Work has commenced on a $350 million medical campus in Bronx, Real Estate Weekly reported.
The campus, at 1500 Waters Place in the Morristown neighborhood, is being developed by Spector Group. The campus will receive the silver level of LEED certification, REW said.
The six buildings rest on more than 50 acres. Spectator is spearheading the project on behalf of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the New York State Office of Mental Health and the Bronx Psychiatric Center. [more]
New York City prebuilt office spaces, built by a landlord before leasing as opposed to being commissioned by a tenant, are evolving into a crucial part of building sales strategy and attracting higher-end clients, according to the New York Times. Companies that don’t have the time, resources or patience to go through a construction process are moving straight in to these sophisticated spaces.
Developers are looking to cash in. Cohen Brothers Realty has prebuilt 100,000 square feet in the last five years and is working on an additional 50,000 square feet. RFR Realty recently prebuilt the entire second floor of 17 State Street. And RXR Realty is prebuilding nearly half of the empty space at 340 Madison Avenue and up to 20 percent at 1330 Sixth Avenue. [more]
Scott Spector, a principal with the Spector Group, an architecture and design firm based in Woodbury, NY, sat down with the New York Times to discuss surviving the downturn, defining his firm’s style and his favorite project. The firm is currently designing the new Christie’s auction house building in Red Hook, a high-profile retrofit project. But it’s the firm’s work with the Nasdaq Stock Market, a relatively less-glitzy outdoor signage project, that is Spector’s favorite current undertaking. “We’ve had Nasdaq as a client for eight years, and we have done everything,” Spector said. “We’ll change a light bulb for these guys.”
On a recent podcast,
appraiser Jonathan Miller spoke with Scott Spector, principal of architecture and
design firm the Spector Group, about the importance of interior
architecture, stringent budget cuts, and how his firm is performing
amid the downturn. Some notable projects include the HL23 near the High
Line and the BMW at Competition & Sports Cars in Greenwich,
Conn. Spector said that while starchitects are primarily focused
on a building’s exterior and main lobby, his firm handles the
individual offices, elevators and floor lobbies. “As the executive
architect, we are doing about 75 percent; we have a niche,” Spector
said, also discussing that his business has been able to remain afloat
during the downturn due to its small size of 68 people and a steady
flow of projects backed by affluent clients that haven’t stopped
building, such as BMW. But he said many companies are paying closer
attention to staying on budget than in the past. “But with construction
costs 15 to 20 percent lower, they are able to get a lot more with
their negotiated amount of dollars,” he said. [Housing Helix]
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