Although Frank Gehry’s IAC and the Albanese Organization got a head start with their respective projects, IAC and 510 West 22nd Street, in terms of office development next to the High Line, other developers are eyeing the area as a prime spot for office buildings, due to the cachet the elevated park lends, the New York Times reported.

The Albanese Organization is looking for a 75,000-square-foot anchor tenant, with rents around $80 a square foot, for 510 West 22nd Street, which is a $140 million project. The site was previously being developed by the rapper Jay-Z. [more]

From left: Jay-Z and 511 West 21st Street (credit: PropertyShark)

A parcel of land ripe for development, and previously owned and lost by rapper Jay-Z will likely be bought by the Albanese Organization for around $60 million, the New York Observer reported.

The site, at 511 West 21st Street, between 10th and 11th avenues, has 140,000 buildable square feet and is zoned for retail, hotel or office space.

The hip-hop star and real estate investor purchased the site at the height of the market for more than $50 million, and spent millions more on air rights, the Observer said. [more]

Closings have begun at 41 Bond Street, DDG Partners’ seven-unit condominium building in Noho that quickly sold out after hitting the market in June, Joe McMillan, CEO of DDG, told The Real Deal today.

The first unit to close, a second-floor pad, sold for $5.5 million, or $2,100 per square foot, according to public records filed with the city today. All in all, apartments in the building will close for an average of $2,500 per square foot, McMillan said. A second unit has already closed, but not yet appeared in city records, and two more are scheduled to close soon, McMillan said.

“We always anticipated the building would sell very well,” McMillan said. [more]

Jay-Z’s 40/40 club will reopen in November when its renovations are complete,
Haute Living reported. Design delays have pushed back the original
opening date from the end of summer to Nov. 1. The club had closed
June 1 to undergo $10 million in renovations under a design by Jeffrey
Beers, as The Real Deal reported. The delay was caused by its extensive floor-to-ceiling
transformations, according to a spokesperson for the club. The renovation of the club, at
6 West 25th Street, includes a new Broadway Grand Entrance, a custom-illuminated amber resin bar top, illuminated bottle display tower, a
new second floor catwalk and new VIP lounges fitted with
lounge seating, as well as stately oak wood floors. [Haute Living] 
[more]

Clockwise from left: the apartment at the Time Warner Center, Jay-Z and buyer Taek Jho Low

The buyer of Time Warner Center pad previously rented by Jay-Z has been revealed as an entity linked to Malaysian party boy Taek Jho Low, according to the New York Post. At $31 million, or more than $6,400 per square foot, Low paid more than anyone else has ever paid at the luxury site.

This is not an unusual purchase for Low, who has partied regularly with Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox and Paris Hilton. He has owned various trophy properties, including a $33 million penthouse, formerly owned by Donald Trump, on Central Park West, which he sold at a $3 million loss last year.

Insiders told the Post that a “bevy of beautiful Asian women trailed by American men in suits” toured the glamorous 76th-floor condo several times during the negotiations. [more]

The 4,825-square-foot Time Warner Center penthouse once rented by Jay-Z has gone into contract for $31 million, according to the Post. At over $6,400 per square foot, the deal would be the priciest ever at the Related Companies-developed condominium tower. The 76th-floor spread has tried for building records before; in 2010, current owner Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban’s co-founder of Broadcast.com, put it on the market with the penthouse upstairs as a potential $73.5 million combination — the most expensive listing in Manhattan. On its own, Wagner’s apartment, which he bought from investor Michael Hirtenstein for $27 million in 2007, was last asking $38 million. [more]

Renderings of the new 40/40 Club (courtesy, Jeffrey Beers International)

Looks like Jay-Z won’t be holding any summertime bashes at his famed 40/40 Club in Manhattan. Instead, he’s opting for bigger and better things come fall. The hip-hop mogul, along with his partners in the nightclub Desiree and Juan Perez, announced a $10 million gut renovation of the 6 West 25th Street location, set to begin June 1. The club will remain closed through the renovation, and the owners hope to reopen sometime in September. As The Real Deal previously reported, Jay-Z and his partners moved the club’s offices out of the club and into a separate location at 255 West 36th Street — the renovation will transform the former office space into another private area for the club’s patrons, one of five planned exclusive lounge rooms. TRD Comments

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255 West 36th Street and Jay-Z’s 40-40 Club

The offices for Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club are moving from the club itself to an upper-floor location about a mile away at 255 West 36th Street, the broker for new landlord Triangle Assets told The Real Deal.

Businessman and rapper Jay-Z, who’s real name is Shawn Carter, along with partners Desiree Gonzalez and Juan Perez, opened the 40/40 Club at 6 West 25th Street in 2003. That first sports bar and club started a chain, and last year the club signed an agreement with Delaware North Companies to bring the sports bar concept to airports around the country. [more]

Jay-Z and Buffalo BossRapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z is getting in on the Brooklyn restaurant scene. Jay-Z, husband of singer Beyonce Knowles, has invested in Downtown Brooklyn eatery Buffalo Boss, located at 554 Fulton Street between Flatbush Avenue and Rockwell Place. The amount that Jay-Z invested, along with his mother, was not immediately clear. The buffalo wing joint, which is partly owned by the hip hop mogul’s cousin, Jamar White, is known as a good samaritan in the neighborhood — the eatery recently rewarded a group of academically high-performing middle schoolers with free food. [TMZ via Hip Hop Daily] [more]

511 West 21st Street (source: PropertyShark) and Jay-Z

Jay-Z has reached a settlement with his lenders over the site of a planned boutique hotel near the High Line and has deeded the property back to them for the value of the senior mortgage, according to recently-filed public documents.

The hip-hop mogul, whose given name is Shawn Carter, had partnered with real estate investors Charles Blaichman and Abram Shnay to purchase the site, a former Time Warner Cable warehouse at 511 West 21st Street, in 2007. The property was to become the first of many J Hotels, but the plan was foiled when the partners defaulted on their $52 million senior loan in August 2009, prompting a legal battle over their interest payments. [more]