As Harlem’s development boom stretches northward, investors are taking aim at the more densely built-out and better preserved blocks in central Harlem. One longtime owner hopes to redevelop a lot at 152 West 140th Street, on the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.
In March, details were revealed of the proposed rezoning of Industry City – a six-million-square-foot industrial-commercial complex – located west of the Gowanus Expressway, in Greenwood and Sunset Park. The developers – Jamestown Properties, Belvedere Capital, and Angelo Gordon – are now moving forward with a piece of the overall redevelopment that is independent of the rezoning. Building 19, at 168 39th Street (a.k.a. 148 39th Street), on the corner of Second Avenue, is going to be converted into 500,000 square feet of office space, according to Commercial Observer. The office space will be located across the first seven floors of the building. The conversion will feature a new lobby, new windows, and upgrades to infrastructure and equipment, like the installation of modern elevators. The Brooklyn Nets recently completed their new 70,000 square-foot training facility, called the Hospital for Special Surgery Training Center, on the eighth floor of the building.
In February, we reported that an automobile dealership building in Hell’s Kitchen was going to grow vertically, to add office space. Now, we can show you architect Rafael Viñoly’s design for 787 Eleventh Avenue.
Last month, the Chetrit Group began converting the 37-story, 855,000-square-foot Sony Tower – the office building at 550 Madison Avenue, between East 55th and 56th streets, in Midtown – into 113 condominiums, a 170-key hotel, and 25,451 square feet of retail space. Now, Olayan America (the U.S. branch of Saudi Arabia-based Olayan Group), with minority investor Chelsfield, is in contract to acquire the tower for more than $1.3 billion, according to The Real Deal, officially stopping the project in its tracks. The new owners will not follow through with the conversion and will lease the building as office space. Chetrit is selling the building, most likely because of the cooling ultra-luxury residential market, for at least $200 million more than what they payed for it in 2013. The soon-to-be new owners have secured $300 million in mezzanine debt and a $600 million mortgage for the acquisition. The sale is expected to close in May.
General Growth Properties and Thor Equities have filed to expand, by five stories, the 20-story, 115,000-square-foot multi-use commercial building at 685 Fifth Avenue, located on the corner of East 54th Street, in Midtown. The property’s commercial square footage – 109,543 square feet – will remain the same, because a portion of the space on the lower levels will be utilized to build the vertical expansion. As a result, the structure will see an increase in height from 227 feet to 292 feet. Coach has already secured a lease to take 23,400 square feet of retail space on the first few floors for its new flagship store, The Real Deal reports. Midtown South-based Marin Architects is the architect of record. In June of 2014, GGP and Thor acquired the building for $460 million, and it was reported last November that Michael Shvo is in contract to acquire the building’s existing 90,000 square feet of office space for north of $100 million. It doesn’t appear the future office space on floors 21 through 25 was part of the deal with Shvo.
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