The ‘Path’ to $4 billion

Architect Santiago Calatrava envisioned an elegant, bird-like PATH station for the high-profile World Trade Center site, but by some accounts what he got was anextravagant symbol of government inefficiency.

Indeed, public perception of the World Trade Center Oculus — which opened last month at the corner of Liberty and Church streets — has been largely soured by its estimated $4 billion price tag that the Port Authority has yet to back up with final numbers. But since Calatrava revealed his design for the station in 2004, the price of the project has ballooned to roughly twice its initial estimation. The overruns were caused by, among other things, the design, the complexity of building underneath the No. 1 subway line, pricey subcontracts, political disputes and Hurricane Sandy.

As costs piled onto the project, the hub’s appearance also changed. Calatrava’s vision of a bird taking flight was dramatically altered when the Bloomberg administration demanded that additional steel be added to the structure for security reasons, a change that led to a bulkier structure. For similar reasons, the hub had to swap its originally planned retractable roof for a skylight that will symbolically open only once a year on September 11. Architecture critics, in turn, have drawn unflattering comparisons of the Oculus to a skeletal stegosaurus.

But the hiccups and design criticisms have not stopped public officials from touting the station as an icon of Lower Manhattan.

“We hope that it will really upend this notion that we shouldn’t serve the public in grand ways and with great design. There’s this idea out there that grand public infrastructure is somehow inappropriate and unjustified,” Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin said at a New York Building Congress event in March. “It is big, it is bold, it will inspire for generations.”

An opening ceremony is scheduled for sometime in the spring, as is the opening of Westfield Group’s $1.4 billion shopping center at the hub, whose tenants include Apple, Eataly and an Épicerie Boulud. Passengers are already shuffling in and out of the station and snapping Instagram photos of its blinding white facade and interior.

Luxury-rental plan abandoned at One57 condo tower

Thirty eight units that were once rentals will be sold at prices starting at $3.45 million, much lower than what other units in the West 57th Street building sold for

Manhattan builder Extell Development Co. is retreating from a plan to list 38 units at its One57 tower for lease, choosing to sell them instead as demand for luxury rentals slips amid an abundance of supply.

The apartments, on the 32nd through 38th floors of the West 57th Street skyscraper, will be listed for sale as condominiums at prices starting at $3.45 million, Extell said in a statement on Monday. The builder has concluded that the market for condos in that range, toward the lower end of what's considered luxury, is better than the one for high-end rentals.

"We recognize the demand for efficiently sized, luxury inventory below $10 million,"  Gary Barnett, president of Extell, said in the statement. "There is absolutely no comparable product currently on the market."

Luxury rentals are proliferating in Manhattan as buyers of pricey condos, in many cases out-of-town investors, take possession of their apartments then quickly list them for lease. The added supply is pushing down rents for the most-expensive units. The median monthly rent for a Manhattan luxury apartment—the top 10 percent of the market—fell 3.5% in March from a year earlier to $8,228, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report last week.

"I would be under the assumption that they had no traction on the luxury-rental tack," Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel said of Extell's plan. "The weakest segment of the rental market is luxury rentals."

Extell, which initially planned to reserve the lower floors of the 1,004-foot tower for rentals, tried marketing units for lease on the 37th floor last May, according to listings website StreetEasy. Prices ranged from $13,350 a month for a one-bedroom apartment with 1,021 square feet to $50,366 a month for a three-bedroom home.

Extell had also sought to sell all 38 rental units in a single package to outside investors for $250 million, the Wall Street Journal reported in November.

Fully furnished

The units now listed for sale—the largest of which is a 4,635-square-foot, four-bedroom duplex—will be delivered fully furnished, according to the builder's statement. Seven of the 38 units will be priced at more than $10 million, said Anna LaPorte, a spokeswoman for Extell.

The sale prices will be lower than much of what's already been purchased at One57, where a penthouse that sold for $100.5 million is Manhattan's most expensive completed residential deal. Like residents on the higher floors, buyers of the new units will have access to hotel services from the Park Hyatt New York at the base of the building. Amenities at One57 include a screening room and performance space, on-site parking, an indoor swimming pool and library.

