By Alexandra Alexa, Fri, February 15, 2019 Image via Flickr
In response to pushback, JPMorgan Chase will be redesigning its planned 1,400-foot office tower at 270 Park Avenue with additional open public space, as Crain’s first reported. Under the East Midtown rezoning, new developments are required to provide 10,000 square feet of public space, but because two-thirds of the site sits above the Grand Central Terminal train shed, architects for the project argued they could only come up with 7,000 square feet. This notion was challenged by members of Manhattan Community Board 5 and elected officials. JPMorgan has now agreed to submit new designs increasing the size of the public space to 10,000 square feet and making it an open-air area instead of enclosed as it was in the initial design proposal.
Get the details
By Michelle Cohen, Fri, February 8, 2019 Image: Jennifer Rotner via Flickr.
Developer TF Cornerstone and investment firm MSD Partners have announced plans to purchase and tear down the Grand Hyatt building adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, the Wall Street Journal reports. The hotel brand will eventually return to the site in a form different from the smoked glass-clad building that was Donald Trump’s first major Manhattan development. In its place will rise a mixed-use project that includes 2 million square feet of high-octane office space. The planned development is one of four new towers in the works as a result of a 2017 Midtown East rezoning aimed at encouraging new office buildings as well as infrastructure improvements in the east side business district.
The times they are a-changin’ in East Midtown
By Devin Gannon, Wed, January 23, 2019 A group of apartments in Midtown owned by late Broadway playwright Neil Simon are on the market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The three apartments are in the Ritz Tower, an Emery Roth-designed 42-story building in Midtown East and range in price from $1.5 million to $2.8 million. Simon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who was best known for plays like “The Odd Couple,” died at age 91 last August.
Take a look around
By Devin Gannon, Wed, January 23, 2019 Tower Fifth rendering by TMRW courtesy Gensler
The developers behind the distinct supertall at 432 Park Avenue want to take a second shot at altering New York City’s skyline. Harry Macklowe submitted a preliminary application to the city’s planning department for a 1,551-foot-tall skyscraper between 51st and 52nd Streets in Midtown across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the New York Times reported. If the city approves the project, Tower Fifth, the name given to the proposed tower by Macklowe Properties, would become the second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
See inside the proposed supertall
By Michelle Cohen, Thu, January 17, 2019 The existing 270 Park Avenue, MikePScott via Flickr
Demolition permits were filed Tuesday for the JPMorgan Chase HQ at 270 Park Avenue, CityRealty reports. The building will be the tallest planned demolition in history. The filing is a significant step for the bank on the way to replacing the 1.5-million-square-foot Modernist tower previously known as the Union Carbide Building with a 2.5-million-square-foot skyscraper, to be designed by British Pritzker Prize winner Norman Foster/Foster + Partners architectural firm.
Down with the old, up with the new
By Annie Doge, Fri, January 11, 2019 432 via DBOX; Alex Rodriguez via Wiki Commons; Jennifer Lopez via Wiki Commons
Less than a year after dropping $15.3 million on a trophy pad at 432 Park Avenue, J-Rod (J.Lo + A-Rod) has decided to put the sprawling, apartment back on the market. First spotted by the Post, the place is now asking $17.5 million. The news comes just five months after the couple put their considerably smaller apartment at 15 Central Park West on the rental market for $11,500 a month. Why are they selling so soon? Though three bedrooms and 4,000 square feet sounds large to most, a source told the Post that “They love the building, but when their kids are all together, it’s too small. They need something bigger for the family.”
On to bigger and better
By Michelle Cohen, Fri, January 11, 2019 Everything goes on sale after Christmas, and that’s certainly true of hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen’s Beacon Court penthouse at 151 East 58th Street. The SAC Capital Advisors founder bought the 9,000-square-foot duplex for $24 million in 2005 and hired noted architect Charles Gwathmey to give it a once-over. The condo hit the market again in April of 2013 for a whopping $115M (around the time Cohen received a wrist-slap to the tune of $1.2 billion for insider trading). No takers at that price. Or the next one ($82M). Or the one after that ($79M)–you probably get where this is going. Where the five-bedroom aerie on the building’s 51st and 52nd floors ended up today: Deeply discounted to $45 million after eight price cuts adding up to a $70 million drop, making it the heftiest haircut to happen in New York City history according to The Real Deal.
Take a closer look
By Michelle Cohen, Thu, January 10, 2019 Via Wikimedia
It was announced today that a $60.2 million contract to build the project that will bring the Long Island Rail Road service to Grand Central Terminal was awarded to construction and development company Skanska. The award represents the final heavy civil contract in the MTA’s largest largest capital project and one that marks the first expansion of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in over 100 years.
Find out more
By Devin Gannon, Wed, January 9, 2019 Via Creative Commons
New York City’s iconic Chrysler Building is on the market. The owners of the 1930 Art Deco landmark, Tishman Speyer Properties and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, have hired real estate firm CBRE Group to sell the property, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The Abu Dhabi government purchased its majority stake in the Chrysler for $800 million in 2008, but real estate experts told the WSJ it would be difficult to recover.
Details here
By Dana Schulz, Thu, December 20, 2018 Photo via Wiki Commons
The MTA recently purchased Grand Central Terminal for $35 million, a deal which gave the agency more control over development projects happening at the landmark. And in one of their first orders of business, it looks like they’re mulling a massive undertaking to replace the train shed roof, according to Crain’s sources. The shed is a two-level-deep underground space comprised of tracks, bridges, and viaducts used to stage and store Metro-North cars. It runs north of the terminal to East 57th Street and takes up an area larger than 20 football fields. Not only would the project cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take 20 years to complete, but Crain’s notes that it would likely result in many Midtown streets being ripped up.
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