NEW YORK | New York by Gehry | 870 FT / 265 M | 76 FLOORS | T/O [Archive] - Page 8

NYguy

Oct 24, 2007, 11:42 PM

http://www.cityrealty.com/new_developments/

All apartments at 8 Spruce Street will be rentals

24-OCT-07

All the apartments in the 74-story, 876-foot-high, mixed-use tower that is under construction by Forest City Ratner at 8 Spruce Street near City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan will be rentals.

A spokesperson for the developer, Joyce Baumgarten of Geto & DeMilly told CityRealty.com today that the design of the project by Frank O. Gehry, the celebrated architect of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, is not yet finished and so no final renderings are available. Mr. Gehry is also designing a large mixed-use project known as the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn for Forest City Ratner, which is also the developer of the Metro Tech center in downtown Brooklyn.

She confirmed that comments by Joanne Minieri, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Forest City Ratner Companies in an article today by Alex Frangos in The Wall Street Journal were correct.

Ms. Minieri was quoted in the article as stating that the developer was "looking forward to a groundbreaking by the year's end" and that the project will have "about 900 units, with a school in the base." Previous reports indicated that the building would have 666 rental and condominium apartments.

Mr. Gehry's first major building to rise in Manhattan has been a mid-rise building for IAC/Interactive, a concern headed by Barry Diller, on West Street south across from the Chelsea Piers. It is a white-glass-clad building whose facades resemble sails.

The Forest City Ratner tower is one of the most anticipated designs in Manhattan in recent years.

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1193263286_spruce8b.gif

CoolCzech

Oct 25, 2007, 1:53 AM

Groundbreaking by year end?

Is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Forest City Ratner Companies unaware that work on the foundations of his tower began weeks ago?

Alliance

Oct 25, 2007, 2:45 AM

If its groundbreaking by years end...why is it "U/C"?

kazpmk

Oct 25, 2007, 2:52 AM

That article is really bizzare. This tower has been UC for months now with piling.

Fabb

Oct 25, 2007, 8:48 AM

That's all very confusing.
I may soon lose interest.

Islander

Oct 25, 2007, 1:24 PM

That's all very confusing.
I may soon lose interest.

Hehe, can't blame ya.

NYguy

Oct 29, 2007, 1:15 PM

If its groundbreaking by years end...why is it "U/C"?

Seen any of the pics?

ZZ-II

Dec 1, 2007, 9:47 AM

does anybody know what's actually going on at the site?

NYguy

Dec 1, 2007, 2:18 PM

does anybody know what's actually going on at the site?

Foundation complete. BTW, the height on this one will change.

NYonward

Dec 1, 2007, 2:27 PM

Foundation complete. BTW, the height on this one will change.

Change up or change down?

CoolCzech

Dec 1, 2007, 3:48 PM

Foundation complete. BTW, the height on this one will change.

Is that "word on the street," or have there been any official announcements to that effect?

Dac150

Dec 1, 2007, 4:16 PM

Is that "word on the street," or have there been any official announcements to that effect?

I believe I heard that this building will rise higher (now projected somewhere over 900'). I don't know for certain though.

CoolCzech

Dec 1, 2007, 4:30 PM

Well, it would make sense to make it the tallest condo tower in the City from a marketing point of view...

But at the current rate of non-construction, it'll be a welcome development when the thing rises 900 centimeters...

Dac150

Dec 1, 2007, 4:31 PM

All this delay has drained my interest for this tower.

NYguy

Dec 1, 2007, 11:28 PM

Change up or change down?

I think it would go higher, the 876' height figure is from the DOB application

Building Dimension: No. Stories: 76 Street Frontage:
Height: 876 Dwelling Units: 890
Total Gross Area of Building: Fill:
Site Area Characteristics:

And here's a quote from an earlier Observer article posted at wirednewyork.com

Ratner Scrambles for Funding for Gehry-Designed Tower

Forest City Ratner is looking to compete for some of New York’s scarce tax-exempt bonds to finance a Frank Gehry–designed tower in lower Manhattan.