"This is a great opportunity for buyers to have access to the One57 quality, lifestyle and amenities, all at this price point," Barnett said in the statement.

Michael Bloomberg Closer to Realizing UES Megamansion Dream

For the past couple of decades, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has been oh-so-casually buying up the units at 19 East 79th Street, the Beaux Arts townhouse that sits next to his current palatial residence at 17 East 79th Street. The five-story building has six units, and as of now, Bloomberg owns five of them. According to the New York Observer, he snapped up unit three for $14 million, which just leaves one holdout in the building.

What he'll do with those apartments—or, for that matter, the building—is anyone's guess, though an enormous megamansion seems very likely. Bloomberg isn't the only ultra-wealthy mogulembracing the Frankenhome trend lately; Madonna is the most famous person to build one, but Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has been trying to make his own enormous multi-house compound—though the Landmarks Preservation Commission hasn't been enthusiastic about his plan.

• Michael Bloomberg Takes $14M Step Closer to Limestone Uber-Mansion [NYO]

Manhattan Rents Are Actually Dropping

Yes, you read that headline right—according to the latest batch of rental market reports, Manhattan rents dropped ever-so-slightly for the first time since 2014. And we say ever-so-slightly, we mean it: According to the Elliman market reports, the average rent decreased one percent from February, and three percent from the same time last year; meanwhile, the median rent dropped about two percent from February, and nearly three percent from the same time last year. "The rate of growth has been falling since August," explains Jonathan Miller, who prepares the Elliman market reports.

The stability is also backed up by the Citi Habitats report, which states that "average rents in March 2016 remained largely unchanged from February." But Citi Habitats notes that year-over-year, "rents for one-bedroom apartments increased the most, with a 4.5% rise. Meanwhile, rents for studio units rose 2.6%, while pricing was up 2.1% and 2.4% for two- and three-bedroom homes respectively."

Additionally, both real-estate groups found that the number of concessions landlords are offering in Manhattan has risen—according to Citi Habitats, to the highest level since 2010. But since landlords are offering more perks like a month of free rent, that means fewer people are leaving their apartments; the vacancy rate also dropped from the same time last month.

So there's some good news, but it's maybe not time to get too excited. "I’m skeptical it will continue since the market sits in a robust local economy," Miller says. "I see it moving sideways for a little while—bumping up and down a bit but showing stability overall." Plus, per Miller, "rent growth remains strongest in lower half of the market and softest at the top"—so apartments that are nominally affordable aren't getting any cheaper.

Especially if you're looking in Brooklyn, where rental prices actually rose both month-over-month and year-over-year. The gap between Manhattan and Brooklyn median rents is officially only $525, and the median rent in Brooklyn rose to about $2,775. And in northwest Queens (which is the only area Elliman tracks in the borough), prices also decreased—median rents by about five percent, and average rents by about three percent. Landlord concessions are also up in both boroughs.

And still, this doesn't mean that things are affordable by any means—the average and median rents are still well above $2,500 in all three boroughs. But the terrifying ascent of the past few years may finally be over.

Prices chopped for over 30% of NYC penthouses

So this is what a “penthouse correction” looks like?

Of the 261 penthouse units for sale in Manhattan as of April 1, more than 35 percent of them had price chops since being listed, according to data compiled by listings portal StreetEasy at The Real Deal’s request. The median penthouse price was $6.7 million, and the average discount was nearly 10 percent, the analysis found.

The steepest cut was at Walker Tower, where the 5,995-square foot penthouse is now asking $55 million, down from $70 million, a 21.4 percent reduction.

At 165 Perry Street, a $25.5 million penthouse had $14.3 million chopped off the original asking price of $39.8 million. And at 12 East 13th Street, the 5,704-square-foot penthouse is now asking $19.55 million, an $11 million drop from the original price of $30.5 million.

