Sam Zell

• September 2016 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: SL Green Realty says it has shaken a pesky lawsuit that threatened to stall the construction of its office building near Grand Central Terminal, One Vanderbilt. The REIT has settled a lawsuit filed by the owner of Grand Central, which alleged that the office landlord and the city rendered his 1.2 million square feet of air rights useless when it rezoned the area. The settlement was made possible, in part, by the recent sale of a stake in Grand Central to Michael Dell’s MSD Capital. In 2012, the Witkoff Group announced it would build a new hotel at …
  
  
• July 2012 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale Vantage Properties and Area Property Partners have unloaded the Savoy Park apartment complex in Harlem for more than $210 million, satisfying the outstanding balance on the senior mortgage. Larry Silverstein is cutting his losses and moving on from Lexington Avenue. His Silverstein Properties and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System have entered contract to sell the 35-story office building at 575 Lexington Avenue for about $360 million to Normandy Real Estate Partners and New York Life Insurance. The deal is worth $10 million less than the agreement the owners nearly struck with Rockrose Development, before Henry Elghanayan …
  
  
• February 2012 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The Sapir Organization, the developer of Manhattan's Trump Soho, is planning to put the hotel and its unsold condominium units on the auction block. The auction will likely take place later in the spring.Aby Rosen's RFR Holding is in contract to buy back the debt for far less than the $144.2 million face value at the Midtown development site at 610 Lexington Avenue.Although the vacant property, where Rosen sought to build the Shangri-La Hotel, New York, is in contract to RFR Holding. Several more properties in the William Gottlieb estate have hit the sales market, encouraging …
  
  
• December 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Local 32BJ, the union representing more than 22,000 commercial building workers in New York City, voted to authorize their bargaining committee to call a strike if necessary. The union has been in contract talks with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, since November 15th. The union opposes the landlords' proposal to establish a different wage and benefit structure for new hires, which they claim will create a two-tier system designed to push out workers with seniority. If negotiations fail by 12:01 am on Jan. 1, 2012, the union could strikeThe Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which …
  
  
• November 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Chelsea Art Museum located at 556 West 22nd Street is about to be replaced by Hewlett-Packard, which has special plans for the building. HP signed a 10-year lease for the entire 34,500 feet inside the three-story museum building at 556 West 22nd Street near 11th Avenue.. Drastic job and spending cuts are in the cards for 2013 for the New York City construction industry, according to a report released today by the New York Building Congress entitled "New York City Construction Outlook 2011-2013." Construction spending is expected to total $27.7 billion this year.The average number of construction …
  
  
• August 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale 397-401 East 8th Street a development site is on the market for $5.2 million, EV Grieve. Chang's McSam Hotel Group purchased the 4,324-square-foot vacant lot, at 397-401 East 8th Street, for $4.9 million site. Chang appears to be in the midst of a selling spree -- he recently unloaded stalled hotel project sites in the Financial District and in Union Square, as well as his new Holiday Inn Express at 126 Water Street. A month after merging with EBSCO Publishing, library reference publisher H.W. Wilson has decided to market its former headquarters and nearby land holdings …
  
  
• July 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Governor Andrew Cuomo, signed a statewide property tax cap legislation, caps property tax increases at 2 percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Only a 60 percent vote in local communities override Cuomo's legislation. "We are beginning a new era in which New York will no longer be the tax capital of the nation," Cuomo said Community activists opposing the Rudin family's proposed takeover of the St. Vincent's Hospital campus in Greenwich Village dropped their court appeal without ever appearing before a judge.New York led a second consecutive month of U.S. housing price gains. Nationwide home …
  
  
• June 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Companies such as Boston Properties and Vornado Realty Trust are in negotiations with potential tenants and may even proceed with construction without securing leases. Boston Properties may be the first to break ground by the end of 2011. The company is finalizing negotiations to anchor a 1 million-square-foot tower at Eighth Avenue and 55th StreetRelated Companies CEO Stephen Ross said he was confident about attracting tenants for the first phase of the development, which will include four million square feet of office space. "I think we're going to surprise people," he said. "We're talking to nine tenants at …
  
  
• February 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Three years after the Related Cos. began developing its 26-acre Hudson Yards project, the company is now trying to find a tenant willing to commit to occupying at least 600,000 square feet of office space. To land its key tenant, Related is offering either to construct a building and sell it to that company or to provide a big break on the rent. The 12 million-square-foot space, bordered by the High Line and the Hudson River, will run from 10th to 12th avenues and from West 30th to 33rd streets. The $15 billion project is expected to take …
  
  
• September 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments A deal with Silverstein Properties over how to pay for two towers was approved by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. The plan calls for the restoration of the east side of the site to at least street level and the completion of the WTC Transportation Hub. The funding needed for the project is now projected to be between $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.A crucial City Council subcommittee and committee voted in favor of an office tower at 15 Penn Plaza proposed by developer Vornado Realty Trust. Although opposition to the 1,216-foot-tall tower stemmed from …
  
  
• January 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments Mort Zuckerman, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, discussed his outlook on commercial real estate and whether the national recovery is on its way. While he was somewhat pessimistic about the industry as a whole, there are some pockets of the country that are moving toward stabilization. The industry in general is in a fairly weakened condition. In the major cities the commercial real estate is doing reasonably well but in the minor cities they are having more difficulty.Hudson River Park, the five-mile waterfront band stretching from Battery Park to 59th Street, is short on cash and may …
  
  
• October 2009 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Stalled construction projects are not having much of a psychological impact on the city. Despite an increasing number of delayed projects, including 250 West 55th Street, 99 Church Street and Solow's First Avenue project, any psychological effects are likely to be short-lived, because the projects will be completed eventually. Large banks are only about halfway done with their commercial real estate losses. The U.S. commercial real estate losses could reach 10 or 15 percent of loans in this cycle. Banks with retail and office loans face the highest risk.The Plaza hotel is on tough times. The building's lower …
  
  
• March 2009 New York New Developments
• The New York State Appellate Division ruled in favor of the Atlantic Yards project today in a lawsuit that challenged the project's environmental review process. Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a statement in support of the project, saying it will "create thousands of jobs and generate badly needed tax revenue." Bloomberg said the court's approval is a big step towards the start of construction for the delayed project.Proskauer Rose backed out of taking space at Mort Zuckerman's 250 West 55th Street, and now is in talks to move in again. Zuckerman put the 1 million-square-foot project on hold when the law …
  
  
• February 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Lehman Brothers filed suit to begin foreclosure proceedings on Kent Swig's 45 Broad Street. Swig had been planning to build a 62-story Nobu Hotel and Residences on the property, with 77 luxury condos, 128 hotel rooms and 13,000 square feet of retail. Trump Marina Hotel Casino Trump Entertainment Resorts has struck a deal with lenders and note holders had until Jan. 21 to try negotiating a restructuring of its debt. Trump had delayed paying a $53.1 million bond interest payment that was due in December, and the 30-day grace period expired. The Atlantic City, N.J.-based company had hoped …