A big Eighth Avenue de velopment site might not be developed any time soon.
Work has stopped at TriBeach’s assemblage on the avenue’s west side between 46th and 47th streets, setting off a buzz that the parcel might soon hit the sale market.
Last winter, Dublin-based TriBeach filed plans with the Buildings Dept. for a 37-story hotel/apartment project.
Although the plans had yet to be approved, demolition continued and plans for pavement work were filed just two months ago.
In another sign the project was on the fast track, TriBeach reps scheduled a meeting with Community Board 4 last month to request an inclusionary housing bonus, which would allow for greater height in exchange for creating apartments on the site, to be run by Catholic Charities.
But work has since stopped. TriBeach pushed the CB4 meeting back to next month although no date is set, according to CB4 District Manager Bob Benfatto.
Times Square Alliance’s Tim Tompkins was also puzzled.
The work suspension has left the block front with a crater in the middle and the corner building at 301 W. 46th St. vacant except for a DVD store.
City Finance Dept. records appear to show three different mortgages on the property, held by Bank of Scotland and totaling about $80 million.
Elise Kessler, a TriBeach lawyer, said she was unable to reach her client for comment yesterday.
Vibe magazine is moving to Wall Street.
The monthly bible of “hip-hop urban culture with a focus on music” will leave its home at 215 Lexington Ave. this fall for Larry Silverstein-managed 120 Wall St., taking the 18,526 square-foot 21st floor for 10 years. The rent is in the mid-$40s.
Studley’s Howard Nottingham and Alison Bowen acted for Vibe; Roger Silverstein and Stuart Christie repped the landlord.
Vibe is the second music mag to bolt from 215 Lexington this year. As we reported a few weeks ago, Spin is heading to Hudson Square.
Asking rents at 120 Wall St. are in the high $40s. The address also happens to be home to the Downtown Alliance, whose president, Liz Berger, said of Vibe’s arrival:
“Clearly they know what’s happening. Downtown is the next new place and the new Madison Avenue, with companies like Omnicom, the Jerusalem Post, Paris Review, [radio station] WOR and Mansueto, among many others.”
The Buildings Dept. has slapped a partial stop-work order on 510 Madison Ave., halting work on four of the rising tower’s 30 floors and on part of two others.
This is the Macklowe Properties project where we recently reported a retail lease with Tourneau. Last week, an unidentified object fell from the site, sending a construction worker to the hospital.
Buildings Dept. spokes woman Kate Lindquist said inspectors found violations, including a pipe scaffold without a permit on the 26th and 27th floors, “failure to safeguard all persons and property,” and “failure to provide adequate protection between personnel hoist and curtain wall” on floors 9-12.
Lindquist said the department was still trying to determine what the fallen object was.
The luxury boutique office tower is meant to be ready for move-in by year’s end. Spokesman Howard Rubenstein was unable to reach company president Billy Macklowe for comment.
Dancewear chain Capezio wanted a store close to Lincoln Center. So it just signed a lease at Nevada Towers at 201 Amsterdam Ave. at 69th Street.
The asking rent for the 2,345 square-foot corner was $175 a square foot, according to Robert K. Futterman’s Ariel Schuster, who repped the landlord along with his firm’s David Alani and Richard Gelber. Sierra Realty repped the tenant.