The 950-foot-tall tower, to be built on a parking lot between Spruce and Beekman streets, promises to be one of the flashiest—and most expensive—new buildings south of midtown: some 920 titanium-and-glass-clad apartments shooting up from a low-slung base just off the Brooklyn Bridge’s entrance ramps. But first, Bruce Ratner, Forest City’s C.E.O. and president, has to find the money to build it. Forest City was also promised $190 million in Liberty Bonds—granted by the federal government after Sept. 11 to stimulate construction—to finance a mix of rentals and condominiums above the school. But since then, Forest City has indicated that it is planning an all-rental building, according to documents on file at the city’s Housing Development Corporation.

Rough designs filed with the housing agency show that the tower would have a large five-story base, on top of which a narrow column would rise to 950 feet—the second-tallest building downtown—with small setbacks on the 37th and 49th stories. Public plazas would border the tower on two sides.

—Matthew Schuerman

Also, a crane is going up now.

NYguy

Dec 1, 2007, 11:36 PM

Well, it would make sense to make it the tallest condo tower in the City from a marketing point of view...

It would be the city's highest residential Downtown but there's at least two taller (maybe 3) planned in Midtown.

Dac150

Dec 1, 2007, 11:43 PM

I would use the roof height of the BofA as a marker for the height of Beekman. This is going to be a tall tower tower and make an impact on Lower Manhattan skyline.

NYguy

Dec 1, 2007, 11:46 PM

Listing of applications:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByLocationServlet?requestid=1&allbin=1809936&allstrt=SPRUCE+STREET&allnumbhous=8

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=2&allisn=0001439614&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=&allstrt=

ZZ-II

Dec 2, 2007, 6:07 PM

Foundation complete. BTW, the height on this one will change.

thx for that NYguy :).

you said it maybe will be taller than 876ft....is a supertall possible?

Dac150

Dec 2, 2007, 7:57 PM

is a supertall possible?

I doubt it. I think it'll reach 950' tops.

Dale

Dec 2, 2007, 8:13 PM

Wouldn't 950' be sufficient to dominate from the Brooklyn perspective ?

Dac150

Dec 2, 2007, 9:27 PM

Wouldn't 950' be sufficient to dominate from the Brooklyn perspective ?

Perhaps for that little area, but the WTC will dominate everything else in the Lower Manhattan skyline when completed.

Dale

Dec 2, 2007, 9:44 PM

Perhaps for that little area, but the WTC will dominate everything else in the Lower Manhattan skyline when completed.

Of course.

Lecom

Dec 2, 2007, 9:44 PM

^950 would easily dominate from the Brooklyn side of the East River; visually it would overpower even the WTC from that angle.

CoolCzech

Dec 2, 2007, 10:13 PM

Also, a crane is going up now.

May we take that as a sign that Ratner's scramble for financing succeeded?

NYguy

Dec 3, 2007, 1:37 PM

^950 would easily dominate from the Brooklyn side of the East River; visually it would overpower even the WTC from that angle.

I don't know about that. The closer you are to the Manhattan shore, maybe. The further away you get in Brooklyn, the more things align as they should. This tower would be near the same height as Maki's tower 4 (975 ft), just probably not as massive.

It was just six years ago that the planned 900 ft NYSE tower was canceled out of fear, but now, even if this tower rises to 950 ft, it would be only the fifth tallest under construction in the financial district. Something to think about.

Zerton

Dec 3, 2007, 10:59 PM

We really don't even know what this one actually looks like do we?

NYguy

Dec 3, 2007, 11:15 PM

We really don't even know what this one actually looks like do we?

Most likely something similar to what we've already seen.

NYguy

Dec 4, 2007, 10:50 PM

curbed.com

Gehry Calls in the Crane on Secret Beekman Tower

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_beekman.jpg

They can say the designs aren't finalized until the cows come home, but one thing's for sure: Frank Gehry's big ol' motherfuckin' Beekman Tower just got a big ol' motherfuckin' crane. So pardon us, Forest City Ratner, for rerunning a sampling from the famed Gehry Downtown Collection. How long can they keep a starchitected 75-story building secret? We hate to do it, but we're going to have to take away one of Bruce Ratner's Hanukkah gifts this year. Bruce, don't make us pull back on the latkes, too.

