Frustrated by community activists who don’t want them to build a 50-story tower on the north side of Pier 17, South Street Seaport’s operator is nevertheless doubling down on the area and is now also taking on a sky-high project an anchor’s toss to the south.
We’ve learned The Howard Hughes Corp. is in contract to buy 80 South St., an 8,128-square-foot parcel at South and Fletcher streets where City Planning has already approved an as-of-right 1,000-foot-tall tower designed by Morali Architects.
Once targeted for Sky Cubes, a quirky Santiago Calatrava design proposed by Frank Sciame, the fully permitted building was scrapped in 2008 when no one wanted to buy the 10 townhome cubes, which would have gone for $29 million to $30 million.
Sciame, whose offices are still in the building, recently transferred a $14.5 million mortgage back to the site’s Queens-based owner, Cord Meyer, which is selling the site and plans to HHC.
Meanwhile, the Seaport’s pre-land use review community working group has complained that HHC’s proposed 50-story tower on the former Fulton Fish market is out of character for the ’hood.
Owning and shaping the 80 South St. hotel and residential tower, possibly with its own Seaport project’s SHoP Architects, will let HHC maintain area design controls under the premise that if they didn’t build it, someone else would inject some taller character, even as they continued to work with the community on the entire Seaport project.
The Howard Hughes Corp. responded, “We are committed to transforming the South Street Seaport. While our focus is on the rebuilding of Pier 17, the remerchandising of the historic district and the proposed mixed-use project, we believe in the future of the area and are always open to new opportunities to invest. It is our policy not to comment on any specific potential opportunities.” Stay tuned.
The Gap is falling into Lower Broadway with a large store at the base of the upcoming Marriott Residence Inn at 170 Broadway.
Ariel Schuster of RKF represented The Gap while the hotel, owned by the Carlyle Group, was represented by Haim Chera of Crown Acquisitions.
Sources said the store will have 6,500 square feet on the ground, 7,000 square feet on the second floor and a 5,400-square-foot lower level. The ground floor had an asking rent of $600 per square foot.
Tech tenants won’t be fooled again by misunderstandings with building owners about specific wiring requirements prior to signing leases.
WiredNYC, a project founded by Jared Kushner with the city’s Economic Development Corp., has taken wiring to a new level by certifying buildings through the new nationwide Wired Score.
The LEED-like system will be noted in the industry’s CoStar Group database and provides grades from Connected to Platinum — a top score now held by 20 buildings, including 32 Avenue of the Americas.
Philip Kanfer and Arie Barendrecht of Wired Score say this helps tenants and brokers ID the needed connections, while owners can use it in marketing the sites.
Artist Group International, now part of Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Entertainment Group, has expanded at 150 E. 58th St.
Burkle bought the agency over the summer and realized its current 6,000 square feet was no longer a match.
After broker Corey Abdo of EVO discovered lawyers on the same floor needed less space, building owner Vornado Realty Trust’s agent, Jared Solomon, moved the legal eagles and AGI took its 5,664 square feet that had an asking rent of $68 a square foot. Now, the entire 11,664-square-foot 19th floor will be rebuilt for AGI through a seven-year lease amendment.