The new addition to John Jay College
on 11th AvenueFrom the October issue: Bigness is back. By “bigness,” I do not mean height — rather, I refer to a kind of hulking squatness, an unapologetic, as-of-right occupancy of a plot of land — without any namby-pamby purchase of “air rights,” or any rising up in a zigguratted setback to heights made possible by the construction of some cynically insufficient, “privately owned public space.”

Two recent and conspicuous examples of this new bigness are the Lucida and the Brompton, which occupy the southeast corners of 86th Street at Lexington and Third Avenues, respectively. These structures hark back to the days before the 1916 legislation that mandated how high a building could rise in New York relative to its footprint.

But an even more striking instance of this upstart subgenre is on the West Side — the addition to John Jay College of Criminal Justice (part of the City University of New York) that has just opened in time for the beginning of the new school year. [more]

David Childs (photo by Marc Scrivo)From the September issue: David Childs is chairman emeritus and consulting design partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He’s designed the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, Worldwide Plaza and the New York Mercantile Exchange. He also worked on the National Mall master plan and Constitution Gardens in Washington, D.C. Childs has served as the chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal agency charged with overseeing development projects in the nation’s capital, and as the chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, both Presidential appointments. But he is perhaps most known for designing the 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center, which is slated to be topped off in 2012. Click here for the complete Q & A. [more]

Time Warner is moving forward with its plan to possibly move out of the Time Warner Center and consolidate its operations at new headquarters elsewhere to save costs, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a memo to all New York-based employees yesterday, the company said it would be undertaking a broad reevaluation of its real estate, with a formal plan expected next year. Time Warner moved to Columbus Circle in 2004, where it had partnered with Related Companies to build the David Childs-designed building that is its company headquarters now. Comments

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Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross and the Shops at Columbus Circle

To the surprise of early critics, the Shops at Columbus Circle have been a resounding success, and now Related Companies is revamping the mall’s tenants in hopes of boosting profits, Crain’s reported.
Wary of a mall in Manhattan, some high-priced retailers shunned the mall when it launched seven years ago. But now that it has proven successful, Related is pushing some lower-revenue tenants to leave before their 10-year leases expire, in the interest of finding luxury — and higher-paying — tenants. Crain’s said over the next 18 months about a dozen new, mostly high-fashion stores, will come to the mall. [more]

From the September issue: In its eight years of publication, The Real Deal has covered the real estate industry in a city that’s been transformed by a massive building boom, was crippled by the subsequent bust, and is now in the midst of a tentative recovery.
The compendium of stories we’ve written runs the gamut from the record-setting building and apartment purchases during the boom, to the toppling of mega-developers during the bust, to new entrepreneurs trying to get into the real estate game during today’s fragile recovery. This month, for the anniversary of our 100th issue, we bring you some of the most compelling stories we’ve tracked in these pages, many of which have unfolded and evolved over time, much as the magazine itself has. And watch the video below to see The Real Deal Publisher Amir Korangy talk about the special process for creating the unique 100th issue cover.
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From left: the Laureate, the Time Warner Center, 15 Union Square West and 57 Reade

Not only are Chinese banks investing millions of dollars in New York
real estate, but Chinese business people are also increasingly
buying luxury condominiums in Manhattan, the New York Times reported.

The average sale is a one-bedroom apartment for about
$1.45 million, Pamela Liebman, CEO of the Corcoran Group, told the New
York Times. Many of them are purchasing the properties as second homes
or as housing for children studying in New York. In one case, Liebman
said, a parent spent $20 million on an apartment for a daughter going
to college in Manhattan. [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]

Top row, from left: Al Kahn, the Time Warner Center living room and Bernie Madoff, whose former penthouse Kahn purchased last year. Bottom row, from left: the unit’s kitchen, the building exterior and another interior shot of the unit

Cabbage Patch Kids and Pokémon creator Al Kahn and his wife, Patsy, who purchased Bernie Madoff’s 133 East 64th Street penthouse last year for $8 million, have closed on the sale of their Time Warner Center condominium for around $20.5 million, according to the Post. The 62nd-floor unit had been on the market since January 2010, when it was listed for $33.6 million, and had since undergone a series of price cuts, most recently to $24.95 million. The 4,375-square-foot spread, which was listed by Brown Harris Stevens dynamic duo Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers, went into contract in February, as The Real Deal reported at the time. Comments

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Clockwise from top left: Cushman & Wakefield CEO Glenn Rufrano, John Grotto of the Durst Organization, a rendering of 4 Times Square retail and Ariel Schuster of Robert K. Futterman & Associates

Major New York City developers and their brokers gathered in Las Vegas this week for
the retail trade show RECon and revealed additional details about significant Manhattan
retail locations.

On Monday, the Durst Organization unveiled renderings for the shopping portion of
4 Times Square, known as the Conde Nast Building. Later, a source said the signage
rights on the upper portion of the tower were being offered for $1 million per side of the
building.

That was just one of the many New York City retail locations highlighted in Las Vegas,
home of the International Council of Shopping Centers show held at the Las Vegas
Convention Center. [more]