[NYC4Life]

World Product Centre

1.5 Million Sq Feet Tower

Part of Manhattan's Far West Side Redevelopment

Opening: Winter 2013??

ARCHITECTS:

KOHN PEDERSON FOX ARCHITECTS (Exterior)

FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS (Interior)


http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/3536/10374258aq0.jpg

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/3033/49876047xu5.jpg

World Products Centre will include up to 1.5 million square feet of exhibition and meeting space in the 60-story, LEED certified, building. The building is designed with a "diagrid" structural framing system to create column free interior floor plans allowing for maximum flexibility in the interior configurations. Elevator service in the building will include high-speed service from the building lobby to a sky lobby for tenants on the upper floors of the building. Energy efficient building systems will support all internal functions providing Licensees and Attendees with a high level of comfort, flexibility, and maximum efficiency in the operations of their spaces.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2821596429_354f9c024b_o.jpg


MTA Subway extension

The 7-train extension project, serving the redevelopment of the Hudson Yards area, contains plans to house a subway stop directly underneath World Product Centre.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/2821602353_956fb042ff_o.jpg



World Product Centre site - former Copacabana (pink building)

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/4862/88747124vf4.jpg

[NYC4Life]

WPC Website

http://www.worldproductcentre.com/index.html

[CapitalCity]

I really like the base.

[Lecom]

Sick! Too bad it's just shy of 1000 ft and the massing seems sort of awkward, but neither should be a problem in the long run.

[Antares41]

Reminds me of a wine bottle carton in netting!:yuck: Height is nice, but does this look ...original?:shrug:

[aliendroid]

being a medical student this building is particularly interesting to me. Though they should add 3 meters to it, it's already almost 300 and do something more creative at the top of the building.

[King weatherman3]

that tower try less Global Warming from LED Energy?

[Scruffy]

YES!!!!

This is the copacabana site. I didn't think we'd get a render until next week.
this is freakin sweet!

[Scruffy]

Did anyone else realize that they placed the tower in the wrong spot in the diagram with the subway line. Whoops. they placed in it on 30th right on the yards.

[scalziand]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! :cheers: Another external diagrid for New York. Does the massing of this remind anyone of Bloomberg tower?

[Fabb]

From New Jersey, this tower may eclipse the ESB.
It's very promising.

[koops65]

Why wouldn't they add a little 23 foot spire?

[aliendroid]

Did anyone else realize that they placed the tower in the wrong spot in the diagram with the subway line. Whoops. they placed in it on 30th right on the yards.

and did anyone notice that in that diagram madison square garden looks like a huge toilet.

[scalziand]

This is actually 298m.
297m=974ft

[NYC4Life]

and did anyone notice that in that diagram madison square garden looks like a huge toilet.

Madison Square Garden has always been a toilet ;)


This is actually 298m.
297m=974ft

Corrected :tup:

[Complex01]

Oh that is one good looking tower. Very Kewl...

:tup:

[aliendroid]

One would think they'd build a project like this in Houston being that it's medical field related, but I guess the international aspect of it makes the best location New York.

Please build it!! I would do my CMEs here. :slob:

[StatenIslander237]

ughhh jesus another one. Seriously, if they even build maybe two or three of these proposals I'd be happy. What I'm waiting for is for one to move past the "proposal" point.

Side note: AWESOME DESIGN! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT ON THE SKYLINE. :haha: ;)

[gttx]

ughhh jesus another one. Seriously, if they even build maybe two or three of these proposals I'd be happy. What I'm waiting for is for one to move past the "proposal" point.

Side note: AWESOME DESIGN! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT ON THE SKYLINE. :haha: ;)

Agreed - I'm loving all these huge proposals, but let's see one materialize!

....or maybe it will have to wait a few years for this whole financial mess to pass over.

[CoolCzech]

Sick! Too bad it's just shy of 1000 ft and the massing seems sort of awkward, but neither should be a problem in the long run.

Yeah, what is it with developers these days? Would a handful of extra feet just for the prestige of supertall status kill them? I wish there was more of a spirit of competition again.