Scruffy

Dec 4, 2007, 11:13 PM

god i loved curbed

Dac150

Dec 5, 2007, 3:35 AM

It's about time.

CoolCzech

Dec 5, 2007, 9:01 PM

But STILL no rendering? What can they be hiding? Possibly even more height than heretofore announced?

NYguy

Dec 5, 2007, 11:51 PM

Ridiculous, absurd, they all apply....especially given all of the renderings we've seen lately of new projects. This is really an old project, already under construction, and they can't even produce a design, let alone a height.

northbay

Dec 6, 2007, 4:02 AM

^ excuse my ignorance:

how does a building get approved without renderings? or is it that in ny renderings are not required to be made public?

in other words: how is this allowed to happen?

if someone can please enlighten me

NYguy

Dec 6, 2007, 6:07 AM

how does a building get approved without renderings? or is it that in ny renderings are not required to be made public?

in other words: how is this allowed to happen? if someone can please enlighten me

For the most part, in New York buildings are in either one or two categories - buildings that need special approval (for example, to be larger than currently allowed, special permits, etc.), or buildings that are as of right, meaning the developer can build as large as the site allows, with the only limitations being setback regulations. Renderings aren't as important for approval.

NYguy

Dec 14, 2007, 1:44 PM

http://downtownexpress.com/de_240/undercover.html

Design delay

The “very elaborate facade” of the Frank Gehry-designed Beekman St. school is causing construction delays, said Bob Harvey, acting executive director for the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center.

“There are constructability issues associated with the facade,” Harvey told C.B. 1 this week. “They claim to not be backing out of the deal,” he said of developer Ratner, who hopes to build a condo tower next to the school. “They’re resolving these issues, presumably.”

Gehry is known for complex, unusual designs that are expensive to build. Dep. Mayor Dan Doctoroff told Downtown Express earlier this year that the costs of Gehry’s original design for the World Trade Center arts center scared the city into asking the architect to go back to the drafting board. Ratner has never released renderings of the Beekman St. building.

Harvey promised to keep the board informed, especially if it looks like the school won’t be ready for its scheduled opening in fall 2009.

CoolCzech

Dec 14, 2007, 11:48 PM

Maybe Ratner should ask David Childs to collaborate with Gehry on this thing, to make it more practical... :P

NYguy

Dec 17, 2007, 1:26 PM

Maybe Ratner should ask David Childs to collaborate with Gehry on this thing, to make it more practical... :P

That didn't work out too well on the Times tower proposal (although it possibly could have worked out better for us.

“There are constructability issues associated with the facade,” Harvey told C.B. 1 this week. “They claim to not be backing out of the deal,” he said of developer Ratner, who hopes to build a condo tower next to the school. “They’re resolving these issues, presumably.”

You can still get a Gehryish tower, and have something more practical built. I'm beginning to get annoyed with the wait for a final design...:gaah: ...

mello

Dec 17, 2007, 7:31 PM

Well guys I am excited to be living in a "City of Towers" even though I'm not relocating to Manhattan (I'll be living in the Eastchester section of the Bronx for a while). I'm sure many of you who have been around the forum for a while are familiar with me and know I've lived in San Diego. So I just wanted to introduce myself and let all the NY forumers know that I will be in your fine city now.

I can't wait to watch all of these wonderfull towers rise and I'm so excited about the Hudson and Atlantic Yards developments. :cheers: :yes:

NYguy

Dec 18, 2007, 1:25 PM

I'm sure many of you who have been around the forum for a while are familiar with me and know I've lived in San Diego. So I just wanted to introduce myself and let all the NY forumers know that I will be in your fine city now.

I can't wait to watch all of these wonderfull towers rise and I'm so excited about the Hudson and Atlantic Yards developments. :cheers: :yes:

I'm usually stuck in the New York threads, but welcome to the "New York" arm of the forum. There is indeed a lot to watch and discuss.

