A rendering of 666 Fifth Avenue, courtesy of Kushner Companies/Zaha Hadid Architects

In 2007, Kushner Companies purchased a 41-story tower in Midtown for $1.8 billion, which was the most expensive real estate deal ever in the U.S. at the time. The transaction of 666 Fifth Avenue, coordinated by Jared Kushner, now a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, was ill-timed, making the purchase just before the economic recession. As the Washington Post reported, the Fifth Avenue project is one of the most financially troubled for Kushner Cos., with one-fourth of office space empty, and its lease revenue not covering monthly interest payments. While Kushner has divested his stake in the property to avoid conflicts of interest, the property’s value has dropped and foreign entities have withdrawn financial support. Currently, Kushner’s dealings are under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, as part of the broader investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.

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Slated to be the largest influx of housing created in Bushwick ever, ODA Architect’s two projects on the old Rheingold Brewery site continue to progress. Rabsky Group’s 10 Montieth Street, a nearly 400,000-square-foot, seven-story building with 392 units, just topped out. And All Year Management’s impressive development, totaling one million square feet, at 123 Melrose Street is currently being clad. Overall, the two projects will span three full city blocks.

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A rendering of Ocean Dreams from January via Dattner Architects

As part of his “Ocean Dreams” development in Coney Island, billionaire real estate mogul John Catsimatidis plans to build a streetcar that would link the mixed-use project to the Stillwell Avenue subway station in Coney Island. Developed by Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group, the project at 3514 Surf Avenue includes three buildings between West 36th and West 37th Streets that will feature retail space, 440 market-rate apartments and a 254-car garage. As the Coney Island News first reported, Catsimatidis said the streetcar would be available to everyone, not just residents of his development.

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Iage via the office of the Governor

At a press conference this morning in the under-construction space, Governor Cuomo announced that major work has begun on transforming the James A. Farley Building into the state-of-the-art, 225,000-square-foot Moynihan Train Hall. Along with the news that the $1.6 billion project will create 12,000+ construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs, come new renderings of the station, showing more exterior views and looks at the 700,000-square-foot shopping and dining concourse.

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Rendering of Central Park Tower via Extell Development

A new rendering of Central Park Tower, slated to be the tallest residential tower on Earth, shows the most sparkling image of the residential building yet. Construction for Extell Development’s supertall, located at 225 West 57th Street on Billionaires’ Row, is underway and when completed, the tower is projected to be 1,550-feet tall. As CityRealty reported, the all-glass rendering appears to be taken about 900-feet above Central Park and leaves out rivaling towers, 432 Park Avenue and 111 West 57th Street. The $2.98 billion project is expected to be completed in 2019.

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Interior rendering of Delta’s eastern half, via Governor Andrew Cuomo

Governor Cuomo first unveiled his plans for a revamped LaGuardia Airport two years ago. Since then, the cost has ballooned from $4 to $8 billion, with $4 billion alone going towards Delta’s rebuilt 37-gate facilities. As of today, construction has officially begun on this part of the project, with the Port Authority signing a new, long-term lease with Delta Air Lines, which “marks the beginning of construction on the final component of the entirely new, unified airport at LaGuardia, which will provide all LaGuardia travelers with state-of-the-art amenities and expanded public transportation, including the planned AirTrain,” according to a press release from the Governor. And along with the terminal’s physical groundbreaking, he shared new details and renderings.

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The first phase of Governor Cuomo’s plan to revamp Penn Station wrapped up last month with two new entrances opening on the corners of West 31st and West 33rd Streets and Eighth Avenue. Plus, the West End Concourse was expanded and now boasts a new color scheme, LED screens and murals. Adding to the project’s progress, the state was approved for a federal loan on Tuesday for up to $550 million for the second phase of the plan, which will convert the Farley Post Office across the street into Moynihan Train Hall, expanding Penn Station floor space by 50 percent, as reported by Politico NY.

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More than ten years after it was first proposed, the expansion of Columbia University into Manhattanville is finally coming together, with its first building opening on Harlem’s west side. While some residents worried the expansion would infringe on the Harlem community, the president of the university, Lee Bollinger, said the ongoing construction will result in roughly $6.3 billion in local investment. As the Daily News reported, the school paid $578 million to minority-, women-, and locally owned firms for construction work in the last five years. The project also created more than 1,500 construction jobs each year.

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While Jersey City boasts beautiful views of Manhattan, the NJ water-front community continues to build up its own impressive skyline. In the last twenty years, 15 towers reaching more than 500 feet tall have been built, with seven more in the works. Notably, as CityRealty discovered, the latest tower rising in Jersey City at 99 Hudson Street will be the state’s tallest building, reaching a height of 889 feet. When the condominium’s construction is complete in 2019, the tower will be the 15th tallest in the country, outside of New York and Chicago.

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The New York Wheel, Staten Island’s under-construction 630-foot Ferris wheel, has been plagued with cost overruns (it’s gone from a $230 to $590 million project), delays, and skepticism from the beginning, and it appears that these missteps have finally come to a head. The Post reports that the project’s design team, European company Mammoet-Starneth who was also responsible for the London Eye, walked off the job in late May and threatened to terminate their contract after they “got into a bitter pay dispute with the developer.” The New York Wheel LLC then filed a federal suit claiming that halting work was putting the borough’s waterfront revitalization at stake and that Mammoet is responsible for “extortionate” billing, “defective” equipment, and shoddy, dangerous construction.

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