That said, I like the building, and that super-zoot diagrid.

[scalziand]

Just noticed the subway entrance in front. I like how it is separate from the building, but tied in stylistically.

[charmedone]

this building kinda reminds me of a taller version of the Hearst Magazine Tower

[bbeliko]

^^Êxactly my thoughts, i really like it, it's different

[JustinL]

Yikes. I like the building, but is it really that isolated away from the other high rises? I mean, this is Manhattan we're talking about. It looks out of place in the first shot. What else is planned with the area around this? Wasn't there some big proposals for these rail yards? (haha, enough with the questions!)

[NYC4Life]

Yikes. I like the building, but is it really that isolated away from the other high rises? I mean, this is Manhattan we're talking about. It looks out of place in the first shot. What else is planned with the area around this? Wasn't there some big proposals for these rail yards? (haha, enough with the questions!)


This is just one of many towers that will rise in the coming years as part of the Far West Side redevelopment, the Rail Yards being one site.

[JayPro]

On the building specs section of the website there seems to be an inconsistency in the building's shape. The left image shows an angled setback towards the roofline, whereas the right image with the sectioning details, which I assume to be the LHS image reversed, does not.

A further inconsistency as I see it is the smaller image showing this building's locational relationship to MSG/One Penn. Do I see a slanted roofline or not?

They also could've done less of a slapdash job integrating the decorative cross-bracing with the rest of the facade.

On the whole, while IMO the base screams NYC avant-gardism in a very, very good way, and the thing's size as a whole offers a great preview of the sheer scope of the other West Side projects to come given the promise of sustained economic viability; I would have preferred a slightly better treatment of both the massing and, as previously mentioned, the facade.

[CGII]

How the hell did I not see this one? Crap that's cool. I love it. By far the most attractive tower proposed for the West Side yet.


All of you whining that it's 23 feet short of some stupid and arbitrary status need to cool down.

[NYguy]

All of you whining that it's 23 feet short of some stupid and arbitrary status need to cool down.

Especially considering it will be sandwiched in between the Girasole (a thousand footer directly to the north) and the massive railyard development (to the south).

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/88233817/original.jpg


It will have to contend with similar giants...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/88418918/large.jpg

[Dannyboy25]

Great building, let's hope construction begins sometime soon.

[stormkingfan]

and did anyone notice that in that diagram madison square garden looks like a huge toilet.

LMAO!! You're right about that!

I don't have a problem with this tower, esp. with the fish net design. I like it. Seems kinda lonely though, but there'll be other towers joining it eventually.

As for eclipsing the Empire State Bldg. from the Jersey side.... just move a few blocks north or south. But if you're talking your view from your apt., well, uh........... shit!<shrug> (I tried)

[drew11]

Amazing, it will make a huge difference on the skyline.

[Nei!l]

This seems to have flown over the heads of several people.

NEW YORK, October 28, 2008 -- The world's first permanent international healthcare marketplace and education center will open in less than five years, the key players driving the project said today, as plans for the Midtown Manhattan tower have been finalized and marketing has begun. World Product Centre, as the project is known, has signed an agreement with Extell Development Company, a nationally acclaimed real estate developer, and formed a joint marketing company with GNYHA Ventures, a leading healthcare business services company owned by the Greater New York Hospital Association. The joint marketing company also announced that it has tapped John Strong, former president and chief executive officer of the $4.8 billion group purchasing organization, Consorta, Inc. as its top executive. "We are moving forward with this exciting endeavor," said Israel Green, president and visionary of World Product Centre.

Full article down below.

http://www.worldproductcentre.com/article.php?id=7

[NYC4Life]

Just the start of what will be an explosion of skyscrapers on Mahattan's Far West Side.

[ardecila]

Why is the thread title not "World Product Centre"? It seems to be the official name for this proposal.

[NYguy]

The world's first permanent international healthcare marketplace and education center will open in less than five years, the key players driving the project said today, as plans for the Midtown Manhattan tower have been finalized and marketing has begun.

We'll see. When the proposal first came out, Extell said they would wait for the completion of the station below.

