New Developments
2 World Trade Center is looking for an anchor tenant, which would be required for a construction loan. Norman Foster of Foster + Partners would serve as the architect on the project.Landlords are ready to fight over whether the city should regulate retail and office rents. The City Council’s Committee on Small Business is planning a hearing on a bill to create a rent guidelines board that would limit rent increases on small commercial spaces. The board would have jurisdiction over small retail and office spaces, up to 10,000 square feet, as well as manufacturing establishments up to 25,000 square feet.
Macy’s is fighting with its landlord to defend its Herald Square location to stop an Amazon ad moving in atop its location atop 1313 Broadway. Macy’s alleges a restrictive covenant, preventing a competitor, like Amazon, from advertising.
Two of Manhattan’s largest hotels are to reopen in a promising signal for New York City’s struggling hotel industry. The New York Hilton will reopen Oct. 4, while the Grand Hyatt is to open Nov. 1.
Grubb Properties is planning an additional residential development at a controversial site. The North Carolina-based developer purchased 111 Washington Street from Pink Stone Capital for around $89.2 million.
The City Council passrf a bill compelling hotel owners to provide severance pay to their out-of-work employees, that either closed entirely or laid off 75% of their staff during the pandemic, to provide severance to service employees for up to 30 weeks. Hotels can exempt themselves from the mandate by recalling at least 25% of employees by Oct. 11 and reopening by Nov. 1.
Despite some travel and tourism reemerging in the wake of Covid vaccinations and relaxed lockdown measures, New York’s hotel industry won’t recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2025.
The City Planning Commission voted in favor of rezoning for the Center East project. The City Council will consider the proposal for the 600,000-square-foot life science hub. The Blood Center, located at 310 East 67th Street, is aiming to build a state-of-the-art facility that will play a major part in the city’s life science innovation. The three-story headquarters would be replaced by a 334-foot building.
Disney has plans for a 19-story building at 4 Hudson Square, spanning almost 1.3 million square feet. The headquarters are expected to house the company’s New York operations.
Harbor Group International’s retail property at 445 Fifth Avenue finds itself facing fresh allegations from a new lender.
WeWork announced that its merger with a special purpose acquisition company, floated in January and announced in March, will be completed a month from now.
Soho Properties has closed on a $317 million refinancing of its recently completed Margaritaville Resort Times Square. The 170,000-square-foot, 234-key hotel opened in June. The 32-story property cost $400 million to develop.
The lawsuit between the landlord Moinian Group and the National Basketball Association’s retail arm regarding the NBA Store at 545 Fifth Avenue has been settled.
Thor Equities sued in a lawsuit involving a failed sale of 933 Broadway. It allowed Joe Sitt’s firm to keep the $1.2 million deposit from Mactaggart Family & Partners in a nearly $24 million now-collapsed transaction in the Flatiron District.
Aurora Capital Associates filed plans for a 106,000-square-foot building. At 120 feet tall, the 11-story building at 134 Jane Street will tower over the neighborhood and will include 15 residences. The building, slated to be designed by BKSK Architects, will also feature 200 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Job losses last month at restaurants and bars, as well as tepid hiring at hotels, undid the modest gains made by entertainment venues, including at casinos and amusement parks.
Overall the economy added 235,000 jobs last month, well short of the 725,000 that economists had expected. The unemployment rate declined 0.2 percentage points to 5.2%.
Key support for Howard Hughes’ South Street Seaport project hinges on a $50 million investment in a local museum, but the city hasn’t figured out how to deliver the money. The developer pledged $50 million to the Seaport Museum, but finalizing the endowment has proven a challenge.
Helping drive that reduction was a 670,000-square-foot reduction in net sublease availability, the largest monthly drop recorded in six years. Still, the amount of available space on the market, more than 90 million square feet, remains 70% higher than in March 2020.