“What we have in New York City right now is a ‘penthouse correction,’” CNBC’s Robert Frank said during a television segment last month. “All these developers chased the very top end of the market because it was so lucrative…. And that’s the area – particularly in Midtown – where we’re going to see dramatic decreases in price.”

The recent cuts shouldn’t be a total surprise, given the growing sense that Manhattan’s ultra-luxury residential market is saturated and experiencing a slowdown amid global economic uncertainty. “There’s too much luxury inventory in a crowded neighborhood,” said Douglas Elliman’s Frances Katzen.

The overall market dynamic has also shifted in buyers’ favor, particularly on the high end. “Sellers have to find themselves a way to become more flexible,” said Brown Harris Stevens’ Kathy Sloane. “It’s a buyers’ market and buyers are saying, ‘Fine, we won’t bid.’”

In addition to StreetEasy’s list, other cuts include the penthouse unit at 11 North Moore, where the price dropped from $40 million to $29.995 million last fall.

Meanwhile, Madison Equities and Property Markets Group just split the $45 million triplex penthouse at 10 Sullivan into two units, one asking $11 million and the other asking $29.5 million. “We thought it was too expensive for the market and where the market was,” PMG’s Kevin Maloney told Bloomberg in February.

In November, CIM Group and Macklowe Properties took the same approach for full-floor units on five floors of 432 Park Avenue.

Not every penthouse is seeing a price reduction. “But there are penthouses that may have been priced way beyond the marketplace,” said Steve Kliegerman, president of Halstead Property Development Marketing

For many of the developers, the profits are sitting in the penthouse and they’ll be patient, Kliegerman added. “Sometimes penthouses don’t reflect the marketplace because the developer has a different motivation,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ve already paid off their loans, so now they’re looking to maximize their profits.”

Sloane pointed out that unlike the resale market, new condo developers are reluctant to drop prices. At Zeckendorf Development’s 520 Park Avenue, Sloane – who is not involved in the project – speculated that the developers wouldn’t lower the penthouse price of $130 million but may still accept an offer of $100 million or $110 million.

Elliman’s Raphael De Niro, speaking with Frank on the CNBC segment, likened New York City real estate to an “eight-lane superhighway.”

“There’s a lot of traffic coming and going in both directions and occasionally things slow down,” he said.

World's Largest Starbucks Coming to Chelsea

Being that Starbucks is the number one thing New York City needs more of, the chain announced this morning that it has plans to open a new roastery in Chelsea in 2018 (h/t DNAinfo). This is no ordinary roastery. The shop will anchor the new office building designed by 432 Park Avenuearchitect Rafael Viñoly at 61 Ninth Avenue, the former site of Prince Lumber. At 20,000 square feet, it'll be the largest Starbucks in the world, Fortune says. To put that into context, that means the Starbucks will be about the same size as a Barnes & Noble.

The new shop will follow the same model as the company's roastery in Seattle, the birthplace of the chain, meaning that it won't only be a place for computer campers, bathroom-seekers, and unrooted coffee snobbery. It will also be a place to learn about the craft of roasting and brewing coffee, Fortune says. The new store will go by the name The Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room and will open in 2018.

Viñoly's nine-story office building is set to be complete in 2017, according to new estimates.

Plans for Karim Rashid's Futuristic Soho Building Have Been Filed

Last summer, provocative designer Karim Rashid held a contest on his Facebook page, letting fans vote on the design of his forthcoming NYC building at 30 Thompson Street. Now, nearly a year after the contest was opened, 6sqft reports that plans for the building have been filed with the city's Department of Buildings.

Here's what we know about it so far: The building will rise about 113 feet, and will have eight apartments over as many floors, in addition to a lobby and off-street parking. According to YIMBY, the apartments themselves (each of which will occupy a full floor) could average as large as 1,700 square feet.

As for the look of the building itself, 6sqft reports that this trippy design was the fan favorite, winning the contest that Rashid had opened up on his Facebook page. True to form for the designer, it's slightly futuristic, with a white exterior and geometric windows overlooking the street.

