Martin Burger has been appointed co-CEO of Silverstein Properties and will spearhead the firm’s expansion to China, as well as throughout the U.S. and Europe, according to a statement from the developer today.

The developer of the 2, 3 and 4 World Trade Center buildings, which has nearly doubled the size of its staff since 2006, is further emphasizing the continued expansion of its business outside of New York City, the statement noted, with projects in Florida, China and Central and Eastern Europe.

Last year the commercial and residential developer established a joint venture in Warsaw, Poland, with Kulczyk Real Estate Holding, to develop office, retail and mixed-use properties throughout Central and Eastern Europe.  – Guelda Voien [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]

NYU rendering

In an attempt to assuage community opposition, New York University will be asking the city to designate as parkland the green spaces at the edge of the Washington Square Superblocks, strips along LaGuardia Place and Mercer Street in Greenwich Village, east and west of the Washington Square Village, NYU officials said at a media briefing today. In a statement the school later provided, NYU emphasizes that its revised proposals will allow the university to build almost entirely on its existing footprint in the neighborhood with no up-zoning and no displacement of tenants. The university’s ambitious city-wide expansion plan slated for completion in 2031 has prompted much community opposition particularly in Greenwich Village. [more]

Gary Jacob, executive vice president of Glennwood Management and the Emerald Green

Developers are increasingly including affordable units within luxury
rental buildings as part of the 80/20 program, the New York Times reported.

Steven Spinola, the president of the Real Estate
Board of New York, says at least six 80/20 projects are being planned
in Manhattan that will add some 1,500 affordable and rent-stabilized
apartments.
Previously, when
developers of market-rate residential buildings included affordable
housing in exchange for tax incentives, the affordable units were
often in another complex or even in another borough altogether. But in
2008, the city changed regulations in a way that made it almost
impossible for developers to include the affordable units outside the
luxury buildings. [more]

Goldstein Hill & West Architects, the architecture firm founded by Alan Goldstein, L. Stephen Hill and David West, former partners in Costas Kondylis’ firm, are beginning to forge an identity independent of the Kondylis legacy, according to Real Estate Weekly. Having completed all their remaining Costas Kondylis and Partners contracts, they’re opting for a more diverse range of projects, and looking outside New York. One of their most recent projects is Liberty Green, Milstein Properties’ residential building in Battery Park City. [more]

From left: NYU’s Lynne Brown, a rendering of NYU’s proposed tower and GVSHP’s Andrew Berman

New York University withdrew its controversial application for a proposed fourth tower on Bleecker Street, the school announced today. Now, the university will begin work on its Uniform Land Use Review Procedure application, seeking approvals to build on the site currently occupied by the Morton Williams supermarket, on the blocks near Washington Square Park that are already owned by the University. “From the beginning, we sought a design for the Silver Towers block that was most respectful of [architect I.M.] Pei’s vision,” said Lynne Brown, NYU’s senior vice president. “Mr. Pei has now had a change of heart.” TRD [more]

The Real Deal got a first look inside TF Cornerstone’s new rental project in Hudson Yards, 505W37, at an opening party last night (see slide show above). The project’s two glass towers are located at 505 West 37th Street between 10th and 11th avenues, kitty corner to the company’s other Hudson Yards rental, 455W37. Nearly 200 market-rate units have been leased, according to Robert Schmidt, a leasing agent for the building, who led tours of the building for press and brokers at the event. The project has a total of 835 units, though a number of them are earmarked for affordable housing through the 80-20 program. [more]

From left: Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Stephen Kotler and Citi Habitats’ Gary Malin

Much like the sales market, Manhattan rental transactions are up and inventory is shrinking, though rents are still lower than last year, according to first-quarter market reports released today by Prudential Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats. Elliman’s report, which is based on data from the Real Estate Board of New York and other sources in addition to the firm’s deals, tracked 2,663 rental transactions in the first quarter of 2010, up 16.3 percent from 2,290 in the same period last year. Citi Habitats, meanwhile, said it did over 2,650 rental transactions in the first quarter, up from roughly 2,300 in the prior-year quarter. At the same time, listing inventory for rentals fell 30.8 percent, according to Elliman. To see a story about the Manhattan rental market for all of 2009, click here. [more]

From left: 80 Dekalb Avenue, BKLYN Gold, Beekman Tower and Cliff Finn of Citi Habitats

Citi Habitats’ managing director of new development marketing, Clifford Finn, gave The Real Deal the scoop on several new development rentals the company will be marketing this spring.

In early April, Citi Habitats will begin leasing units at the Ashley, a 209-unit luxury rental building developed by Extell Development. Located on 63rd Street between West End and Riverside, the Ashley is the sister rental tower to new condo the Aldyn. Starting in mid-May, Citi Habitats will be handling rentals at the Addison, a 270-unit project on Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn from Broadway Management Company, the developer of new Manhattan condominium Sutton57. Rentals of the Addison’s studios and one- and two-bedroom units will start in mid-May for summer occupancy, Finn said.

Downtown Brooklyn has exploded with new rentals recently, including another project Citi Habitats is marketing, Forest City Ratner’s 354-unit 80 DeKalb Avenue. Also in May, Citi Habitats will start leasing at Lalezarian Properties’ new rental project at 350 West 37th Street at Ninth Avenue. The 80/20 project is tentatively being called “Townsend,” though that could change. [more]

Kathy Rudney, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman, is handling rentals at Columbus Square

From the February issue:
It’s away from the heart of the Upper West Side. Its rents are up to 30 percent higher than the competition’s. And its shops more closely resemble strip-mall offerings than what’s typically found on city blocks. But Columbus Square, a mega mixed-use complex that spans six blocks from West 97th to 100th streets between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, is posting enviable rental and retail numbers in a down market, according to brokers familiar with the project and the neighborhood. Since May, the project has leased 290 of 454 apartments in two buildings at the site, where five buildings are planned, for a rental rate of 64 percent. One-bedrooms there list for about $3,400, which dwarfs the $2,300 average that postwar equivalents in the neighborhood usually command, brokers said. Once complete, Columbus Square will have 710 apartments. Of course, with the housing market still weak, tenants are receiving generous extras from the co-developers, Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group. Those incentives include up to three months of free rent, plus coverage of the broker’s fee, for signing a 14-month lease, according to Kathy Rudney, the Prudential Douglas Elliman broker handling rentals. But the base rents, she noted, are firm.  [more]