The first quarter tends to be a slow one for construction in New York City, and the first quarter of this year was no different – just 5.3 million square feet of new construction projects were completed from January through March, the least since any quarter since 2015. But bounced back in a big way, however, breaking the 9 million mark for the first time this decade, thanks to strong showings in Queens and Manhattan.
An analysis by The Real Deal found that 477 new construction projects received their first temporary Certificates of Occupancy (TCOs) in Q2, including 23 projects with floor areas of more than 100 thousand square feet, an all-time high.
Of course, much of this newly-completed construction consisted of residential buildings, which totaled more than 8,200 units and 7.8 million square feet citywide, the largest single-quarter amounts on record, surpassing even pre-recession levels.
Brooklyn had a relatively quiet second quarter, with just 1.3 million residential square feet reaching completion, but a strong three months for Manhattan (2.5 million) as well as all-time highs for Queens (2.8 million) and the Bronx (over 1 million for the first time ever) more than made up the difference.
The largest of the second quarter’s newly-completed buildings was TF Cornerstone’s 1,028-unit project at 606 West 57th Street, billed as “Manhattan’s second-largest residential building” and adding nearly 1 million square feet on its own.
In Long Island City, a cluster of five large projects within a two-block radius of Queens Plaza contributed another 2.2 million square feet. These include buildings 2 and 3 of Tishman Speyer’s Jackson Park apartment complex (building 1 was completed in March) and Rockrose’s Eagle Lofts.
Two major new hotels were also completing during the last quarter: Chetrit Group’s 234-unit M500 Hotel in Williamsburg, and a new AC Hotel by Marriott in Times Square, with 290 units.
Additionally, the New York Presbyterian Hospital’s 740,000-square-foot expansion on the Upper East Side was the largest non-residential project to wrap up in the second quarter.