[Scruffy]

Half the site right now is a pit working on the new subway station below. same goes for the Girasol a block north. Stonehenge park was demolished and half the park is a pit now as well opening down to the amtrak north line. Once all the underground parts are done then they can start on tower foundations

[Dac150]

From the sounds of it they want to fully tackle this station and line before they start any work on any of the towers. I for one look foward to this as it will be a canyon of supertalls, and towers that come pretty close. I like to picture it as a 6th Avenue only the towers will be a few hundred feet taller. Can't wait!

[StatenIslander237]

It warms my heart to hear that work is progressing on the subway stations so fast, and even more so that they are so hopelessly bent on getting most of these projects done ASAP.

[NYguy]

Half the site right now is a pit working on the new subway station below. same goes for the Girasol a block north.

There was an episode of "sandhogs" about a month ago that showed work at the Girasole site as they blasted underground.

[NYguy]

This tower is to be the smallest of the so called "four corners" towers in the Hudson Yards redevelopment plan. Originally these towers were to be of unlimited size, but the city council was uncomfortable with that and put in limits.

A couple of clips from the original thread:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/102760768/medium.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/102760766/large.jpg

[NYC4Life]

The shortest and most likely the first that will rise.

[NYguy]

^ Yeah, we have seen 3 out of the 4 potential towers. The other two of the 3 we've seen are the Girasole and Sherwood's massive proposal:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/82041697/original.jpg__http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/88233817/original.jpg


The site of the largest planned tower is the McDonalds with the parking lot:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/88421344/large.jpg


So it won't really be the lone tower we see in the rendering. This one would probably start first, but I'm sure there'll be another start over there before this one is completed.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/102763906/large.jpg

[HyperPower]

Good, get rid of the trashy McDonalds, tell it to move to the suburbs where they belong.

[Duffstuff129]

What's with all those potato-chip-shaped covers on elevators leading underground? This one has one, WTC has one, and I'm pretty sure I saw another one somewhere (on a New York building).

Regardless of my queries, my feelings on this one are mixed. It's design is just complex enough that it no longer has the "simple beauty" yet not intricate enough to be pretty as a result. It's still nice to see lots of new buildings for NYC though.

[NYguy]

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/medical_mart_competition.html

Medical Mart Competition

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/large_nymedmart110908.jpg

Posted by Jim Nichols and Joe Guillen,
Plain Dealer Reporters
November 09, 2008

A major threat to Cleveland's proposed Medical Mart is growing in New York, where developers say they are ready to start building a $1 billion World Product Centre.

Some advocates of the Cleveland-based project, including Cleveland Clinic Chief Executive Toby Cosgrove, say there's no room for both. This region, they worry, may be beaten out on what they see as its most promising economic-revival engine.

"This is one of those things where only one of the facilities can exist," said Baiju Shah, director of BioEnterprise, a University Circle incubator for health care businesses. "You want this to happen here, to boost Cleveland's image as a leader in medical technology and a good place to do business in that field."

The New York proposal's growth, Cosgrove said, should be "an impetus to get up and get going."

The World Product Centre's backers insist they already are. The project's partners include the Greater New York Hospital Association and Extell Development Co., a major residential real estate development company.

Last month, they revealed architects' renderings for a stunning Manhattan skyscraper. World-renowned Kohn Pederson Fox Architects designed the 60-story high-rise that would combine exhibit space, offices and "incubator" support for buyers and sellers of medical-industry needs. It would surpass, by 30 feet, Cleveland's 947-foot Key Tower as the nation's 17th-tallest skyscraper.

"We're very far along," said Lee Perlman, president of project co-developer GNYHA Ventures. "We have a site. We have building plans. We're lining up funding.

"It's ready to rock 'n' roll."

But it has one huge hitch that gives its stuck-in-muck Cleveland competition an edge: financing.

The proposal here has public funding accumulating at a rate of $115,000 per day, $42 million a year for 20 years that also would produce a convention center. World Product Centre is searching for private financing amid economic turmoil of historic proportions.