8 The megaproject, developed by Eliot Spitzer, will bring nearly 900 apartments to Brooklyn

Last year, erstwhile New York governor Eliot Spitzer revealed plans to bring three blocky towers to the South Williamsburg waterfront, each of which will rise 24 stories and will hold, in total, around 850 apartments (20 percent of which will be affordable).

While some exterior renderings had been revealed (and deemed "offensive" by Brooklynites and De Blasio advisers alike), a new batch of images discovered by 6sqft shows some new looks at the building. The new images show the public park and waterfront esplanade that will sit between two of the buildings, along with a close-up view of a tower and one of its rooftop pools.

The buildings are designed by ODA New York, and true to the firm's reputation, the towers have a boxy, Jenga-like feel, with plenty of outdoor space built into the design. Per 6sqft, excavation work on the site has already begun, paving the way for this development to mold the future of the neighborhood (along the Domino Sugar Factory development, a SHoP undertaking developed by Two Trees).

What If Central Park Was Surrounded By 1,000-Foot Glass Walls?

UPDATE: One of the designers behind the project reached out to Curbed to clarify the project. The structure surrounding Central Park will in fact be habitable and have public and private spaces with unobstructed views and access to the Park. The 100-foot amount refers to the thickness of this structure. The 1000-foot glass walls will rise to street level, hence the Park would be dug extensively underground to reveal the bedrock below.

Could a New Yorker ever imagine Central Park being demolished and then surrounded by a giant glass wall on all sides? Well a couple of designers just did. What's more, their idea won first place in eVolo Magazine's 2016 Skyscraper Competition.

The project description isn't the most informative, but it seems like the winning duo, Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu, want to get rid of the existing Central Park, lower the ground to reveal the existing bedrock underneath, and then erect a structure with 1000-foot walls with reflective glass that run all along the Park. It looks like they want to maintain the park in one form or another, but the renderings certainly bear no resemblance to the existing landscape. This glass wall would rise up to street level.

This 1000-foot superstructure would be 80 times bigger than the Empire State Building, and be habitable - used for public and private spaces. Those inside will have unobstructed views of the Park and access to it.

The idea behind the project was to "make Central Park available to more people," according to the designers.

With its highly reflective glass cover on all sides, the landscape inside the new park can reach beyond physical boundaries, creating an illusion of infinity. In the heart of New York City, a New Horizon is born.

And so it follows that the designers have called it New York Horizon. The second place finish in the competition would perhaps qualify as even more outlandish than the first: A skyscraper made out of drones.

432 Park Avenue's First Closed Sale Appears As $60K Rental

The ink has barely dried on the deed for the first recorded sale at 432 Park Avenue, and already that apartment—a three-bedroom unit that sold for $18 million—is back on the market. Well, the rental market, anyway: It popped up on StreetEasy recently, asking $60,000 per month. (That's $720,000 a year for those playing along at home—which hardly puts a dent in the sale price, but hey.) The buyer of the apartment was a generically-named LLC—432 Parkview—so it's no big surprise that the rental turnaround happened this quickly. Per the listing, the apartment measures 4,003 square feet, and it has an eat-in kitchen, two master bathrooms, an entrance gallery, and a private elevator. Also notable: There appear to be actualphotos of the apartment, not just the same renderings we've seen before, offering an unadorned look inside the building.

· Listing: 432 Park Avenue #35B [StreetEasy]

New Looks At the $60M Crystal-Adorned Baccarat Penthouse

Since the condos atop the super ritzy Baccarat Hotel on West 53rd Street hit the market in 2013, real looks inside of them have been kept pretty exclusive. But it appears the building is turning a new leaf, and letting just about anyone in on the condos' tricked-out crystal splendor. In an attempt to put out a contract for its $60 million crowning penthouse, which has been on the market since August, the folks marketing the apartment have sent Curbed a look inside the newly-staged digs.

The 7,400 square foot penthouse's more notable features include, but are not limited to, a glass and marble staircase, a master suite that's larger than most peoples' apartments at 1,150 square feet, a 600 square foot loggia, a master bathroom with honed and radiant-heated marble slab floors, and access to all of the amenities the Baccarat Hotel has to offer, like the Spa de la Merby the eponymous skin care brand, a marble-clad pool, and multilingual concierge services. So, is all of this worth $60 million?

