Racebrook Capital has begun construction of the nearly 200,000 square-foot animal transportation facility, dubbed “The Ark”, at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in Queens, per the Commercial Observer. Abandoned Building 78 is being converted into the facility, and Gensler, along with other partners, is designing. The $48 million project is expected to open in late 2016.
The burgeoning new immigrant population in Woodside, Jackson Heights and Corona has driven a small construction boom in those neighborhoods, and one developer has decided to capitalize on the area’s growth with an eight-story hotel at 64-06 Queens Boulevard in Woodside.
Eretz Group has acquired the 10-story, 170,000 square-foot office and retail building at 224 West 57th Street — across from Extell’s planned Nordstrom Tower, in Midtown — for $213.8 million. The building is landmarked, and after being acquired for $85 million in 2010, it underwent a $50 million renovation designed by Tirmizi Campbell. Per The Real Deal, the non-profit Open Society Foundations currently leases a majority of the building.
In April, Thor Equities acquired the development site spanning 176-180 Bedford Avenue, in northern Williamsburg, for $36.1 million, and now renderings posted on-site show a possible two-story commercial-retail building. Per Brownstoner, plans have yet to be filed for the project, but the property could accommodate a structure as large as 14,400 square feet. The site’s three-story predecessor has been removed.
LI Herald reports New York Cosmos, a professional soccer team, and Mattone Group have held a community meeting earlier this month detailing their Elmont stadium proposal, which would redevelop the parking lots south of Belmont Park, in Nassau County. The team is one of four groups that submitted plans to the Empire State Development Corp. over the past few years. The $400 million project would include a 25,000-seat stadium, 175-key hotel and commercial-retail.