Fred Nance chairs the business-promoting Greater Cleveland Partnership and is project coordinator of the Medical Mart/convention center plan, a joint effort with Chicago-based Merchandise Mart Properties Inc.

Nance said that without secure financing, the New York competitor is "a twinkle in someone's eye."

The World Product Centre's developers disagree. Late last month, they announced the facility will open late in 2013, a year behind schedule. They have hired a renowned medical-industry insider to line up tenants to raise $1 billion or more. The means: 10-year lease commitments.

"We need to get a critical mass of tenants to make the project a go," Perlman said Friday.

John Strong came from one of the country's largest hospital-supplies purchasing cooperatives to sell the World Product Centre to investor-tenants.

"I've had a very successful career," said the 35-year veteran from suburban Chicago, "and I wouldn't have left my employer if I didn't think this had a smashing chance at success."

The Cleveland proposal has its own hang-up: Site selection. That snag, now nearly three years old, could squander Cleveland's fortunes, said Cosgrove, who conceived the Medical Mart concept in 2006.

"I'd like to have seen that done yesterday," he said.

Cuyahoga County commissioners eventually will pick the site for the mart and convention center. They had expected to make a decision by now but are no closer than they were in August. That's when the Greater Cleveland Partnership recommended it be built for $536 million at Tower City Center. The partnership deemed building at Tower City less costly than building the project on the existing convention center site along Lakeside Avenue.

Commissioners now say they want to vote on a site in January. They will take their cue from Merchandise Mart Properties, county Administrator James McCafferty said.

But MMPI, which will own and operate the mart and convention center, is making its own location analysis.

MMPI wants a complex that can be built without funding beyond the county's sales tax revenue. That would cap construction cost at about $450 million.

Commissioners OK'd a quarter-cent sales tax increase in July 2007 to pay for the mart and convention center. MMPI is to pay for cost overruns

The company and its consultants have reduced costs at both places to about $400 million, said Mark Falanga, senior vice president.

"We think that both [Cleveland] sites are viable," he said.

Others are getting antsy about the delay.

Forest City Enterprises Inc., which owns Tower City and seemed positioned to land the complex after the partnership's summertime recommendation, has noticed little progress in recent months.

"It has not been terribly active, I know that for certain," Forest City spokesman Jeffrey Linton said.

The county will have to buy land to build the Medical Mart/convention center at either site. MMPI will negotiate with sellers. Linton said there haven't been any talks.

Meanwhile, word has spread about the global bazaar planned for New York.

"In the back of everybody's mind is whether it's a competitive threat to Medical Mart," Linton said.

Nance, managing partner at the global law firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey, insists it is not.

"It is an interesting idea, but I - we - still think it is very much the subject of hopes and dreams and not a lot of economic reality," he said. "We should be mindful that we cannot dawdle and make this a reality. . . . But we do not see this particular proposal in New York to be much of a threat."

Nance said much the same thing about the need for speed in August 2007, when news of the New York project was first reported.

The two projects differ dramatically in scale and in other marked ways. But they share an underlying purpose: to create one place where makers of a wide array of health care-related products and technology can showcase offerings to buyers from the fast-growing industry.

Both developers envision a place where competing suppliers can show wares ranging from rubber gloves, carpeting and desks to cutting-edge drugs, surgical-implant gadgets and multimillion-dollar radiology-imaging machines.

"Anybody who's building a hospital now has to go all over the world to do it," said the Clinic's Cosgrove. "I've been everywhere from Minnesota to Germany. It's a hassle."

Many of Greater Cleveland's top movers and shakers - old-school leaders and emerging entrepreneurs in the dynamic med-tech field - tout the Medical Mart as a spectacular opportunity to revive the region's sagging economy.

BioEnterprise's Shah said the Medical Mart could draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to health care trade shows. But more importantly, it could lure high-tech firms from all over the globe to Cleveland "to establish a beachhead for North American operations," he said.

