NEW YORK | ABC Headquarters redevelopment | FT | FLOORS

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/2018/07/06/s...c-complex-buy/

Silverstein lines up $800M Deutsche loan for ABC complex buy
Developer expected to close next week on $1B deal





By Mark Maurer and Danielle Balbi
July 06, 2018

Silverstein Properties has lined up financing for one of the largest investment-sales deals of the year.

Deutsche Bank is providing about $800 million in financing toward the developer’s $1 billion purchase of the massive American Broadcasting Company headquarters on the Upper West Side, which is expected to close next week, sources told The Real Deal.

The deal is closing at a time when ABC’s parent company, Disney, is in the middle of a monster acquisition of 20th Century Fox. ABC’s complex of office buildings and studios runs along West 66th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, and includes the 22-story, 420,000-square-foot property at 77 West 66th Street.

The developer will likely demolish the existing buildings, but its plans were not immediately clear. Sources said the complex was marketed as both development opportunity for luxury residential condominiums or as a new office complex.

Demolition would not occur for at least a few more years, as the broadcaster is expected to lease the space back until a new headquarters is ready. Disney was reportedly considering a Trinity Church-owned development site at 4 Hudson Square that would allow for 1.2 million square feet.

[Crawford]

Hopefully another skinny supertall residential, given the location and incredible Central Park views.

Whatever is built, it will probably be among the most expensive buildings on the planet.

[Eidolon]

Anything over 850ft will be massive for the area, over 1000ft would be pure heaven though...

[tdawg]

To piggy back on this news I read that Disney is consolidating their New York operations to Hudson Square. Does that mean a new tower for them?

[Hudson11]

Originally Posted by tdawg

To piggy back on this news I read that Disney is consolidating their New York operations to Hudson Square. Does that mean a new tower for them?

at a soaring 290' roof height maximum Hudson Square is red hot - such a shame that they opted for such restrictive height limits. Disney's new HQ will be a big block building like what Google has.

Whatever Silverstein has planned for this site will hopefully be much taller. The current tower is 292'. We're still a few years off from learning anything about it.

[vandelay]

This is an indicator of how little momentum there is for 2 WTC. I hope Silverstein and Stern team up again.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by vandelay

This is an indicator of how little momentum there is for 2 WTC.

Not it isn't. This site will likely be residential development. As far as the ABC/Disney headquarters goes, they want to build their own complex, not anchor a supertall skyscraper. There's a thread on the ABC development, but here are some quotes from the Times...


https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/0...on-square.html

Disney, which is in the midst of acquiring 21st Century Fox, plans to build a modern, one-million-square-foot complex that would house ABC headquarters, WABC News, offices, production facilities and studios, including those for “The View” and “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” on an entire block bounded by Hudson, Varick, Van Dam and Spring Streets. The company is leasing the property, known as Four Hudson Square, for 99 years from Trinity Church in a deal valued at $650 million.

On Tuesday, Disney plans to close on a separate agreement to sell its two Upper West Side campuses to the developer Larry Silverstein for $1.155 billion. Disney is leasing back the eight buildings that comprise its operations from Silverstein for up to five years while it draws up plans for the downtown complex, demolishes the existing buildings at Hudson Square and erects a new home.

Robert A. Iger, the chairman and chief executive of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement Monday that the new building will let it adapt new technology and that the “move represents a historic step forward toward our long-term vision for our New York operations. The Hudson Square district is rapidly becoming a dynamic, innovative hub for media, technology and other creative businesses.”

Disney has not yet settled on an architect for the complex, but a spokeswoman said the company is working with Hines, a development and management company, on the project.

Several years ago, the 18-block Hudson Square area was rezoned at Trinity’s behest to allow for new residential development and modern office space, though not for the super-tall towers rising in Midtown.

Silverstein Properties has not disclosed its plans for those properties, or for a parking lot it owns nearby. But the most likely outcome would be a new series of tall residential towers.

Silverstein promised to work with the local community in defining what could be built there.

Marty Burger, chief executive of Silverstein Properties, said, “We look forward to working collaboratively with all our stakeholders, as we have always done, as we assume responsibility for Disney’s properties in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side.”