MTA Unveils New Tech-Friendly Buses With Wi-Fi, Charging Ports

Just a few months after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to bring the New York City subway system into the 21st century, it looks like MTA buses will be following suit. The governor's office revealed plans today for a new batch of 2,042 city buses that will be equipped with tech-friendly touches like Wi-Fi hotspots and USB charging ports. It's all part of an effort to "create a stronger, more convenient and more connected mass transit system for years to come," per Governor Cuomo.

Each bus will be equipped with between 35 and 55 charging ports, depending on the make and model; buses will also get a new look, which Governor Cuomo apparently likened to a Ferrari, which, lol. In the first wave of the rollout effort, 75 of these swanky new rides will hit the road in Queens by the end of this year; later waves will go in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, with all 2,042 expected to be on the road by 2020. The projected cost: $1.3 billion.

The "improvements" are fueled by the apparent need for connectivity regardless of location; in a statement, MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast said that, "Wireless connectivity is prevalent in the lives of our customers," therefore the MTA is taking steps to "accommodate this growing trend by introducing high-speed connectivity and charging ports on-board MTA buses."

It all sounds great in theory, but should it be prioritized over other pressing issues, like faster bus service? We'll let you argue that one out in the comments.

• Governor Cuomo Announces Significant Upgrade of MTA Bus Fleet [Official]

111 West 57th Street Reveals New Interior Renderings on Website

111 West 57th Street rendering

There've been rumblings about the sales gallery and model unit for 111 West 57th Street, JDS and Property Markets Group's supertall tower designed by SHoP, since the winter, with a few peeks inside. Now, there's a full website for the building, and while no pricing has been revealed (a tipster sent over an "Availability" section, which PR for the building has confirmed is inaccurate), there are some new looks inside, including one of a duplex in the building.

The tipster also pointed out a floorplan on the site, which shows the entryway to the building, which is interesting in and of itself: It shows how the old Steinway Piano storefront will be integrated into the building, along with features like a porte cochere (which will face 58th Street), an elevator for the tower residences, and a gallery off the main lobby.

There's also now a "Views" section on the site showing, well, the views from the supertall tower, which will be more than 1,400 feet high when completed.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post included pricing information for the building, which a spokesperson has since confirmed was from a placeholder, and is not accurate. We've removed that information, and Curbed regrets the error.

• 111 West 57th Street [Official]

New Details Emerge on LaGuardia Airport Revamp

A Port Authority spokesperson reached out with a correction: Previous reports have stated that the design and construction of the new LaGuardia will cost $4 billion (through a public-private partnership), and the $1 billion figure reported today is for costs unrelated to design and construction, including $600 million that was previously spent on "planning and prior projects" that go back as far as a decade. Additionally, the PA board will vote on the public-private partnership intended to fund the project in the near future. We've updated our headline accordingly; Curbed regrets the error.

The cost for LaGuardia Airport's much-needed renovation just keeps rising. Early reports estimated that the beleaguered airport's makeover—which includes building a centralized departures and arrivals terminal, along with infrastructure changes—would cost around $4 billion to complete. But today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the price tag has risen to a whopping $5.3 billion.

Why the increase? Ostensibly, it's due to "changes requested by the airlines, federal security officials and the consortium of companies chosen to build the terminal," per the WSJ. These include increases in staffing, a slight increase in the projected cost of the central terminal, and—bafflingly—$190 million for "external consultants," which the WSJ notes is nearly double the initial estimate.

And because no major infrastructure project can happen in New York City without officials bickering over it, these increases are leading to "growing tension" within the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is responsible for the airport. PA chairman John Degnan said that "every project needs to be balanced against the most compelling needs," referring to the organization's other big-deal projects—revamping the hellscape that is Port Authority Bus Terminal, and building tunnels beneath the Hudson River. Others told the WSJ that some officials are driving the price up as a "political tactic ahead of negotiations over other big projects," which, sure.