[NYguy]

http://www.hdmagazine.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=16&storyCode=2048754

Healthcare skyscraper to be built in Manhattan

13 November 2008
By Joanne Makosinski, Editor HD


THE world’s-first permanent international marketplace and education centre for the healthcare supplies industry will dominate the skyline in midtown Manhattan in less than five years, it has been announced.

Plans for the 60-storey, £1 billion World Product Centre (WPC), as it will be known, have recently been agreed following the appointment of Extell Development Company as the build contractor. A joint marketing company has also been formed between owner WPC and GNYHA Ventures, a leading healthcare business services company owned by the Greater New York Hospital Association.

“We can reveal we are moving steadily forward with this exciting endeavour”, said Israel Green, WPC president and visionary of the centre.

Under the plans, a custom-built 60-storey, 1.5 million sq ft tower will be built on the corner of 33rd Street and 11th Avenue, serving the commercial and educational needs of healthcare suppliers and providers from across the globe. Featured companies will represent all areas of the global industry, including medical devices, diagnostics, technology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare services.

Current designs include more than 120,000sq ft of education and conference space, including a two-storey, 499-seat, fully-digitalised auditorium. There will also be permanent showrooms, media centres and office space, as well as a ‘consumer health pavilion’, which will be open to the general public and will offer guided tours, interactive forums and a wealth of healthcare information.

“WPC is a direct response to the evolving needs of the healthcare marketplace, which is worth $336m in global sales of medical devices alone”, said Lee Perlman, president of GNYHA Ventures.

“With ever-growing pressures on hospitals, long-term care facilities and other healthcare organisations to cut costs and increase quality, providers wrestle daily with how to stay current with innovation and make well-informed purchasing decisions.

“Among its numerous benefits, WPC solves these challenges. It offers a new, cost-effective and transparent environment for bringing purchasers and sellers together to transact business.”

John Strong, former president and chief executive of purchasing group Consorta, is now president of the marketing arm of the venture. He said: “WPC is the most-unique, exciting and groundbreaking project in my 35 years in the healthcare business. It will offer the industry a dynamic commercial environment for partnership and collaboration as well as resources to enhance education. This is a new concept; there is nothing like it.”

Its chosen location is said to help address a huge gap in accommodation for healthcare companies in New York City.

Gary Barnett, chief executive of Extell Development, said: “New York City is a global capital, accustomed to hosting domestic and international visitors, all of which will be supported by this highly-advantageous site. WPC will provide companies, whether they be from America or around the world, with a unique opportunity to showcase and conduct business in one of the most-important healthcare markets in the world.”

[NYC4Life]

This tower will be impressive on the skyline for sure, but sooner rather than later, other towers in the area will join.

[ZZ-II]

great news, you don't see anything from the financial crysis in NYC :)

[NYguy]

Bringing it on...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/nyregion/20product.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

Defying Slump, Developers Plan 60-Story Hospital Industry Center on West Side

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/20/nyregion/20product650.jpg

From left, Israel Green; Lee H. Perlman, for the Greater New York Hospital Association; and Gary Barnett, for Extell, a developer.

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
November 19, 2008

A major hospital trade association, one of New York City’s most aggressive developers and a financier with a personal interest in health care are teaming up in hopes of building a 60-story glass-and-steel tower on the West Side of Manhattan that would function as an international showcase and permanent conference center for the hospital industry.

The partners — the Greater New York Hospital Association, Extell and Israel Green, a deep-pocketed investor little known outside the real estate industry — say the building would open in late 2013 and would serve as an anchor building for the Hudson Yards, more than 50 blocks of riverfront stretching from West 28th Street to West 43rd Street that make up one of the last parcels of underused land in Manhattan. The Bloomberg administration originally wanted to put a $2 billion football stadium for the Jets on the site, but that notion was blocked by the State Legislature.

Real estate projects all over New York City have been stalled or stopped in their tracks because of the shrinking credit market. But the backers of the World Product Centre, as the tower would be called, say that the prospects for their project — estimated to cost $500 million to $1 billion to build — are uniquely auspicious because the health care industry has proven in the past to be countercyclical and recession-proof, since people always get sick.