Disney had already sold air rights to its properties to the developer Gary Barnett, the principal at Extell Development, who is planning to build a super-tall tower on West 66th Street.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by vandelay

This is an indicator of how little momentum there is for 2 WTC. I hope Silverstein and Stern team up again.

What does any of this have to do with 2 WTC?

It would be highly unlikely that ABC would consider the WTC site (because location and building envelope aren't suited to their business).

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Hudson11

Whatever Silverstein has planned for this site will hopefully be much taller. The current tower is 292'. We're still a few years off from learning anything about it.

There are actually multiple towers likely planned. Disney is selling its two West Side campuses to Silverstein, for about $1.25 billion, and only retaining the ESPN offices.

These two campuses, minus ESPN, have eight buildings currently. I would guess we're getting four or five new towers.

The first campus (current HQ) is near Central Park, between Columbus and CPW, east of Lincoln Center. The second campus (studios) is on West End Ave. just west of Lincoln Center.

[Crawford]

So I did a Streetview search of all the purchased properties. The West End Ave. campus is huge, covering multiple blocks. The Columbus Ave. campus is smaller but a contiguous superblock.

At bare minimum, I think we get 5-7 new towers, with 3 or 4 on the WEA campus, and 2 or 3 on the Columbus campus. And I'm assuming big footprints.

So this will probably be the most transformative project on this part of the West Side since Lincoln Center. This is really huge news.

[Hudson11]

Great point, I wasn't thinking of the bigger picture. Makes sense with the billion dollar price tag.

[Mr Saturn64]

You might want to fix the title of this thread. "LOORS"

[pico44]

Originally Posted by tdawg

To piggy back on this news I read that Disney is consolidating their New York operations to Hudson Square. Does that mean a new tower for them?

Woah. That is incredible. And it looks like Hines is developing, expect a world class design from a major architect.

So I did a Streetview search of all the purchased properties. The West End Ave. campus is huge, covering multiple blocks. The Columbus Ave. campus is smaller but a contiguous superblock.

At bare minimum, I think we get 5-7 new towers, with 3 or 4 on the WEA campus, and 2 or 3 on the Columbus campus. And I'm assuming big footprints.

So this will probably be the most transformative project on this part of the West Side since Lincoln Center. This is really huge news

Yup, huge news indeed. Lincoln Center is such an incredible place, particularly since the DS+R renovation. How great it will be to have a new beautiful neighbor rather than the ugly piece that's presently there.

[aquablue]

The demand for this types of luxury towers seems to be never ending.

[NYguy]

From an interview with Larry Silversteiin...


https://commercialobserver.com/2018/...y-silverstein/

BY CATHY CUNNINGHAM
NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Switching gears to the Upper West Side, can you talk us through Silverstein’s $1.2 billion acquisition of the ABC Campus?

ABC decided to sell its campus and to move to new facilities; they outgrew what they had up there and needed something new and modern. When they decided to sell it I looked at that real estate and literally fell in love with it; I knew it was a magnificent piece of real estate that was worth buying for future development.

They will stay in possession of the main campus—at 66th to 67th Streets on Columbus Avenue—for five years. At the end of those five years they will vacate and we can demolish the real estate and build a residential property.

They have additional buildings that we’re also getting on West End Avenue at 65th to 67th Streets. The West End Avenue properties are different from the campus, and that real estate they will probably stay in possession of for three years. There we will develop in 2020 to 2021 and by 2024 we’ll have the residential buildings complete. The redevelopment of the main campus will take longer. We’re thinking multiple towers. But you’ll have to stay tuned to see what it looks like.

[NYguy]

https://commercialobserver.com/2019/...us-to-taconic/

Silverstein Selling Part of ABC Campus to Taconic for Roughly $220M: Sources


BY CATHY CUNNINGHAM
AUGUST 19, 2019

Silverstein Properties is selling part of the former Walt Disney Company-owned ABC campus to Taconic Investment Partners for approximately $220 million, sources familiar with the transaction told Commercial Observer. The deal is said to be closing today.

The assets — at 125 West Side Avenue, 320 West 66th Street and Lot 61 — are collectively known as the “West End Campus” and comprise 513,437 rentable square feet. The properties are part of the nine-building, 1.7-million-square-foot ABC campus purchased by Silverstein in July 2018 for $1.15 billion.