CoolCzech

Dec 19, 2007, 12:19 AM

Welcome, mello! Congrats on moving to the Greatest City in the World!

ZZ-II

Dec 22, 2007, 11:26 PM

can't see the pic

ZZ-II

Jan 1, 2008, 4:23 PM

btw....can anyone please make an update from this tower? would be interesting to see how far the construction is :)

bryson662001

Jan 1, 2008, 4:35 PM

Henkka

Jan 1, 2008, 4:54 PM

This may have been mentioned.....I don't want to go through the entire 38 pages to find out but......I am always confused when I see reference to this building. How can they get away with calling it Beekman Place.....when it isn't even close?

It is on Beekman Street, which is in Beekman Place neighborhood, is it not? And isn't the official name Beekman Place Tower? Please do correct if I'm wrong.

NYguy

Jan 2, 2008, 2:06 PM

It is on Beekman Street, which is in Beekman Place
neighborhood, is it not? And isn't the official name Beekman Place Tower?
Please do correct if I'm wrong.

Yes, its on Beekman (southern side). But I believe the tower will use the Spruce Street
(northern side) address.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/70157624/large.jpg

NYguy

Jan 2, 2008, 2:09 PM

DECEMBER 29, 2007

Eventually, a tower will loom here...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/91126687/large.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/91126694/large.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/91126694/original.jpg

Jularc

Jan 2, 2008, 3:50 PM

Pace university needs to spruce up or reclad their buildings.

CoolCzech

Jan 2, 2008, 6:08 PM

Oh oh... Jularc said the R-word...

bryson662001

Jan 2, 2008, 6:33 PM

Beekman Place (Manhattan)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beekman Place is a small neighborhood on the east side of Manhattan, New York City. It is known for its atmosphere of understated wealth and as an oasis of quiet[citation needed] amid the roar of Midtown. As such, it is a highly desirable address although it is far from public transportation and does not have the cachet of Fifth or Park Avenues. It is also less known than the contiguous enclave of wealth, Sutton Place, directly to the north, which is separated from Beekman Place by 52nd Street, which reaches a dead end at the river and is itself a desirable street. Notable residents of Beekman Place generally remain hidden from public view but the area is likely home to many high-level affiliated people from the United Nations directly to the south. It is an area that ranges in socioeconomic diversity from the upper middle class and the "working rich" business executives to extraordinarily rich families whose names are familiar to the American public and who own large town houses in the area, often actually several townhouses combined to form colossal mansions of understated spectacularity.

The site of Beekman Place refers to the location on which the Beekman family built its then summer house. Their main lodging was on Beekman Street, in Downtown Manhattan.

The New York Historical Society holds numerous records on the role of the Beekman family in the development of New Amsterdam, as New York was first known.

[edit] Popular culture
In the 1966 Broadway musical, Mame, Beekman Place is specifically mentioned:
"Beekman Place... dear, loyal Beekman Place!"

NYguy

Jan 2, 2008, 10:27 PM

Pace university needs to spruce up or reclad their buildings.

I don't think there's much hope for those buildings. But when Ghery's tower finally gets built, maybe they will bring him in for a makeover.

NYguy

Jan 2, 2008, 10:30 PM

Beekman Place (Manhattan)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beekman Place is a small neighborhood on the east side of Manhattan, New York City.

This particular tower is on Beekman street. But then again, Madison Square Garden isn't exactly on Madison Square. So it doesn't really matter.

pattali

Jan 4, 2008, 8:52 AM

Really hard to take a photo here, but ...

My just 2 cents , those photos are 2-5 days old

http://mathias.attali.free.fr/bldg/P1000279.jpg

http://mathias.attali.free.fr/bldg/P1000280.jpg

http://mathias.attali.free.fr/bldg/P1000282.jpg

http://mathias.attali.free.fr/bldg/P1000303.jpg

http://mathias.attali.free.fr/bldg/P1000322.jpg

http://mathias.attali.free.fr/bldg/P1000323.jpg

NYguy

Jan 4, 2008, 7:26 PM

And we didn't get a rendering for Christmas...:(

CoolCzech

Jan 5, 2008, 3:27 PM

And we didn't get a rendering for Christmas...:(

There's always next year... :(

NYguy

Jan 6, 2008, 7:28 AM

There's always next year... :(

What are the chances we'll be "shocked" by the final design? I think its more likely to resemble his earlier towers, just higher.