In interviews on Wednesday, the developers or their representatives said they imagined the building as a permanent exhibition center for hundreds of vendors to the medical industry, from hospital food and furniture suppliers to pharmaceutical companies and makers of X-ray machines and surgical devices. They have assembled a team of salespeople to begin marketing the 10-year leases that would help secure the financing for the building, focusing their attention on some of the country’s largest health care companies, like Cardinal Health Care, a Fortune 20 company with $90 billion in annual revenue.

Situated on the east side of 11th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets, where the now-demolished Copacabana nightclub once stood, cater-corner from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the tower would also house the headquarters of the hospital association, now located on West 57th Street.

“From an economic development aspect, it’s more important than ever to do a building like this, because New York City’s future can’t be continued reliance on Wall Street,” said Marc V. Shaw, executive vice president for strategic planning at Extell, the development company, and a former budget director in the Giuliani administration and former chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The Bloomberg administration has embraced the project as part of its efforts to wean New York City’s economic base away from the financial industry, which has been its mainstay, and as a way to bolster the tourism industry by filling hotel rooms with medical executives during the off-season.

Robert C. Lieber, deputy mayor for economic development, said in an e-mail message on Wednesday, “New York City has all the makings of a major hub of commercial bioscience activity — more than 70 hospitals, top medical research institutions, the most talented work force in the nation — and we see the industry as a prime opportunity to grow and diversify the economy.”

Lee H. Perlman, president of the for-profit venture arm of the Greater New York Hospital Association, said the centralized location would address Congressional concerns that the financial relationship between hospitals and doctors and their suppliers, including drug and medical device companies, has become too cozy and insulated from public scrutiny.

But real estate executives and others said it would be an uphill fight to convince potential financial backers of the project’s potential to succeed in bleak economic times. They noted that the International Toy Center, a similar concept, failed and is now being converted into offices and residences.

One executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of alienating Extell said he found it hard to believe that enough companies would commit to 10-year leases in the current market to make the project financially viable. “Under normal conditions, Israel Green and Extell could — and did — raise a lot of money,” the executive said. “They are as smart as they come.”

But he said that over the next 12 months, space would become cheaper to lease, and that it might make more sense to lease than to build. “There is nothing getting done or built that’s over $100 million these days, because you simply cannot get the lenders together to fund it,” the executive said. “In fact very little is being done above $75 million. When you’re looking into a crystal ball, a year to a year and a half looks to us like a train wreck just beginning to hit.”

Anna Levin, chairwoman of the Clinton-Hell’s Kitchen Land Use Committee for Community Board 4, said the infrastructure for Hudson Yards could not yet support a 60-story building, and that infrastructure construction — including the extension of the No. 7 subway — was likely to fall behind schedule because of the sagging economy.

“It may not be a stupid idea, but at this point I think it’s kind of an isolated idea, wrapped up in a whole bunch of uncertainties,” Ms. Levin said of the plan for the World Product Centre. “It’s all still a pretty picture, but with no reality behind it yet, and this smells to me like the city is trying to create some reality.”

The World Product Centre was jointly conceived by Mr. Perlman and Mr. Green. Mr. Green and a partner, Joseph Neumann, owned the Salmon Tower, a 59-story office building at 500 Fifth Avenue, at 42nd Street, in the 1980s. Mr. Green said he became interested in health care after his wife was found to have thyroid cancer 10 years ago, and that he had originally hoped to build the World Product Centre near the World Trade Center — hence the word “Centre” in its name — a plan that was dashed by the 2001 terrorist attack.

The developers said that the building would have 1 million square feet of space and 1,800 showrooms, but that a typical company would occupy two or three showrooms. Mr. Perlman said that the backers needed 10-year commitments from about 600 companies to make the financing work, and that they would need to sign up about 200 to start construction.

Mr. Perlman said that several companies had expressed interest, though none had yet signed a lease. “We have 18 months to do it, and that’s our goal,” he said.