One thing is for sure: This wouldn't be the first time a PA project comes in wildly over budget, leading to rancor within the agency's ranks. (There's a glorious boondoggle in Lower Manhattan that stands as a shining example of that.)

Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Is Gaining Steam With Official

Just a couple of weeks after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plans for a streetcar that would connect Brooklyn and Queens and run along the East River, the proposal has received the support of several academics, transportation advocates, and elected officials, according to a press release issued by the Mayor's office.

"Our transportation system was built 100 years ago to move people into and out of Manhattan, but that's not how our city functions today," Paul Steely-White, the executive director of the transportation advocacy group, Transportation Alternatives, said in the release. "Too many neighborhoods have been left behind, and Mayor de Blasio's plan will bring a state-of-the-art transit option that will save time and make our city more equitable."

The proposed streetcar route would stretch 16 miles from Astoria in Queens to Sunset Park in Brooklyn. It is anticipated to cost $2.5 billion. And the administration estimates that it will create 28,000 temporary jobs by 2045, and $25 billion in wages and economic activity for the city.

"Connecting the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront is essential to the economic future of New York City," Mitchell L. Moss, the director of the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy said in the press release. "The proposed streetcars will improve access to jobs and foster new waterfront activity that will benefit all New Yorkers."

The streetcar will connect neighborhoods that continue to have limited public transportation options, particularly neighborhoods like Red Hook, Dumbo, Brooklyn Navy Yard and Gowanus. The Mayor's office anticipates that the BQX, short for Brooklyn-Queens Connector, as the streetcar project is known, will link 13 NYCHA developments with more than 40,000 tenants, which accounts for about 10 percent of the city's public housing residents.

"My vision for One Brooklyn, a borough where the popularity of our brand translates to prosperity for all Brooklynites, has always focused on improving the connectivity between our communities and the opportunities they hold," Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said in the press release. "In a 21st century Brooklyn, we need 21st century transportation solutions to meet the historic challenges that have faced underserved communities."

Construction on the project isn't expected to start until 2019, and it will be preceded by a lengthy public review process. The first streetcar could launch in 2024, and the Mayor's office anticipates a weekday ridership of 50,000 people.

Behold The Spiral, Bjarke Ingels's Terraced Addition to Hudson Yards

Tishman Speyer has revealed the design for its Hudson Yards tower, illustrating the future of one of the new west side neighborhood's largest sites. The project, a 1,005-foot office buildingdesigned by Bjarke Ingels Group and unveiled by the Wall Street Journal, will span the entire block bounded by Tenth Avenue, Hudson Boulevard, 34th Street, and 35th Street. Hudson Yards aficionados will remember the site as that of Hudson Spire, a conceptual 1,800-foot tower used to market the parcel back in 2014. That design may have had height, but what Bjarke Ingels has created for the site is a soaring glass tower wrapped in vertical gardens.

The tower will sit one block north of Related's Hudson Yards, and at the terminus of the High Line, where Ingels says it will "[punctuate] the [linear park] as the dot on the end of the question mark." The architect is referring to the 65-story tower's prominent terraced gardens, which will wrap around the building and contribute to its name: The Spiral.

The building's layout is intended to encourage collaboration and inspire creativity and productivity, the Journal says, which will be aided by stairwells in open-air atriums that will connect different floors of offices while allowing employees to bypass elevators. The foliage that will wrap around the building is also intended to bolster creativity.

In all, The Spiral will have 2.85 million square feet, of which 27,000 will be devoted the retail. Tishman Speyer has already secured $1 billion in equity from international investors, and is looking to pre-lease about 30-percent of the tower. The search for an anchor tenant is on.

At 1,005 feet, The Spiral will stand exactly as tall as One57, and will become the fourth largest tower in the Hudson Yards neighborhood. Now, enjoy all of the new visual goodness below.

