NEW YORK | 55 Hudson Yards | 780 FT | 51 FLOORS

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/ny...wers.html?_r=0

JPMorgan Chase Drops Plan to Build 2 West Side Towers

By CHARLES V BAGLI
OCT. 28, 2014

The possibility that JPMorgan Chase would build a two-towered, $6.5 billion headquarters on the Far West Side of Manhattan streaked across the skyline in recent weeks, only to die quietly on Tuesday.

Jamie Dimon, chairman of Chase, called Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday to say that the country’s largest bank had decided to stay put on the East Side.

The bank had created a sensation by exploring a proposal to build a 62-story skyscraper and a second 40-story tower for 16,000 employees on adjoining parcels on the north side of 33rd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues.

But the proposed building project — one of the largest in New York City history for a single tenant — required the resolution of a number of thorny issues, including the size of a subsidy package for Chase and the purchase of the land from Related Companies.

In the course of negotiations, the bank suggested that thousands of midlevel jobs could leave the city if the deal foundered. The mayor, in turn, publicly scoffed at the idea of handing over $1 billion in tax breaks and cash to Chase, on top of an existing $600 million in property tax breaks.

“This is an outcome that validates our approach, and our belief that these deals often come down to factors that have nothing to do with taxpayer subsidies,” Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for economic development, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We’re glad that JPMorgan has decided to maintain its buildings and its work force right where they are for the foreseeable future.”

Ultimately, Chase was unable to strike a deal with Related for the two parcels, known as 50 and 55 Hudson Yards. Related set an Oct. 15 deadline during weeks of negotiations. Rather than wait, Related struck a deal to sell a major stake in 55 Hudson Yards to a Japanese company.

Related suggested that the bank build one tower and occupy half of a second skyscraper that Related is building nearby for Time Warner.

But Chase began reviewing all of its alternatives, including a move downtown. In the end, the bank decided it would remain at the two buildings it owns in Midtown, at 270 Park Avenue and 383 Madison Avenue. Chase also has thousands of employees at the Metrotech complex in Brooklyn.

One executive involved in the talks provided an alternative explanation: He said the bank’s board decided that it would be unwise to move to new towers in light of increased regulatory scrutiny in Washington since the 2008 recession.

Like many financial institutions, Chase has been increasingly cost-conscious, moving technical and administrative employees to Brooklyn, Jersey City and elsewhere.

The bank, one of the city’s largest private employers, has also obtained a total of $324 million in tax breaks from New Jersey, as well as over $100 million from New York to move to Metrotech.

In the latest round of negotiations, Chase had talked to city and state officials about a “wish list” of benefits totaling, according to one account, over $1 billion. Chase said the city would come out ahead, despite any incentives it might provide.

Critics of corporate subsidies worried that the city might be returning to an era of retention deals, which had largely disappeared under Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The Committee for Better Banks, which includes labor unions and some liberal groups, was about to issue a report denouncing subsidies for Chase when the deal collapsed.

“New York has had an amazing run of job growth over the past decade,” said Jonathan Bowles, director of the nonprofit Center for an Urban Future. “I don’t see the need to turn back the clock and start another wave of big companies clamoring for tax breaks.”

[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...ds-tower-to-be

Japanese firm in talks to buy big stake in Hudson Yards tower-to-be
Mitsui Fudosan may buy a majority interest in a tower that Related Cos. is planning to build along 11th Avenue.
The site of the tower is one of two that JPMorgan Chase was interested in buying for its headquarters.


BY DANIEL GEIGER
NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Japanese real estate investment firm Mitsui Fudosan is in talks to take a large stake in a planned office spire in the Hudson Yards west of Penn Station, according to several sources familiar with the deal.

The company, which for years has owned the large midtown office building at 1251 Sixth Ave., is negotiating to invest in 55 Hudson Yards, a tower that developer Related Cos. is planning to build between West 33rd and West 34th streets along 11th Avenue. JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, was negotiating to purchase that site—along with an adjacent property called 50 Hudson Yards that Related is hoping to develop—for its global headquarters. Those talks fell apart.