Mark Rosenbaum, an executive at Cardinal Health, based in Ohio, said the company, with 2,500 sales representatives, has showrooms in Columbus and San Diego, and often shows clients its products in use at places like the Cleveland Clinic or the Mayo Clinic. “I think it makes sense,” Mr. Rosenbaum said of the World Product Centre. “We are certainly interested in it, and we are very seriously considering what it might mean to us.”

Mr. Shaw said the developers were not asking for government financing at this point, though they might look for tax breaks down the road. He said the building would finance itself through leases that would “replace the conventional bond that’s hard to get right now.”

Besides the showplaces and trade association headquarters, the tower would include a 500-seat auditorium, work spaces for visiting businesspeople, and a training and education center for the hospital industry.

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, although listed at 977 ft, closer inspection reveals that this tower
is in fact a thousand footer, or 1,011 ft to be exact...(from the website)

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106145561/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106145561/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106145562/original.jpg

[scalziand]

How about that.:yes:

[koops65]

The Thread title needs to be modified: 1011 FT = 308 M

[ZZ-II]

wonderful, another supertall for NYC :)

[Wheelingman04]

Great-looking tower. New York rules.

[NYC4Life]

Wow, this tower literally "grew" in height. Add one more supertall for NYC.

[scalziand]

I think it's just that we never noticed that the height given was for the roof, and not the parapet, right?:shrug:

Anyway, it's always nice to have another supertall.:tup:

[NYguy]

^ That's right.


wonderful, another supertall for NYC :)

Yeah, now I can add it to my parade of supertall proposals...:tup:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106169509/original.jpg


I don't really expect this one to get underway before 2010, but the design has really grown on me,
even though it could change some before now and then...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106169518/original.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106169519/large.jpg


Quick report from NY1 (http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/89348/manhattan-s-west-side-to-gain-health-care-tower/Default.aspx).

[WonderlandPark]

2013 is a ways away, but another supertall for NYC is always welcome :cheers:

[Antares41]

I don't feel the love yet for this design.
Nevertheless, I'm always happy to hear about another proposed 1,000 footer. Oh well! its another 3-4 years before it will be completed, plenty of time to warm-up to it.

[STERNyc]

Not to be a downer but other than the WTC none of the projects NYGUY posted are going to get underway for at least another decade.

[NYC4Life]

This is an exciting time to love NYC skyscrapers.

[NYguy]

Not to be a downer but other than the WTC
none of the projects NYGUY posted are going to get underway for at least another decade.

I wouldn't go that far, though the handful of WTC towers should be enough at the moment. There are
other developments I left out because we don't really have renderings, even preliminary (the railyards, hotel penn, etc.).

As far as these proposals go:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106169509/original.jpg

1. The WPC - developers say they have about 18 months to sign the amount of leases needed (about a third)
to start construction. Likely the first of the "four corners" towers. I look to 2010 for a start.

2. Manhattan West - Brookfield won't start anything without signing a tenant, but they could do that
in a relatively short amount of time. With no major office space under construction in Midtown, it won't
take a decade for a major space crunch to make these towers very attractive.

3. Sherwood's massive office tower is just one of two options for that site (the other being hotel).
One of the so called "four corners" towers, any one tower could jumpstart the others. They will likely
wait to see what movement happens on the other towers before making a decision.

4. The fantastic Tower Verre was planned for a 2009 start, but we'll see how the approval process along with financing
affects this one. A decade? I wouldn't be surprised if it were pushed back a year or two, but not a decade.

5. The Girasole - like the WPC is planned to rise above the new 34th Street subway station. Work progresses
on that station (see the Girasole thread) but I'm hoping a delay will lead to a redesign of this one, also one of the
"four corners" towers.

6. Tower 2 - A 2013 to 2014 completion.

7. Tower 3 - Blasting continues on site. A 2013 to 2014 completion.

8. Freedom Tower - A 2013 completion.

____________________________

Not as bleak an outlook as you would think.

[NYguy]

The "four corners" of the Hudson Yards came about because it will be the new "intersection" of 34th Street and the new
Hudson Boulevard. You wouldn't know it because it's not the most glamourous part of the Hudson Yards redevelopment,
but the City has been quietly making progress on the new boulevard - another key to development there.
This intersection will also be the new terminus of the 7 Line, making these towers the closest to public transit.

