was born into a sailing family, and took up the sport as a child. “Kids start when they’re eight or 10,” he said, “and then by the time you’re 16, you’re out there sailing all the time.” [more]

The Hudson Yards groundbreaking ceremony

From the January issue: In this month’s round-up of the biggest government stories affecting New York real estate, The Real Deal looks at the ground breaking of Related’s Hudson Yards Project, attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Related Companies and Oxford Property Group. TRD also examines the Federal Housing Administration’s risky borrowing practices that could lead to an incredibly ironic taxpayer bailout, as well as, a city “BID Challenge,” which dolled out some $250,000 in grants to seven neighborhood Business Improvement Districts. Finally TRD reports on a city deal to give Hurricane Sandy victims priority in renting some of the 2,500 vacant privately owned New York City apartments. [more]