It wasn't immediately clear how large an interest Mitsui Fudosan would take in the development, though it appears it is seeking a majority position. A person close to the talks cautioned that the deal for the firm to buy into the site could still fall through.

The prospective transaction comes after the Tokyo-based company raised $3.2 billion in a stock offering during the summer that it said it would use, in part, for investments around the globe.

An acquisition of the site would follow several other large transactions by major landlords in Hudson Yards, which increasingly is being viewed as the city's neighborhood of the future with its mix of state-of-the-art office, retail and public spaces.

[NYguy]

I've noticed they were in the process of transferring the rights necessary from the railyards to get the tower built...


http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/11/...ds-skyscraper/

Related could pay $180M more to expand Hudson Yards tower
Developer is first to apply to buy special air rights at Far West Side nabe




November 18, 2014
By Rich Bockmann

Before the Related Companies’ planned office tower at 55 Hudson Yards can rise to 1.3 million square feet, the developer will have to pay up to $180 million to purchase the building bonuses that play an integral role in the area’s development.

The development site at the corner of 34th Street and 11th Avenue allows for a building of roughly 400,000 square feet as-of-right, but through a pair of programs administered by local development corporations Related plans to build a tower nearly three times that size.

Other large players such as the Moinian Group and Tishman Speyer are also putting up office towers that are eligible to receive these special development increases, which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Related is the first out of the gate, and its dealings with the development corporations responsible for dispensing the bonuses will be closely watched by the industry. Related, which bought the site from rival developer Extell last year for $165 million, has applied to purchase a pair of building bonuses available to office towers on certain parts of the eight blocks from 33rd to 41st Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues.

The first is straightforward. Related will pay $40.1 million to buy roughly 320,000 square feet of buildable space by paying into a fund created to finance infrastructure improvements such as the 7 Train subway extension and the mid-block park that will run north to 41st Street. The price of this additional square footage – known as a district improvement bonus – was baselined by the Department of City Planning in 2007 at $100 per foot and pegged to the consumer price index. The price rose in August to about $125 per foot. “That’s relatively palatable,” said Moinian Group’s director of development Oskar Brecher, who is going through the same process to acquire building bonuses for his company’s 1.8-million-square-foot office tower just to the north of Related’s, dubbed 3 Hudson Boulevard.

The second kind of bonus involves a much more complicated process. It comes in the form of air rights being offered for sale by the Hudson Yards Development Corporation, which owns a 50-percent stake in the roughly 4.6 million square feet of air rights that were created above the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s eastern rail yards when the city rezoned the area in 2005.

The price of the air rights is determined by an appraisal of the receiving site. The HYDC will charge 65 percent of the appraised value per square foot. (The pricing guidelines had originally called for the lesser of either 60 percent of the appraised value of the receiving site or the cost of the district improvement bonus. But that policy was scrapped last year.)

Brecher said the assessment for Moinian’s property came in a little north of $500 per foot, placing the cost of air rights at roughly $350 per foot. Related declined to comment on its appraisal. But using Moinian’s figure as a guideline, Related would pay roughly $139 million for the 398,000 square feet of air rights it has applied to purchase. That means the developer would pay $179.4 million in total for what amounts to roughly two thirds of the bulk of the building.

There are ten other development sites in the Hudson Yards area that are eligible to receive the eastern rail yards air rights. The HYDC’s policy states it will commission a pricing study every three years – the next is scheduled for 2016 – although it can change the pricing guidelines whenever deemed necessary. The development corporation’s president, Mark Spector, said in a statement that this initial air-rights sale “underscores the ongoing transformation of Hudson Yards and the remarkable potential this project holds for NYC.” The corporation, Spector added, looks “forward to continuing to work with interested stakeholders and the development community on advancing this project and making the Hudson Yards vision a reality.”

