After several years, delays, and the changing of developer, it appears the redevelopment of the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan is on the path to be completed by the end of 2017.
Last month, it was reported that the Dermot Company, which was tapped by the Bloomberg administration in 2006 for the overhaul of the landmarked building, was out of the project and Stoneleigh Capital was taking over.
Sources told the New York Post that the city is looking to sign a 99-year lease with Stoneleigh this month.
Costs for the project — converting the historic Beaux-Arts building into a 70-key hotel with rooftop restaurant and bar as well as turning the Great Hall into an event space — climbed to $25 million more than the originally projected $100 million, according to the tabloid.
The redevelopment was further delayed by Superstorm Sandy, and the abatement necessary after the storm hit, and a loss of $10 million in expected federal funding, the Post reported.
“The partners decided not to invest additional equity. EDC worked with them trying to bring in new capital, but it was their lenders who reached out to Stoneleigh,” a city source told the Post.
Initially, Stoneleigh, based out of South Norwalk, Conn., will pay a low rent, but it will increase to over $1.1 million annually by 2021, the Post reported. [NYP] — Dusica Sue Malesevic