Toll Brothers has obtained final approval for a massive development in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, a signal that locals’ efforts to keep the neighborhood an artist’s haven have probably failed, according to the Jersey City Independent.

After four years of political wrangling, the plan for three 30-story towers with 950 units is moving forward despite the developers exceeding zoning codes — by four times the height and twice the density, according to opponents — and eschewing affordable housing for cash payments. Toll Brothers’ plan had languished in court for two years as the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association sued the city for seemingly granting substantial zoning variances on a whim. [more]

Edge developer Douglaston Development has taken the lead on building a nearby site at 3 Northside Piers in Williamsburg and plans to break ground on a $300 million project in March, the Wall Street Journal reported. Douglaston, led by CEO Jeffrey Levine, intends to build a 40-story rental tower where rents range from $55 to $60 per square-foot.

The tower was originally supposed to be part of a three-building complex developed by Toll Brothers, L&M Development Partners and RD Management, but after sales were slow — even after price cuts — in the first two Northside Piers buildings, Toll Brothers backed out of the project. L&M and RD will help on Douglaston’s version of the tower. [more]

From left: Equity International Chairman Sam Zell, Toll Brothers Chairman Bob Toll and 400 Park Avenue South

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential and Toll Brothers are closing in on the acquisition of 400 Park Avenue South, according to Crain’s, with plans to build a residential tower with condominium units above rentals.

The site, at 28th Street is currently a 20,000-square-foot parking lot owned by A&R Kalimian Realty. A&R obtained approval for a 40-story, 435-unit rental building, but it put the site on the sales market in May with brokerage Studley. The price Equity Residential and Toll Brothers plan to pay for the site was not revealed, but previous reports said it could draw $400 for each of its 420,000 buildable square feet. [more]

From left: One57 and Extell Development President Gary Barnett, the Touraine and Toll Brothers CEO Bob Toll and MiMA and Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross

There’s a scarcity of new development in Manhattan, and developers are licking their chops. According to Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group data cited by the New York Times, by the end of 2011 just 1,111 new units will open in Manhattan south of Harlem. That’s down from 1,767 last year, ad 8,552 in 2007.

That’s good news for developers — such as Extell Development, Related Companies and the Toll Brothers who are delivering One57, MiMA and the Touraine, respectively, to the market — who recognize the scarcity of supply and are raising prices and foregoing concessions. In fact, some developers are even refusing to negotiate with buyers on price. [more]

Three New Jersey artists have created a Trojan horse to protest
development plans by Toll Brothers in the Powerhouse Arts District in
Jersey City, the Wall Street Journal reported. Toll had planned three
residential towers, each about 30 to 35 stories high, and a performing arts
center on a 3-acre site that includes a former kosher food plant.  But residents said that the tall buildings would destroy the
character of the budding arts district, which has cobblestone streets,
low-rise commercial-buildings converted to residences and an
independent coffee shop. [more]

A new Toll Brothers development in Dumbo has a waiting list of 1,100,
the Brooklyn Eagle reported. The property, at  205 Water Street, is still
under construction, and is estimated to be ready for sales and
marketing in September, with closings commencing in spring 2012.
The design, by architecture firm GreenbergFarrow, had the aim of reflecting the project’s
loft-like industrial neighbors. “We have a list of about 1,100 names
of people interested in this project,” Todd Dumaresq, marketing
manager at Toll Brothers City Living, told the Eagle on a tour of 205
Water Street, between Bridge Street and Jay Street, last week. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Alchemy Properties’ Kenneth Horn, Bob Toll of Toll Brothers, Leonard Taub of Kaish & Taub, Jonathan Caplan of Jones Lang LaSalle, 376-380 Third Avenue and the State Supreme Court Building

From the August issue: For the owners of distressed properties, it’s a harrowing ride to stabilization. Note sale, foreclosure, bankruptcy or recapitalization, there is no easy path from financial trouble to stable footing. And while some savvy investors have seized control of valuable New York City properties, many owners and lenders have lost billions of dollars through distressed real estate sales and restructurings since the financial crisis began. This month The Real Deal examines five deals and how they unfolded.
In the last of the series, builder Kaish & Taub Development Group threw its struggling Gramercy Park condominium project into bankruptcy in a bid to hold on while its lender, Swiss bank UBS, moved to foreclose. The effort ultimately failed, and developer Toll Brothers bought the site at a court auction for $35.5 million. Click here to read the story. [more]

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential has poached a top member of Toll Brothers’ executive team to head up its hunt for new development sites in the New York metropolitan area. According to Crain’s, George Kruse, the former managing director of Toll Brothers Realty Trust, joined Zell’s company last month and will be looking for building opportunities as well as overseeing the construction of TEN23, Equity Residential’s new 111-unit rental building on the High Line, which is slated to kick off leasing efforts this fall. [more]

From left: 276-280 third avenue,Toll Brothers’ Bob Toll and developers Norman Kaish and Leonard Taub

[Updated 7:00 p.m. with marketing and judgment of loan] Residential developer Toll Brothers won a foreclosure auction held today with a $35.5 million bid for the property at 276-280 Third Avenue at the corner of 22nd Street in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, along with air rights from four other properties.

Toll Brothers plans to build a 21-story apartment building with approximately 80 units, which would include retail space, company spokesperson Christine Sciarrotta said. The developer has not yet decided if the units will be rentals or condominiums.
[more]

Two of the biggest Gowanus Canal polluters are real estate development sites where remediation efforts failed, according to Environmental Protection Agency officials working on the Superfund cleanup at the canal.

One of them, the Daily News reported, is the 363-365 Bond Street site on which Toll Brothers had once planned to build 460 condos and townhouses. The developer, which was supposed to clean up the site before breaking ground, abandoned the project when the Gowanus gained Superfund status last year. (Toll had actively campaigned against the designation, arguing that it would render the development site unmarketable).

According to the EPA, it’s a good thing it did, because new investigations there have since found cancer-causing poly-aromatic hydrocarbons and other potentially harmful chemicals are present in the ground, and Toll Brothers would have never known about it because “the investigation they had done at the site was inadequate.” [more]