First Look at Rafael Viñoly's Boxy Chelsea Office Building - Development Update-o-Rama - Curbed NY

A recent Crain's article about the trend of "boutique office properties" offers one particularly interesting tidbit for the architecture-obsessed: the first rendering of Rafael Viñoly's latest NYC commission, an office building at 61 Ninth Avenue.

Viñoly's building will replace the nearly century-old Prince Lumber, a holdover from the Meatpacking District and Chelsea's industrial days. The new structure will stand nine stories, with 115,000 square feet of office space and 37,000 square feet devoted to retail. Though it's shorter and squatter than the Uruguayan architect's best-known NYC project, 432 Park Avenue, it has some of the same boxiness that defines that supertall building. (But is this one inspired by a trash can, or some other quirky quotidian object?)

Construction is set to start by the middle of this year, with an anticipated completion date of 2018—and the whole thing will cost $100 million. But according to Crain's, rents in the building will likely start at $150 per square foot, which is double the average for Class A spaces in Midtown, so the developers shouldn't be in the red for long.

Source: First Look at Rafael Viñoly's Boxy Chelsea Office Building - Development Update-o-Rama - Curbed NY

Penn Station's $3B Renovation Plans, Revealed! - Curbed NY

Within hours of word spreading that Governor Andrew Cuomo waspoised to announce a radical plan for the renovation of Penn Station, that plan has arrived. On Wednesday, Cuomo announced a forthcoming Request For Proposals that will be issued by Empire State Development, Amtrak, and the MTA later this week for the renovation of Penn Station, as well as the remaking of the neighboring Farley Post Office, into the Empire Station Complex at a total cost of $3 billion. The $2 billion redevelopment of Penn Station may entail razing Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater and adding new entrances on Seventh Avenue or 33rd Street and a glass wall and entrances along Eighth Avenue, the Times reports. Whichever developer's proposal is chosen will control all the retail in Penn Station, and that's huge.

Another Request For Proposals will be issued for the $1 billion remaking of the James A. Farley Post Office into a waiting area for Amtrak passengers, complete with shops and office space. One developer can nab both projects if their proposals are chosen. Developers Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust, who were chosen to redevelop the post office into Moynihan Station in a decade-old agreement, aren't out per se: they're welcome to submit proposals, and if their vision for the site is not selected, the state is required to reimburse the developers upwards of $30 million. The two developers are at an advantage, though—they're intimately knowledgeable about the station and post office, and that'll be a boon being that the state wants proposals submitted within 90 days. The Real Deal says Cuomo is gunning to have the redevelopments complete within the next 3 lightyears.

The main goal of the $3 billion redevelopment is to bring more light and air into the station while alleviating some congestion. "Frankly, it's a miserable experience," Cuomo said of the existing terminal. The Executive Vice President of the Municipal Arts Society, Mary Rowe, applauded the project in a statement but doesn't think it will be enough to deal with the station's influx of passengers, "[I]n the long term, these improvements won't be enough to fully address Penn Station's severe overcrowdingor meet the growing needs of its rapidly developing neighborhood and our regional economy."

Exactly how the project will be financed is up in the air, but Cuomo is expected to address it in next week's State of the State speech. At least $325 million will come from government sources, like Amtrak, the Port Authority, and the federal government. The Wall Street Journal suggests that the station's and post office's air rights may be leveraged to finance the project. In July, Cuomo announced a similarly ambitious plan to revamp LaGuardia Airport.

Source: Penn Station's $3B Renovation Plans, Revealed! - Transportation Watch - Curbed NY

Javits Center to Get Even Bigger With $1B Expansion Plan - Curbed NY

Governor Andrew Cuomo sure has been busy this week. As part of his 2016 State of the State agenda, the governor has detailed plans for an expansive, $3 billion revamp of Penn Station; allocated $300 million to bolster New York'senvironmental protection fund; and revealed a program to boost economic development. This morning, Cuomo detailed yet another component of his 2016 plan: to expand the Jacob K. Javits Center by 1.2 million square feet, in an ambitious plan intended to drive more events (and, by extension, cash) to the convention center.

