To look out the windows from the 10th floor of Larry Silverstein’s shiny new 7 World Trade Center is to take visual stock of how far Lower Manhattan has come since Sept. 11, 2001. There’s the already-skyscraping 1 World Trade Center to the right, Towers 3 and 4 rising to the left, the soon-to-open memorial plaza below, and the new W Downtown staring back from across the construction site. A few blocks to both the east and west, Lower Manhattan now houses more residents than it has ever before seen, and still more are moving in — in droves. And soon, of course, Condé Nast will arrive, and with it, as is presumed to be the case, so will the neighborhood.

So this morning, when some of the most important architects of this turnaround convened to celebrate “The New Downtown,” alongside the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and Silverstein Properties, there was a natural, and deserved, optimism in their voices (see photos above). But there was also an unmistakable air of exasperation, as if to say, what else can we possibly do to get major retailers and restaurateurs to take notice? [more]

The owners of the Milford Plaza Hotel are testing the waters to assess
interest in selling the 1,300-room hotel at 700 Eighth Avenue between
44th and 45th streets, according to the New York Post. The hotel, owned
by an affiliate of Ogden Cap Properties, which is controlled by real
estate bigwig Philip Milstein, has been closed since December for a
complete renovation. But after the refurbishing was “suspended
indefinitely” in March, the owners said they tapped the Atlanta-based
Hodges Ward Elliot brokerage to explore options. The Milstein’s have
denied rumors that they were unable to get construction financing for
the renovation, claiming instead that they were financing it
themselves. No word yet on what the hotel’s asking price would be, if
it does hit the market. [Post, 1st item]

[more]

After staying shuttered for 15 months, the Plaza Hotel’s tea spot, Palm Court, is set to reopen April 12, according to the Post’s Steve Cuozzo. The $6.5 million 2005 restoration hadn’t gone over so well with locals, according to Cuozzo, with its pricier tea and poor lighting. This time around, Shane Krige, the Plaza’s general manager, said that all-new chairs, table linens and other furnishings will “breathe life into the focal points.” Another plus for money-conscious tea sippers: afternoon tea will now be $20 cheaper than before. [Post]

Fighting back against a torrent of unflattering press last week, Joseph Moinian took to Steve Cuozzo’s column in the New York Post to set the record straight. Moinian told Cuozzo that he is “100 percent current” on loan payments for the Ocean, 17 Battery Park North and 180 Maiden Lane. Last week, Crain’s reported that Moinian was $90 million behind on payments at the Ocean and that he had admitted he’d miss loan payments on the two Downtown office buildings. “I never said that,” Moinian said. That the loans have been referred to a special servicer was a “routine” step, Moinian argued, noting law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan’s recently renewed 225,000-square-foot lease at 180 Maiden Lane. Sources said the deal was probably in the high $40s to low $50s.
[Post, 1st item]

Forgiveness may be the key to success at 399 Park Avenue, where a perceived snub several weeks ago caused owner Boston Properties to swap hedge fund Avenue Capital for commercial brokerage Studley on an 11th-floor, 60,000-square-foot lease. Avenue Capital has since resumed talks with Boston, yesterday signing off on a 57,000-square-foot lease on the sixth floor of the former Lehman Brothers building. Boston’s leasing agent, John Powers of CB Richard Ellis, called the incident a “hiccup” from which the parties decided to “move on.” The result is a move that gets the hedge fund nearly the same amount of space as it would have had on the 11th floor, and a better layout than its current one at 535 Madison Avenue, where the company is fragmented across five floors. For Boston Properties, the deal means it has re-leased 85 percent of the former Lehman building in the span of less than one year. [more]

A perceived snub has reportedly resulted in a 60,000-square-foot lease on the 11th floor of 399 Park Avenue by commercial brokerage Studley, rather than hedge fund Avenue Capital Group. Avenue was edging in on a deal with 399 Park’s owner, Boston Properties, when Boston caught wind of a rumor that Avenue was still shopping around. Meanwhile, Studley was looking to expand beyond its current 40,000-square-foot location at 300 Park Avenue, and Boston capitalized on the opportunity. Boston agent John Powers of CB Richard Ellis offered the firm “a very attractive proposal” on that same 11th-floor space, a source told the Post’s Steve Cuozzo. A lease was signed within days. [Post]  [more]

JPMorgan Chase has reportedly decided to hold onto its 60-story office property at One Chase Manhattan Plaza in the Financial District, after receiving insufficient bids, according to the New York Post. The building is among 23 office properties that JPMorgan has on the market right now. The decision to place the One Chase Manhattan Plaza property on the market was a part of JPMorgan’s larger effort to shed excess office real estate, but some industry experts, including the Post’s Steve Cuozzo, criticized the leaseback terms in the deal.

Steve Cuozzo says that the Plaza hotel is on tough times. The building’s lower level Grand Concourse has few restaurants and retail spots, and the space is netting just $150 to $175 per square foot. The hotel’s commercial space — which luxury British retailer Harrods once considered renting — now “has all the charm of a suburban outlet mall,” according to Cuozzo. Kristin Franzese, vice president of retail with the Elad Group, which owns the Plaza, reportedly said that the hotel will be welcoming new stores soon, including two next week, but did not specify which stores are coming.

JPMorgan Chase has been shedding excess office space, pushing 23 of its buildings onto the market even as the commercial real estate market’s outlook appears bleak. But the poor economic climate isn’t the only obstacle to finding a buyer, New York Post columnist Steve Cuozzo said. Sources told him that the leaseback terms on One Chase Plaza are so unfavorable that they might squelch interest. The terms include rent at $35 per square foot (which Cuozzo describes as “lowball”), and several escape clauses that Cuozzo’s source said could dissuade the few interested parties that exist. “Who wants hundreds of thousands of square feet to lease in downtown even as so much other space will be coming on the market?” Real Capital Analytics research chief Dan Fasulo said. “Investors are looking for security.”