A 72-year-old pier on Staten Island in Tompkinsville collapsed Wednesday, amid an ongoing renovation project, according to the New York Times. The pier, which held a community center, has been vacant since April, when the renovations began. No one was inside the structure at the time of the collapse and no injuries have been reported. In light of its collapse, city officials now say the pier will be demolished, not refurbished. See the video Staten Island Advance via the New York Times above to review the structure’s unforeseen breakdown.

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Three non-profit organizations have signed full-floor leases at 147 West 24th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, according to landlord the Moinian Group. Meanwhile, the city began a $266 million remediation project on a Staten Island landfill today, and a Riverdale, N.J. shopping center welcomed Best Buy as a new tenant. Click here for more. TRD [more]

While the 421b tax abatement program likely had little impact on many Manhattan residential developers, Staten Island is still going through withdrawal in its absence, four years after the program ended, according to Crain’s. The 421b program, which helped those buying single-family homes, much like the 421a program that helps condo and co-op buyers, had spurred new construction of homes there, according to a report from the Building Industry Association of New York City, and its absence has taken a toll. “The elimination of the tax abatement program curtails development of housing,” Thomas Conoscenti, the author of the report, said.

While many spent this weekend’s makeshift St. Patrick’s Day in revelry, dozens of boy scouts also took to the streets on Staten Island, walking the parade route to protest the possible development of Pouch Camp, a 120-acre tract of land that’s at risk of being sold. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he’s a ardent supporter of the camp’s preservation, he told the gathered demonstrators yesterday that he has little influence over the site’s future. “I’m not sure I can do anything about that,” Bloomberg said, when asked whether he would use his influence to preserve the camp space. “The city has a lot of other things to worry about.”

From the February issue: Major residential brokerages may still snub their noses at the listings, but a growing number of firms, particularly in the outer boroughs, are fighting for a share of the foreclosed homes market. Lenders took back thousands of homes in New York State last year and thousands more face foreclosure this year. Take Staten Island-based Wonica Realtors and Appraisers. Last year, according to founder and president George Wonica, the firm’s REO division, which specializes in marketing and selling foreclosed residential properties in Staten Island and Brooklyn, accounted for almost 80 percent of his firm’s revenue. “It carried the office,” Wonica told The Real Deal. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” The marketplace for REOs — or “Real Estate Owned” by the bank because they did not successfully sell at a foreclosure auction — is thriving in places hit hard by the housing downturn. In New York City that usually means in the outer boroughs, although Manhattan is not impervious.  [more] [more]

From left: Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson

A camera lens analogy might help voters understand where Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson, who are New York’s main mayoral candidates, stand on key real estate issues ahead of tomorrow’s election. Bloomberg, the Republican incumbent, seems to favor a wide-angle approach, as his sweeping rezoning of a fifth of the city, or 8,400 blocks over eight years in office, would indicate. Focused on creating denser, more transit-oriented development, according to his PlaNYC, which was unveiled in 2007, the city has famously paved the way for homes to be built into once-industrial swaths of land, notably along the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn. [more]

Democratic mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller William Thompson told the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce today that, if elected, he would reinforce existing zoning laws for manufacturers, protecting them from “real estate speculators who offer only short-term leases,” as a means of encouraging financial recovery. Noting that the securities industry accounted for 25 percent of city wages in 2007, Thompson emphasized the need for New York to diversify the types of businesses it houses and encourage the growth of smaller commercial outlets in the city. Thompson also pledged to help the fashion industry, saying that he would work with labor unions to dedicate one million square feet of space in non-profit buildings for garment manufacturing. “Imagine if we had used the millions of dollars we spent on Yankees Stadium on efforts like this,” Thompson said. “Instead of creating part-time jobs like ushers and concession workers, we would have created many more full-time, good-paying jobs.”

The city’s Economic Development Corporation is talking to developers about redeveloping a prime stretch of Staten Island waterfront — a project that’s been discussed by local business leaders and city officials for years, but has seen little action. The EDC isn’t ready to disclose any details, however, about the proposed makeover of the former Navy Homeport on a 36-acre site in the Stapleton section on Staten Island’s northeastern side. “We’re talking to the development community,” said Janel Patterson, spokesperson for the EDC, declining to comment further. The Applied Development Company of Hoboken, NJ, which built the W Hotel and Residence on the Hudson in New Jersey, has been mentioned as a possible developer of the site, as the Staten Island Advance reported. Applied is considering building at least 350 units of housing and is reviewing a contract as part of a 30-day review period, the Staten Island Advance reported last month. Officials from Applied did not return calls for comment. [more]

If the Port Authority agrees to finance two of Larry Silverstein’s
towers at the World Trade Center site, other projects could suffer.
Sources said projects that could be further delayed
include rebuilding a terminal at LaGuardia airport, the Moynihan train
station project and the expansion of Staten Island’s shipping port. A
transportation source told the Post that the PA’s financing of two of
Silverstein’s towers “would be a hit on the agency’s capital budget.
The PA has said it only wants to finance one of Silverstein’s towers,
and talks between the agency and the developer are ongoing. [more]

From the June issue: While almost all developers in the city are
feeling the impact of the recession, Staten Island developers — even
one of the largest in the borough — have seen construction come to a
virtual standstill. “You don’t want to say it’s come to a halt
island-wide, but it’s as close to a halt as it can get,” said James
Prendamano, a broker with Casandra Properties, a firm that represents
high-profile developers and projects on Staten Island. Take St. George,
which was on the short list of potentially up-and-coming neighborhoods
because of its proximity to the Staten Island Ferry. A quick ride to
Lower Manhattan made it inviting to luxury condo developers when the
market was hot. [more]