Brecher said there are still some questions as to how the HYDC’s assessor came at the figure of $350 per foot. “That’s a bit difficult to swallow,” he said. “We’re now in the process of looking at the basis on which that appraisal was calculated and what factors were involved.” “I’m sure Related’s doing the same thing,” he added.

[NYguy]

http://www.globest.com/news/12_999/n...ws-353055.html

Related Close to Revealing Big Hudson Yards News


December 3, 2014

Related Cos. is about to ink a 90,000-square-foot lease at 10 Hudson Yards—the building anchored by Coach, L'Oreal and SAP—with “very healthy rent levels," GlobeSt.com has learned EXCLUSIVELY.

The company also intends to make a big announcement by year end regarding 55 Hudson Yards, a project on which Related expects to start construction in January.

[chris08876]

3679x6340 Rendering: https://nyocommercialobserver.files....rds-aerial.jpg

Zoom is an essential. Lots of fine details along with the other towers.

[NYguy]

http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1329131

[Busy Bee]

Anyone else a bit dissapointed in the historic parks department style streetlamps in what will otherwise be a fantastically modern mega development? Seems like they could have commisioned something striking and original. And while we're at it I think all the concrete paired with the cobbles in the park is also a bit of a letdown. You'd expect granite with embedded lighting, something similar to the Snøhetta design being constructed at Times Square.

[Hypothalamus]

I agree they went kinda mundane given there was potential to do something more modern/flashy. But comparing what's being built to the area before, it's a spectacular upgrade. And there's always room for improvements and tweaks for the years/decades to come with lighting and whatnot.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Anyone else a bit dissapointed in the historic parks department style streetlamps in what will otherwise be a fantastically modern mega development? Seems like they could have commisioned something striking and original.

Actually, that's one of the things I like most about it. This is pretty much an entirely new neighborhood they're building here, but there is no reason it should feel alienated from the rest of the city. There's nothing wrong with building "New York" in New York. It can be entirely new (as the buildings will be), and still have ties to the greater city.



http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworl...221-story.html

NYC subway extension may transform Manhattan neighborhood





By Barbara Goldberg
December 21, 2014

Work crews are scrambling underneath New York City to finish the city's first major new subway stop in 25 years, a fast-track project intended to revitalize a long-neglected slice of Manhattan.

The city's transit authority has been working for seven years on the $2.4 billion extension of the Number 7 subway line, once known mainly for transporting fans to New York Mets baseball games and the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Now the line will extend far west to 11th Avenue in Manhattan, a run-down neighborhood long known as Hell's Kitchen that is home to a major bus station and tunnel entrances to New Jersey.

Like most big infrastructure projects in U.S. cities, the extension has suffered some delays, but it has moved along far faster than a Second Avenue subway that is still under construction after more than 80 years of planning.

Problems with a fire alarm and security system have pushed completion until April 2015, said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the city's subways, buses and some commuter rail. Previous delays were blamed on mechanical failures of two inclined elevators to carry passengers to street level.

...The new station is intended to be the linchpin of the Hudson Yards development, with more than a dozen skyscrapers, a cultural center and parks replacing a neighborhood once dominated by rundown industrial buildings.

Key to the project's success is its route, through the city's busiest transit hubs of Grand Central and Times Square, opening up the far west side to the entire mass transit system, said Mitchell Moss, professor of urban planning at New York University. It will also serve as an entry point to the popular High Line elevated park.

The Hudson Yards station is expected to see 200,000 daily riders by 2025, according to MTA projections, on a system that sees 5.8 million riders each day. By way of comparison, the busiest station, Times Square, today sees 197,696 daily riders.

[patriotizzy]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Actually, that's one of the things I like most about it. This is pretty much an entirely new neighborhood they're building here, but there is no reason it should feel alienated from the rest of the city. There's nothing wrong with building "New York" in New York. It can be entirely new (as the buildings will be), and still have ties to the greater city.



http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworl...221-story.html

NYC subway extension may transform Manhattan neighborhood





By Barbara Goldberg
December 21, 2014

I agree with them. I'm also disappointed. However, I will keep my mind open until I see it completed.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by patriotizzy

I agree with them. I'm also disappointed. However, I will keep my mind open until I see it completed.