ZZ-II

Jan 6, 2008, 4:20 PM

great updates :), many thx!!

Antares41

Jan 16, 2008, 4:23 PM

Please wake me when the crane arrives!:sleep: Maybe it there already. I don't know, I am getting board with the slow pace.

STERNyc

Jan 16, 2008, 6:16 PM

The crane's been there for some time now...

NYguy

Jan 17, 2008, 1:17 AM

The crane's been there for some time now...

That's correct.

NYguy

Jan 17, 2008, 6:50 AM

A better shot of the crane from p0psharlow (http://flickr.com/photos/p0ps/)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/2128085241_de85d8fd62_b.jpg

CoolCzech

Jan 17, 2008, 11:48 PM

The crain operator is probably wondering where the renders are...

Islander

Jan 18, 2008, 3:13 AM

He's probably too busy enjoying his indefinite vacation to care... or is he? Is anything going up?

rich_200

Jan 18, 2008, 11:19 PM

The crain operator is probably wondering where the renders are...

The crain operator is probably wondering what the hell he is building

Lecom

Jan 18, 2008, 11:29 PM

^heh

NYguy

Jan 21, 2008, 9:29 PM

The crain operator is probably wondering where the renders are...

He could fill in on that commercial for the Maytag repair man...;)

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/images/maytag.jpg
usatoday.com

Antares41

Jan 22, 2008, 5:16 PM

Dear Mr. Ratner and Mr. Gehry:

Please allow me to humbly submit a simplified version of Beekman Place:http://http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9121/beekmangw6.th.gif (http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beekmangw6.gif)

It does not have the pizzazz of some of your other rendering and it is absent some of the many folds and creases that you are known to be fond of exhibiting. However, some ideas are just way ahead of the abilities of engineers to construct them in a safe and timely fashion and most importantly stay within budget. Titanium is a beautiful metal, but at today's prices I believe it should be relegated to fighter aircraft, perhaps nice clear anodize aluminum will be good enough.

Yes. my rendering is plain, perhaps boring! but it is buildable! And as much as I lament yet another "boxy tower" being added to the skyline of NYC, its time to get something built. The whole westside of DT is exploding with development and proposal.

The window of opportunity to gather the limelight and have the focus on this magnificient location/building is closing quickly, so once again, get that crane operator working! build something!:)

STERNyc

Jan 22, 2008, 6:44 PM

Get out of here. Another box, no thank you. That would be as much of a let down as this project getting cancelled. I haven't been following this project closely for four years, for a box. I've been following it because I'm eagerly anticipating a Gehry skyscraper, the world's first, that will dramatically alter the skyline and that is sure to become an international landmark. I'm picturing walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset and watching how the sun skips across the buildings wavy fascade. I don't care if it takes another decade, a landmark will live on for generations. I do not want to see a boring box built here. I can't believe that you do.

CGII

Jan 22, 2008, 10:36 PM

Dear Mr. Ratner and Mr. Gehry:

Please allow me to humbly submit a simplified version of Beekman Place...

It does not have the pizzazz of some of your other rendering and it is absent some of the many folds and creases that you are known to be fond of exhibiting. However, some ideas are just way ahead of the abilities of engineers to construct them in a safe and timely fashion and most importantly stay within budget. Titanium is a beautiful metal, but at today's prices I believe it should be relegated to fighter aircraft, perhaps nice clear anodize aluminum will be good enough.

Yes. my rendering is plain, perhaps boring! but it is buildable! And as much as I lament yet another "boxy tower" being added to the skyline of NYC, its time to get something built. The whole westside of DT is exploding with development and proposal.