The office building at 125 West End Avenue is a 395,283-square-foot office building, while 320 West 66th Street is a 118,154-square-foot office and television studio production facility that hosts shows such as “Dr. Oz” and “The View”. An additional 105,575 square feet of development rights can be tapped into at Lot 61, which sits adjacent to the properties.

The assemblage purchased by Silverstein last year — financed with a $900 million loan from Deutsche Bank and roughly $300 million of the landlord’s own equity — also included 147 and 149 Columbus Avenue, 77 West 66th Street, 47 West 66th Street, 7 West 66th Street and 30 West 67th Street. The collection of TV studios and office buildings comprised 1.7 million square feet of rentable commercial space, and the parcels spanned a total of 263,000 square feet.

Silverstein will redevelop the remainder of the campus, and is leasing the buildings back to Disney and ABC for up to five years while it builds a new headquarters in New York City at 4 Hudson Square.

[matt19215]

https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/marke...est-side/43721

Beware COVID-19/Great Recession part two, one of the great things about New York is that it will never be finished. Specifically speaking for Manhattan, an island that has no place to grow but up, this ambivalent reality has lined the pockets of profiteers and incited the ire of preservationists for boom-bust cycles on end.
William Starrett, builder of the Empire State Building, is quoted as saying, "Building skyscrapers is the nearest peace-time equivalent of war." On the Upper West Side, the epicenter of overzealous activism versus avaricious aspirations, a battle is brewing where developers Silverstein Properties, Taconic Investments, and Nuveen are mobilizing to begin an overhaul of two campuses formerly owned by the Walt Disney Company's subsidiary ABC. As the media corporation prepares to decamp downtown to Hudson Square, it remains to be seen how Silverstein will reposition its Central Park-proximate site on Columbus Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets, and how Taconic/Nuveen will capitalize on their set of properties two avenues west at 125 West End Avenue/320 West 66th Street.

What the developers envision is undisclosed but both parcels will likely comprise a series of tall residential towers. Not long after Silverstein's $1.16 billion purchase of the Disney properties was announced in summer 2018, commenters on local blog West Side Rag had begun lamenting the years of construction, jackhammering, and shadows expected from the replacement structures. Construction is likely still a ways off, especially in light of the ongoing pandemic. Additionally, Silverstein agreed to lease back the Columbus Avenue buildings to Disney for five years as they construct their new green-glass quarters downtown. For the western assemblage, purchased by Taconic Investments and Nuveen from Silverstein for approximately $220 million in 2019, Commercial Observer reported last August that the weighty loft building at 125 West End Avenue will be upgraded to cater to life-sciences tenants.

[Crawford]

This is actually one of two Lincoln Center-area development assemblages planned by Silverstein.

He bought the main ABC campus, as well as the studio complex near the Hudson. This rendering just shows the studio complex redevelopment.

[NYguy]

https://ilovetheupperwestside.com/th...-in-the-works/

The Upper West Side May Have a NEW Tallest Building in the Works

Mike Mishkin
April 16, 2020

Preliminary renderings for a two-tower development at 125 West End Avenue have been published, City Realty first reported. If the rendering is an accurate depiction of what is to rise, the larger of the two towers may be crowned as the new tallest building on the Upper West Side, appearing to stand about 60 stories.

Taconic Investments purchased 125 West End Avenue from Silverstein Properties last year. The site came as part of a package which also included 320 West 66th Street and “Lot 61”, which sits adjacent to the properties and allows for an additional 105,575 SF of development rights.

These sites were all part of the former Walt Disney Company-owned ABC campus, which will be relocating to Hudson Square. Taconic paid about $220 million for the portfolio.

125 West End Avenue is currently an office building hosting almost 400,000 square feet. 320 West 66th Street is occupied by an approximately 120,000-square-foot office and television studio combo.

[Crawford]

Watch UWS NIMBYs' collective heads explode. Great news for the rest of us, though.

Just wait till the NIMBYs see the plans for the main ABC campus, which is right next to Central Park, and has far greater air rights. I'm sure they already have an army of litigators on retainer.