The planned expansion would bring the convention center—already the country's largest such meeting place—to a whopping 3.3 million square feet, and would add five times the meeting space. The proposed expansion could cost as much as $1 billion, and according to Cuomo, construction is expected to begin sometime this year. (We're guessing this means the idea of a Javits-esque convention center at Sunnyside Yards is off the table.)

The expansion would have a few different components, which you can see below in new renderings (created by FXFOWLE) from the Governor's office:

One element would be a new, 58,000-square-foot ballroom, which Cuomo said would the largest such room in the northeast.

The expanded center would have five times the meeting space, thanks to the addition of a new exhibition hall and meeting rooms, which together would add nearly 650,000 square feet to the expanded space.

There would also be 22,000 square feet of "outdoor event space," which would join the convention center's enormous green roof as one of its al fresco amenities.

The expansion would also include a four-level, 633,000-square-foot truck garage which, according to Cuomo, would "move 20,000 trucks off the neighborhood streets."

During the press conference, Cuomo also touted the job creation possibilities of the plan (including 4,000 full-time and 2,000 part-time jobs), along with the fact that it could give a serious boost to the city's hotel industry—more events means more people who need hotel rooms, after all. "The Javits Center is the busiest convention center in the country," Cuomo said. "But we have to grow to stay ahead." Indeed.

Source: Javits Center to Get Even Bigger With $1B Expansion Plan - Coming Attractions - Curbed NY

How Much to Tip Your Building Staff: 2015 Edition - Curbed NY

Early December may be when building staffers prefer to get their tips, but for the last-minute gift givers: we're here for you. Every year the question comes up: How much should I tip my building staff? This handy annual guide, based on a memo sent out by Two Trees Management back in 2005, should help you dole out the dollars (original here, and years' worth of Curbed tipping advice over here). But what worked for Two Trees' staff and tenants a decade ago won't necessarily work for the rest of New York today. Brick Underground always provides a comprehensive guide, offering a general tip range for different types of building staff. Should that tip range seem too broad and uncertain still, Curbed reader and mathematician Spencer Greenberg made a tool that really helps tenants hone in what they should be gifting this giving season.

Brick Underground's general tip range remains the same as it has been the last few years:

Super, resident manager: $75 -$175 on average (broad range: $50 - $500) Doorman, concierge: $25-$150 on average (broad range: $10 - $1,000) Porter, handyman: $20 - $30 on average (broad range: $10 - $75) Garage attendant: $25 - $75 on average (broad range $15-$100)

Every year, Brick Underground also conducts a poll asking New Yorkers how much they tip. Nearly 1,500 people answered in 2014, and here are a few takeaways from the results: · two percent of owners in doorman buildings tipped nothing. · 16 percent of owners in non-doorman buildings also tipped nothing. · 34 percent of renters in non-doorman buildings tipped nothing as well. · Only two percent of renters in doorman buildings tipped nothing, while the lion's share—25 percent—tipped less than $250. · 45 percent of renters in non-doorman buildings tipped less than $250, a precipitous drop from 2013's polling numbers when 23 percent of renters in non-doorman buildings tipped more than $2,500, which BU thought could be "a testament to the Airbnb sharing economy where renters rely on supers to turn a blind eye and/or [lend] a helping hand." Could the drop be the city's agenda against Airbnb catching up?

This year's poll is ongoing, but as was the case with last year, owners and renters are maintaining a tighter grip on their cash. So far: · 20 percent of owners in doorman buildings tipped between $250 and $500. One percent tipped nothing. · 64 percent of owners in non-doorman buildings tipped less than $250. 12 percent tipped nothing. · 48 percent of renters in non-doorman buildings tipped less than $250. 24 percent tipped nothing. · 26 percent of renters in doorman building tipped less than $250. 24 percent tipped between $250 and $500, and two percent tipped nothing. · 12 percent of renters in doorman buildings tipped more than $2,500, making them the most generous tippers of the bunch.

Source: How Much to Tip Your Building Staff: 2015 Edition - The Tipping Point - Curbed NY