Related, Extell close fast on West Side property swap

Barnett's vow to undercut rents at Husdon Yards gets Related's Ross to sign on

From left: Gary Barnett, a rendering of One Hudson Yards, and Stephen Ross
From left: Gary Barnett, a rendering of One Hudson Yards, and Stephen Ross

The Related Companies and Extell Development have closed on a property swap deal on Manhattan’s West Side. Related gets Extell’s 56-story, 1.7-million-square-foot office tower at 11th Avenue and 34th Street and Extell gets Related’s development site at Eighth Avenue and West 45th Street.

The deal, which went into contract in June but closed at the end of July, allows Related to move forward on construction of its towers and retail podium at the Hudson Yards megaproject, and gives Extell control of a site right next to a garage site that it is developing.

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Extell, led by Gary Barnett, has already secured a tenant for the vacant portion of the site: the dinner cabaret show “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” according to the New York Post. The leasing deal was brokered by Douglas Elliman’s Anita Grossberg , who told the newspaper that the show will open in September.

Barnett’s hardball tactics at His West 34th Street site – he was offering rents that undercut proposed rents at Hudson Yards, the pet project of Related’s Stephen Ross – led to the parties quickly coming to an agreement, according to the Post. [NYP, 1st item]  – Hiten Samtani