By the station or the lamps?

As far as the lamps go, I think they know exactly what they are doing.

[Busy Bee]

The streetlights? Fine, whatever. If they wanted to go in a classic traditional New York direction, ok. It's definetely not what I would have done. I would have gone very upscale and modern. You could still use warm natural materials just in contemporary ways. My beef is mostly what is up with all the bargain basement concrete everywhere? We're talking a development surrounding this park work with a $10 billion + investment. This end product for the park just doesn't look up to par with such a zone. Like I said I would have expected an effort and finish akin to Snøhetta's Times Square project here.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

The streetlights? Fine, whatever. If they wanted to go in a classic traditional New York direction, ok. It's definetely not what I would have done. I would have gone very upscale and modern. You could still use warm natural materials just in contemporary ways. My beef is mostly what is up with all the bargain basement concrete everywhere? We're talking a development surrounding this park work with a $10 billion + investment. This end product for the park just doesn't look up to par with such a zone. Like I said I would have expected an effort and finish akin to Snøhetta's Times Square project here.

Some examples, I'm having trouble seeing what you're talking about.

[ILNY]

Almost complete park pictures from 12.20.14

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

The streetlights? Fine, whatever. If they wanted to go in a classic traditional New York direction, ok. It's definetely not what I would have done. I would have gone very upscale and modern. You could still use warm natural materials just in contemporary ways. My beef is mostly what is up with all the bargain basement concrete everywhere? We're talking a development surrounding this park work with a $10 billion + investment. This end product for the park just doesn't look up to par with such a zone. Like I said I would have expected an effort and finish akin to Snøhetta's Times Square project here.

Originally Posted by NYguy

Some examples, I'm having trouble seeing what you're talking about.

HY park looks nice but I am also disappointed as I expected something more upscale being build around $25+ billion (including HY Phase 2) development . The park has trees, benches and lamps but the materials look "cheap" and not on the level of WTC Memorial Park or LIC River Park. NYguy asked for examples, but it's not about what the park has but rather what it lacks and that is quality finishing. Instead of building ridiculously expensive $75 million Hudson Yards sculpture they could spend most of that money to bump up the park.


Lamp from River Park West.







Tree from WTC Park

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by ILNY

NYguy asked for examples, but it's not about what the park has but rather what it lacks and that is quality finishing. Instead of building ridiculously expensive $75 million Hudson Yards sculpture they could spend most of that money to bump up the park.


Lamp from River Park West.







Tree from WTC Park

What you see from the park is not the completed park. There are other features which as of now are not visible that will complete the picture. All you have now (visible) are trees and benches.

As far as the lamps on the river, that's ok for that location. The WTC memorial is different altogether. But as a whole, neither would qualify as the "New York" experience, and neither example would fly here. There was no need to reinvent the wheel here. If people want a New York that doesn't look like New York, the world is full of places. They're creating a new neighborhood here, and there will be lots of "new". But should the street lights be different from the rest of the city? The crosswalks? How about the street signs? For that matter, why not create more superblocks instead of continuing with the Manhattan grid? That way we can have a "different" or "new" approach to design on the west side, if we're doing it for just that sake.

Me, I prefer New York as New York. And I'm glad Related is paying for that large sculpture, whatever the design may be. It's continuing a tradition of art work in public spaces with New York's major developments (think Rockefeller Center) that will further enhance the area. The area will be accessed through High Line park, itself a very innovative place, even if its not the first of its kind. But yeah, for Hudson River Park & Blvd, New York, please.



December 29, 2014

[ILNY]

^ I see your point about the park/lamps. Just hope the sculpture is worth the money.


I noticed 55 HY lot was cleaned up last week, this means excavation should be starting soon.