The window of opportunity to gather the limelight and have the focus on this magnificient location/building is closing quickly, so once again, get that crane operator working! build something!:)

Booooo...for once the developers are willing to go crazy and extravagent with this one, I'd rather have a beautiful tower that leaves a magnificent legacy but takes years to build rather than a half-ass, dumbed down approach that gets built tomorrow.

One should never desire for something to be built simply for the sake of being built.

Antares41

Jan 22, 2008, 11:08 PM

Booooo...for once the developers are willing to go crazy and extravagent with this one, I'd rather have a beautiful tower that leaves a magnificent legacy but takes years to build rather than a half-ass, dumbed down approach that gets built tomorrow.

One should never desire for something to be built simply for the sake of being built.

But something will be built and I believe it won't be as extravagant as originally advertise. The cost/benefit equation will unfortunately take its toll on material and design. :( The delays are not a good thing! I hope I am wrong.

CoolCzech

Jan 23, 2008, 1:02 AM

Obviously, SOMETHING is holding up construction (or even the release of a rendering). I assume Gehry's being asked to cut back the expense of his proposal...

NYguy

Jan 23, 2008, 1:12 PM

A glimmer of hope...
http://downtownexpress.com/de_245/undercover.html

Beekman movement?

For months, while the construction site of the Beekman St. school sat silent, Paul Hovitz has been asking what’s going on. Tuesday night, Paul Goldstein of Speaker Silver’s office had a partial answer: The superstructure may start going up in February. The large crane now on the site is a sign that construction is actually going to move forward. Goldstein added that the school is still on schedule to open in fall 2009.

Scruffy

Jan 23, 2008, 7:50 PM

i'll believe it when there are workers running around at the site

NYguy

Jan 24, 2008, 10:15 AM

i'll believe it when there are workers running around at the site

There better be something running around if they expect to meet that school opening...

Goldstein added that the school is still on schedule to open in fall 2009.

Somehow, I don't think they will....

JDRCRASH

Feb 7, 2008, 4:01 AM

I thought Beekman was finished?
Let me guess, a stupid comment.

nygirl1

Feb 7, 2008, 5:23 AM

^^ yeah kinda. Not much action over there.

NYguy

Feb 7, 2008, 1:37 PM

JDRCRASH

Feb 11, 2008, 5:35 PM

^^ yeah kinda. Not much action over there.

Crap! I seriously got to try harder...

CoolCzech

Feb 11, 2008, 11:09 PM

Well, if this thing doesn't proceed in February, I'm afraid it'll go the way of Silvercup West...

NYguy

Feb 11, 2008, 11:35 PM

Well, if this thing doesn't proceed in February, I'm afraid it'll go the way of Silvercup West...

They're already in the hole. Either the tower will be built, or the school alone. My money is on the tower.

Big John

Feb 16, 2008, 12:07 AM

Good news !!!

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/beekman_tower_8_spruce_83718.aspx

*The following information was last updated on February 15, 2008.

Foundations completed on October 26, 2007
Superstructure work is scheduled from mid-February 2008 through February 2010; to restart April 2008.
This work requires full sidewalk closures on Spruce and Beekman Streets beside the work site.

CGII

Feb 16, 2008, 4:09 AM

They're already in the hole. Either the tower will be built, or the school alone. My money is on the tower.

Mine too. There's still way too much office demand for a place like this to go unconstructed.

colemonkee

Feb 16, 2008, 7:11 AM

^ But this is a primarily a residential tower.

CGII

Feb 16, 2008, 2:33 PM

Ha.

Well....

CoolCzech

Feb 16, 2008, 4:14 PM

Well, let's be thankful that this project will apparantly proceed. I'm just hoping that 99 Church St. will have this developer's competitive juices flowing, and maybe - just maybe - they'll decide to up the height?

Anyone know what the maximum allowable height would be, per zoning?

Lecom

Feb 16, 2008, 4:18 PM

^ But this is a primarily a residential tower.
Plenty of demand for that too. There is no way a developer would not use a site like that to its fullest potential. Building a school without spurcing it up with a cash cow would not make any sense from the developer's perspective.

