February 2015: NYC New Developments

Mitsui Fudosan started construction on 55 Hudson Yards. Its $1.4 billion office tower which is part of the 28-acre megaproject on Manhattan's West Side.

Property Markets Group is planning to convert a four-story commercial building at 548 West 22nd Street into a 19-story residential development.

Brookfield Office Properties said the total development cost for the first of its two Manhattan West office towers is more than $2 billion.

A joint venture between Madison Equities, Building and Land Technology (BLT) and Joseph's Sitt Thor Equities received a $275 million construction loan to acquire and complete the gut renovation of 212 Fifth Avenue.

BRP Corp. told the Harlem's Community Board 10 landmarks committee that the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom cannot be saved.

The Department of Buildings issued a stop work order for 432 Park Avenue after an eight-foot-long section of pipe fell from a hoist car on the 81st floor and crashed to the ground in front of an occupied building across the street.

With high hotel occupancy rates and rising room rates, many new hotel projects are being built in New York City. Projected number of rooms in 2016 will be in excess of 110,000 rooms which will be an all-time high.

With the sale of United Charities' historic Park Avenue office building, the Children's Aid Society signed a lease to rent 25,000 square feet at 4 West 125th Street.

JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group hope to build without union labor a 1,400-foot-tall, 80-story tower at 111 West 57th Street. If built it would be the city's tallest- tower built with non-union labor.

The developers of Essex Crossing, a 1.9 million-square-foot mixed-use project, have unveiled new plans for four buildings and are planning to start demolishing existing structures on the site, formerly known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area.

An office building at 212 Fifth Avenue will be converted into a residential project with 48 apartments. The 220,000-square-foot, 24-story property is going to be sold to Thor Equities for $260 million. Madison Equities and a real estate investment firm are also buying a stake in the property.

BLDG Management is looking to build a new, 449-foot-tall, 41-story residential tower in Midtown East at 212 East 44th Street.

A Chinese private equity firm is applying for a pair of building-incentive programs for its 47-story, mixed-use condo/hotel it is developing at 470 11th Avenue with BlackHouse Development and Siras Development. The partners are looking to acquire more than 170,000 square feet of bonus development rights at a cost of $31.6 million, which would allow for a project of nearly 320,000 square feet.

HFZ Capital Group plans to build an 800,000-square-foot West Chelsea mixed-use tower similar to One Beacon Court. The developer is in contract to pay $800 million-plus for the block-long site at 518 West 18th Street.

With prime development properties selling for more than $1,000 per square foot, some of the city's biggest landowners are sensing a bright opportunity to sell. Thor is looking to sell its site at 520 Fifth Avenue, a site at the corner of West 43rd Street that Thor Equities spent the past year preparing for development of a retail, hotel, and residential space.

One and Four World Trade Center are attracting TAMI tenants a new kind of tenants: technology, media and advertising companies. At the current rate of leasing, the towers will not reach 95 percent occupancy until 2019.

A hospitality developer is moving forward with plans to transform 23 Wall Street into an all-inclusive entertainment destination, with live shows, food and more. Unless blocked by concerned Financial District residents and the landmarks approval process.

The Port Authority Bus Terminal's 150,000 square feet of retail space is being remarketed. There is also 13,000 square feet of space at a nearby site on Ninth Avenue. The goal is to attract new, specialty-food vendors and shops to offer more options to the roughly 225,000 daily commuters who pass through the bus terminal.

Commuters at Penn Station are mourning the loss of their fast food favorites, following the decision to replace spaces once occupied by TGI Friday's, KFC and Nathan's with more upscale tenants.

Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group applied for a permit to build a 72-story, 1,009-foot-tall mixed-use tower at 35 Hudson Yards.

Permits were filed to convert an office building at 180 Water Street into a residential property with 601 units. The developer paid $151 million for the 25-story tower in 2013. The sole tenant, the city's Human Resources Administration, is about to relocate to 4 World Trade Center.

Owners of the Trump Soho are considering dropping the property's condominium component and operating it solely as a hotel. A Los Angeles-based Group took control of the building late last year after foreclosing on the original developers.

Omari Properties is seeking to get up to three tenants for the 9,100-square-foot space at his new seven-story commercial building at 433 Broadway. The retail space offers 6,100 square feet on the ground floor and 3,000 square feet on the lower level.

Jones New York announced the closure of 127 outlet stores and Kate Spade looking to shut all 19 retail locations of its casual line with three locations being closed in Manhattan.