Posted Oct 15, 2013, 10:04 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
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http://www.thestar.com/business/2013...manhattan.html
Canadian developers take Manhattan
Property giants Oxford and Brookfield look to transform industrial pocket of NYC with landmark projects a block apart
By: Susan Pigg Business Reporter,
Oct 15 2013
Quote:
In a city where people have pretty much seen it all, no one’s seen anything quite like this before, unless they were walking the streets back in 1913.
That’s when forward-thinking engineers found a way to create a platform over what had been filthy, polluting railway tracks in what’s now the bustling heart of Manhattan, Midtown. Out of that monstrous engineering feat came Grand Central Station and atop its tracks would spring up some of the most desirable real estate in the world along an exclusive boulevard, Park Avenue.
A new generation of engineers is at it again, only this time on behalf of two of Canada’s biggest real estate developers — Oxford Properties and Brookfield Office Properties.
.....Brookfield’s nearby $4.5 billion West Manhattan project is considerably smaller, but no less an engineering marvel. The five-acre site is dominated by 16 railway tracks. Work began last October to create the platform, a series of bridges that will be slid into place over the next year from a “launcher” now anchored to one end of the site.
When completed, the platform will take up more than half the site. On top of it will sit some 1.5 acres of public space and a new pedestrian walkway between Penn Station, the High Line and the Hudson River.
Three 60-storey towers will be built on bedrock to the north and south of the platform, including two LEED Gold office towers and an 850-unit rental apartment building. A smaller tower, which could house a hotel or retail complex, is also being considered.
Brookfield sees such high demand for rental apartments — in a city where just 30 per cent of people own — they plan to start the residential tower next year. The only thing holding back commercial construction is finding anchor tenants.
The old build-it-and-they-will-come approach to commercial development is now dead in New York: Neither Oxford, nor Brookfield, plan to start digging for commercial towers unless they have long-term anchor tenants in place first.
.....Brookfield, which bought the Manhattan West site in 1985 from fellow Canadian developers Olympia & York, remains optimistic it will find anchor tenants and begin constructing its commercial towers, despite the fact it’s overshadowed by Oxford/Related’s much higher profile Hudson Yards.
“Related does a lot more pr and they are very good at it. And we thank them for that because they are promoting the whole area and we’re drafting off of them,” says Wharton.
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