Battery Park City
200 Little West Street
A new condominium tower designed by Cesar and Rafael Pelli will hew to “green” development rules for Battery Park City, the New York Post reported. The Albanese Organization said that sales for the 35-story, 250-unit building will start in late spring, and the building would open toward the end of 2007.
Fort Greene
Fulton Street and Ashland Place
The Clarett Group is preparing to erect its first Brooklyn building, Crain’s reported. FXFowle is designing the luxury condominium. Construction was scheduled to begin in late 2005, according to Clarett’s Web site.
Greenwich Village
159 Bleecker Street
Sales began in December for the condo conversion above Kenny’s Castaways bar. The cheapest available apartment in the non-doorman building is a 634-square-foot one-bedroom, with a 108-squarefoot balcony, for $910,000, the Post reported. Two- and three-bedrooms are also available, with units likely to top out at $2.5 million. Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy is marketing the property. Contact: www.159bleecker.com.
Harlem
Strivers Row Tower
2605 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Almat Group is building a 14-unit luxury condominium project. The project involves the renovation of an existing five-story townhouse from the 1890s and the incorporation of a modern addition. The building will include a doctor’s office and a cafeacute;/restaurant in its two commercial spaces. It is scheduled to open in spring 2006.
Lower Manhattan
15 William Street
Construction is expected to start next year on the first new condo building in the heart of the Financial District – a 45-story luxury tower rising on what was a 23,000-square-foot parking lot, the New York Times reported. SDS Investments, a company formed by the Sapir Organization and S. Lawrence Davis, an investor, bought the William Street lot in September for $90 million and brought in Andr Balazs as a partner. The Albanese Organization has been hired as the developer, according to the Post.
Lower Manhattan
100 Maiden Lane
The residential rental office recently opened at the former headquarters of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, according to the New York Sun. The law firm sold the building in 2004 to Lalezarian Developers. Liberty Bond financing allowed the developers to convert the Art Deco tower at the corner of Pearl Street.
Mott Haven
Developer Isaac Jacobs will tear down warehouses and construct a five-story building with 185 apartments, the New York Daily News reported. Designed by Manhattan architect Bruce Cutler, the new building – just off Lincoln Avenue, with frontage on East 134th Street and Bruckner Boulevard – will be next-door to the Clock Tower at 112 Lincoln Avenue, another Jacobs project.
Noho
40 Bond Street
A sales office opened in December for the 10-story condominium east of Lafayette Street on the former site of a parking lot. The mid-block site is being developed by Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen, and will have 31 loft apartments, five townhouses, and a three-room hotel, according to the Sun.
Tribeca
180 West Broadway
On the site of sports bar Buster’s Garage, R Squared LLP, whose principals include Michael and Gregg Rechler, plan to build a residential building, the Sun reported. The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals was expected in January to issue a decision on the number of residential units that can be built on the site. The developers applied for 30 units in a 12-story project in December.
Construction Update
Greenwich Village
Bethune and West Streets
The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals last month approved a variance necessary for the Related Cos. to move ahead with a proposed 160,000-square-foot residential tower on the site of the Superior Ink factory. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has asked the city to landmark the building, which Related plans to demolish. The group is also pushing Related to eliminate the 10-story glass curtain walls proposed for their new project.
Tribeca
Tribeca Summit
415 Greenwich Street
Buyers might get a rare tax deduction if they preserve the building’s exterior, the Post reported. The deduction, known as conservation easement, will save buyers in the 65-unit condo conversion $55,000 to $300,000, according to Ethan Eldon, one of the co-developers. The property needs to be considered historically significant by the Department of Interior to qualify. Contact: www.tribecasummit.com.
Financing
Lower Manhattan
Warren Street Condominium
270 Greenwich Street
Edward J. Minskoff Equities’ 1.1-million-square-foot multi-building effort in December secured a package totaling $452 million, GlobeSt.com reported. The financing includes a $320 million construction loan facility for creation of the 228-unit condominium tower. Also part of the package is a $50 million letter of credit enhanced bond financing supporting the construction of a 163-unit mixed-income rental building. Bank of America was administrative agent and sole lead arranger.
Sales Update
Lower Manhattan
Downtown by Philippe Starck
15 Broad Street
All but 53 of the 382 units had been sold by December, according to the Times.
Times Square
1600 Broadway
The luxury tower has sold 80 percent of its units in fewer than 90 days, the Times reported. The 27-story tower between 48th and 49th streets has condos ranging from studios to penthouses, with prices from $1.055 to $2.95 million.
Development in Brief
Manhattan (from north to south)
206 East 95th Street
American Development Group plans to convert the building to luxury condos.
25 East 77th Street
Developers Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias will convert the 176-room Mark Hotel into a residential condo and condo-hotel, the Sun reported.
East 53rd Street and Second Avenue
The Related Cos. completed the demolition of a series of walk-up buildings on this corner, where they plan to construct residential condominiums, the Sun reported.
132 West 26th Street
A hearing was to be held on Jan. 24 by the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals for a zoning variance to allow Jack Ancona to build a narrow 12-story residential building with 10 condominium units, the Sun reported.
One Madison Avenue
Developer Ian Schrager and investment partner Aby Rosen have reportedly bought the tower from SL Green Realty, according to a story in the Post. The new owners plan to turn the tower into luxury condos.
333 West 14th Street
Plans were slated to be filed in January for a nine-unit, 10-story luxury condominium,
according to the Times.
421 East 13th Street
A conversion into 90 residential condos is planned, according to the Sun.
Broome and Thompson streets
A developer wants to replace the Tunnel Garage with a 10-story residential building, the Villager reported. But some neighborhood residents and preservationists want the city to landmark the 1922 building, thereby protecting it from demolition.
335 Bowery
East Village developer Jerry Rosengarten scrapped his original residential plans for the site, passing on the project to hotel developers Richard Born and Ira Drukier, and Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson. The 16-story hotel will open this summer, the Post reported.
25 Broad Street
Residents received a letter in January stating their leases will not be renewed, Curbed.com reported. Swig Equities bought the Exchange building at 25 Broad Street in September and is expected to convert it into condos.
67 Wall Street
Metro Loft Management plans to begin conversion early next year of the 25-story building into a residential tower, according to the Sun.
Brooklyn
Dyker Heights
Developer Andrew Kohen hopes to build a Home Depot and 400,000 square feet of residential and office space on a former Long Island Rail Road railyard on 64th Street, the Daily News reported. The plan would need a zoning variance from the city.
Fort Greene
Supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis is negotiating with BFC Construction Corp. to form a joint venture for developing mixed-income apartment towers with ground-floor commercial space along Myrtle Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and Ashland Place, Crain’s reported.