Originally Posted by NYguy

December 29, 2014

[NYguy]

^ They say it will officially begin in the spring.


http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/12/...-hudson-yards/

Mitsui Fudosan pays $259M for stake in 55 Hudson Yards
Related Group's 1.3 million sf tower set to rise in early 2015





December 30, 2014
By Rich Bockmann

The U.S. investment arm of Japanese development firm Mitsui Fudosan paid around $259 million earlier this month for a stake in Related’s next Far West Side office tower, 55 Hudson Yards, property records filed today show.

Mitsui Fudosan America paid $258.8 million to buy a stake in Related’s 1.3 million square-foot, Kohn Pederson Fox-designed tower at 11th Avenue between 33rd and 24th Streets. It was not clear, however, what percentage of the project Mitsui purchased. Related could not be immediate reached and Mitsui declined to comment.

Mitsui Fudosan America owns properties such as the trophy Rockefeller Center office tower, 1251 Avenue of the Americas and is a partner in the 391-unit 160 Madison rental building. Related also received $501 million in financing from the New York City Industrial Development Agency, and paid $90.5 million to buy roughly 398,000 square feet of air rights from above the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s eastern rail yards.

JP Morgan Chase had eyed the 55 Hudson Yards site as well as another directly to the east as the possible future home for its headquarters, but negotiations broke down in the fall and now Related plans to break ground on the building early next year.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.2060868

Japanese firm snaps up controlling stake in giant Hudson Yards tower for close to $260M
Mitsui Fudosan grabbed majority share in the project from the Related Companies


December 30, 2014
BY KATHERINE CLARKE

A Japanese real estate giant has bought a majority stake in a massive new office tower slated to rise at Hudson Yards.

Tokyo-based Mitsui Fudosan paid New York’s Related Companies approximately $259 million for a 92.09% stake in the development project known as 55 Hudson Yards, city records show.

Construction is slated to start early next spring on the 1.3 million-square-foot tower at 34th St. and 11th Ave., designed by A. Eugene Kohn of Kohn Pedersen Fox at the site of the West Side rail yard in the West 30s.

Mitsui, which has more than $40 billion of international real estate on its books including a New York office tower at 1251 Sixth Ave., is just one of many heavyweight Asian real estate investors doubling down on New York City real estate. Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group is set to buy the iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel for $1.95 billion and last year, Chinese investment firm Fosun International paid $725 million for lower Manhattan’s 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza.

The Hudson Yards project isn’t Mitsui’s only new stateside venture. The company is also building a new 300-unit rental development at 160 Madison Ave.in partnership with DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners.

The Related Companies bought the site of 55 Hudson Yards in a property swap deal with Extell Development for $165 million last year and spearheaded the design and construction plans. The entrance to the new building will be directly across from the new No. 7 subway extension. J.P. Morgan Chase reportedly eyed the building as a new Manhattan headquarters but later backed out.

Meanwhile, Related has been moving ahead with the construction of several other towers at Hudson Yards, including a 70-story residential skyscraper at 15 Hudson Yards and the project’s first office tower at 10 Hudson Yards.

When the $20 billion megaproject is completed, it will comprise a total 16 skyscrapers.

[Submariner]

Wow...great news.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Wow...great news.

Would be even better if they built Extell's design. But Related has pushed it to the point of construction beginning in a few months. And this design has grown on me enough to not be totally disappointed.

[chris08876]

Ground breaks at 51-story Hudson Yards tower

Developers say they have broken ground on a 51-story office tower on Manhattan's far west side.

Mitsui Fudosan America Inc. said Wednesday it is partnering with Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group on the 1.3 million-square-foot skyscraper known as 55 Hudson Yards.

The building will be situated on the northeast corner of 11th Avenue and West 33rd Street across from the new No. 7 subway extension.
It will be part of Related's massive, $15 billion Hudson Yards development.
A. Eugene Kohn of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is the design architect for 55 Hudson Yards.

The developers say the building will be ready for tenants in 2017.
Mitsui Fudosan America is the U.S. arm of Japan's largest real estate company.

==================================
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...on-yards-tower