NYguy

Feb 18, 2008, 10:03 AM

Mine too. There's still way too much office demand for a place like this to go unconstructed.

Yeah, its primarily residential, (said to be a rental), and the lower floors are for the school and hospital.

NYguy

Feb 18, 2008, 10:05 AM

Anyone know what the maximum allowable height would be, per zoning?

There is no maximum height, just size. And judging from various DOB applications, it has slightly grown in size already. Of course, that doesn't translate into height.

CoolCzech

Feb 18, 2008, 3:08 PM

Well, here's hoping that Silverstein's bold grab for the Tallest Residential in Manhattan title will get Ratner's (and Trump's) competitive juices flowing...

NYguy

Feb 18, 2008, 7:38 PM

Well, here's hoping that Silverstein's bold grab for the Tallest Residential in Manhattan title will get Ratner's (and Trump's) competitive juices flowing...

Trump doesn't need it, and I'm not sure Ratner cares. Besides, Gehry's tower won't be revealed until its finally completed.

Dac150

Feb 23, 2008, 2:52 PM

Well, here's hoping that Silverstein's bold grab for the Tallest Residential in Manhattan title will get Ratner's (and Trump's) competitive juices flowing...

Trump has made enough of a name for himself that he doesn't need to entertain re-gaining the title. If he wanted to, I have no doubt that he could, and I wouldn't count that idea out, but for now he is focused on an international playing field.

New York to Trump is a 'been there, done that" type of thinking, but he'll always be looking to get another tower built there if the situation is a practical one.

NYguy

Mar 6, 2008, 9:19 PM

http://www.nysun.com/article/72416

The 'Impossible Dream' of Rental Development

By MICHAEL STOLER
March 6, 2008

Real estate experts say the development of residential rental apartment buildings is grinding to a halt in New York City. Limited availability of financing, high land and construction costs, the elimination of the 421-a program, and limitations on tax exemption financing has led to conditions that make building unprofitable for developers, even as the demand for new rentals is greater than ever.

"Developing rentals is the impossible dream," the chairman of Douglaston Development, Jeffrey Levine, said. "The ongoing strength of the condominium market has absorbed land suitable for residential development. That, in concert with the virtual elimination of tax bond allocations, and the lack of liquidity in the capital market, has made it virtually impossible to create residential rental apartment buildings."

Nevertheless, Mr. Levine and other developers have rental buildings in various phases of construction around the five boroughs. His company is developing a 34-story rental apartment building at 316 Eleventh Ave. near 30th Street with a total of 368 apartments. The building is situated within the Special West Chelsea District, High Line Transfer Corridor and will have 4,000 square feet of retail space and 28,000 square feet of parking.

On the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 31st Street, Savanna Real Estate Fund I LP is planning to develop a residential rental building with 90 luxury rental units, retail space on the lower level and the ground and second floors, and corner frontage on Eighth Avenue and 31st Street.

The largest rental development in Lower Manhattan, the 74-story mixed-use tower at 8 Spruce St. near City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, is being developed by Forest City Ratner Cos. The project, designed by architect Frank Gehry, would have about 850 rental units, with rents projected at about $85 a square foot......

Mr. Schleider added: "In Midtown West, recent zoning changes in the Hudson Yards area has prompted a large number of residential development plans, with the majority focused on rental development. Of the 6,645 units planned, over 80% are scheduled for rental development, with Silverstein's River Place II representing the largest scheduled development at 1,359 apartments, of which approximately 20% will be set aside for low-income households.......

At least 4,000 rental apartments are in various stages of planning and construction in downtown Brooklyn. Developers include Avalon Bay Communities, the Clarett Group, Stahl Real Estate, and developer John Catsimatidis.

A joint venture of Rose Associates and MacFarlane Partners is planning the residential component of the new 65-story building with a total of 916 rental apartments on the former site of the Albee Square Mall. The development, known as CityPoint, is a joint venture of Acadia Realty Trust and PA Associates, which plans to build 500,000 square feet of retail, with enclosed parking, and 125,000 square feet of office space on the lower floors. This project would be the largest new development in Brooklyn in more than a decade.