NEW YORK | 3 Columbus Circle | FT | FLOORS

[Crawford]

So maybe this hideous building will eventually be demolished anyways. SL Green has recently been brought in, and they don't usually handle these types of crap buildings.

And the NY Observer article has brokers speculating that the endgame is demolition and redevelopment.

With those ridiculous layouts, low floors, and tiny windows, I can't imagine they will have much success leasing at their crazy asking prices. Hopefully Plan B will soon be considered.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...-rss&FEEDNAME=

3 Columbus woos WPP

By LOIS WEISS
October 11, 2011

Three Columbus Circle is starting to get serious about dating a prospective tenant.

Ad giant WPP Group, which has been conducting a thorough search for around 350,000 square feet for its storied Y&R division through “Powerwoman” Mary Ann Tighe of CBRE, is now cuddling up to 3 Columbus in a long dance toward a possible and “complicated” lease.

The global company is already familiar with 3 Columbus Circle’s co-venturer, SL Green Realty Corp., which stepped in last year to pay off developer Joseph Moinian’s loans in return for a front seat at the deal table.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...79B6KW20111012

Exclusive: Y&R may be big tenant at 3 Columbus Circle

Oct 12, 2011

Advertising company Young & Rubicam has reached a preliminary agreement to lease 300,000 square feet to become the major tenant at New York's 3 Columbus Circle in one of the city's biggest leasing deals this year, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The company's parent, WPP Plc, has signed a letter of intent to take the space in the 768,565 square foot tower owned by New York developer Joseph Moinian, head of the Moinian Group, and real estate investment trust SL Green Realty Corp, the source said on Tuesday.

[Dac150]

Too bad the NY HR Department couldn't move here . . . it would be nice to see more high profile tenants take up space in locations that better reflect their image . . .

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2011/12/what...s-the-problem/

What to Do With 285 Madison: Are Our Crumbling Office Buildings the Problem?


Could 3 Columbus be the answer? (NYC Architecture)



Should we tear down 285 Madison? (Property Shark)


By Matt Chaban
December 16, 2011

The cause of the elevator accident at 285 Madison is still being investigated, and it looks like faulty maintenance may have been the cause. Not so for Post real estate sage Steve Cuozzo. He blames the city’s bureaucracy for saddling us with outdated building stock. It’s an intriguing argument, one the Cuozz drives home by pointing out that New York has only built 10 million square feet of office space in the past decade, compared to 57 million square feet in the equally august London.

A lot of that has been built in formerly industrial areas like Canary Wharf, not in the heart of old commercial districts, like Madison Avenue. That is why Hudson Yards is getting off the ground, along with the rest of the West Side. Bringing down construction costs and finding new places to build—perhaps Long Island City deserves another look, or LoLo should become a reality—is the key, not destroying the historic fabric of the city...where is Y&R moving? Into a building originally built in 1928. It might not look it anymore, but it only took a little bit of work to make it work. With Y&R moving out, why not do the same at 285 Madison?

[NYguy]

http://therealdeal.com/issues_articl...lo-3-columbus/

Hello, 3 Columbus
Tenants in line behind Young & Rubicam, as fortunes for troubled tower improve

December 29, 2011
By Tom Acitelli

The announcement early last month that advertising giant Young & Rubicam had signed for nearly 340,000 square feet of office space at 3 Columbus Circle, the former Newsweek Building, was a much-needed boost for the closely watched tower.

The 26-story, 768,565-square-foot tower was, of course, famously at the center of a battle in 2010 between developer Joseph Moinian and the Related Companies’ Stephen Ross. After Moinian defaulted, Ross attempted to wrest control of the building from him by buying the note and having his partner file to foreclose. However, powerhouse landlord SL Green Realty stepped in as Moinian’s savior and paid off the mortgage to squelch the foreclosure. Moinian and SL Green, which is headed by Marc Holliday, successfully finished a $175 million renovation — which included doubling the size of the lobby and cladding the exterior in glass — in the early fall.

“This is the type of building, I think, that put SL Green on the map,” said Richard Bernstein, a vice chairman at Cassidy Turley who is not involved in any deals at 3 Columbus Circle. “Nobody really does this better — take a kind of B+ building and understand how to get the most out of it, and minimize the hurdles.”

Durels noted that the owners are in talks with financial services firms, nonprofits and entertainment-related businesses. He said the deals could be announced at any time. He said that if they all get finalized, there would be only about 110,000 square feet of office space left to lease in 2012.

[chris08876]

Cancelled

==========================

'Ugly' 3 Columbus Circle Will Avoid Wrecking Ball

Poor 3 Columbus Circle: one of its neighbors, Related boss Stephen Ross, thought it was so ugly when seen from his office window that he launched a months-long campaign to take control of the building just so he could tear it down. Building developer Joseph Moinian, who glassed the building up as part of a $100 million renovation, fought back, and the Times reveals that the feud finally came to an end last Friday, when Ross surrendered agreed to stop trying for control of the building.

===============================
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...cking_ball.php