A look at the Hudson Yards zoning around the planned boulevard, and intersection...

Site 705 A: World Product Centre
Site 705 B: no proposal
Site 706 A: The Girasole
Site 706 B: Sherwood Properties development

Sites and zoning for commercial development:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77328203/original.jpg___http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77328205/original.jpg

[STERNyc]

NYGUY its wishful thinking that any of these projects will go forward. The finance sector which is based in NYC and one of its strongest driving forces has all but collapsed. GS survived, Chase and Citicorp are in the gutter, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and AIG are shot. There's no longer hedge funds to lease premium space as they were 5 years ago. Times Square Plaza is almost finished and has zero tenants, tenants at the recently completed former Verizon Building on Bryant Park that signed on when times were good are rushing to back out of their leases. And we're no where near the bottom, the auto companies haven't collapsed yet, no one has purchased our most recent 700 billion debt yet, the sure to be awful holiday shopping numbers haven't been released yet, and about half the government subsidized modified mortgages that are still expected to default, haven't yet. That's the most important reason why other than the WTC none of these projects will go forward, then there's the financing issue. Lenders are in disarray, they're being crippled by foreclosure costs and the fact that the homes they own have a market value half the value of the mortgage, no one will buy their notes. Even if a developer came to a lender with a building pre-sold 100% they would be unable to finance it because they simply don't have the money for several hundred million dollar projects right now. And last but not least, many of these projects are in Hudson Yards, with MTAs doomsday budget and their mismanagement and subsequent dire straits I would not expect the 7 itself to be done anytime soon.

[Crawford]

NYGUY its wishful thinking that any of these projects will go forward.

:haha: There are currently over well 150 highrises U/C in NYC, and this has been the strongest year for building permits in NYC since the early 1960's.

The finance sector which is based in NYC and one of its strongest driving forces has all but collapsed.

What are you talking about? The GLOBAL capital markets are temporarily frozen, which is a totally different issue. You claim this will affect things getting built 10 years from now, when nobody knows what the climate will be 10 weeks from now. Everyone (except for you apparently) knows that at some point, credit will again become available, and it will be at some point in 2009.

GS survived, Chase and Citicorp are in the gutter, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and AIG are shot.

This is all wrong. Do you even know any of these firms and what they do?

Chase is easily the strongest bank in the world right now. Dimon is the world's #1 dealmaker. Citi has tons of cash. Morgan Stanley, GS are fine under the circumstances. AIG is saved. Lehman is Barclay's.

More important, the investor returns from financial services have absolutely nothing to to do with this project, which is MEDICAL OFFICE SPACE.

There's no longer hedge funds to lease premium space as they were 5 years ago.

Actually, many hedge funds are doing quite fine and have benefitted from the crisis, though I don't know why that's relevant for MEDICAL OFFICE SPACE.

Times Square Plaza is almost finished and has zero tenants

It's a spec building. That's the point. Spec buildings rarely have tenants until after they are completed.

You do know that Manhattan has the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the U.S., right? If your sage prediction is that no building can be built for 10 years in Manhattan, what's your prediction for the rest of the world? 100 years with nothing built? :haha:

tenants at the recently completed former Verizon Building on Bryant Park that signed on when times were good are rushing to back out of their leases.

Yeah, because they paid $125 a foot, when the market is $85 a foot. Tough luck for the owners. Rents go up and they go down. So what?

And we're no where near the bottom, the auto companies haven't collapsed yet,

Based on your embarassing lack of knowledge of financial markets, your prediction of the market botton is laughable, considering that even William Buffett wouldn't claim to predict the bottom.


the auto companies haven't collapsed
They won't, and remind we when Detroit moved to New York?


And last but not least, many of these projects are in Hudson Yards, with MTAs doomsday budget and their mismanagement and subsequent dire straits I would not expect the 7 itself to be done anytime soon.

The 7 train is 100% financed, and is NOT being built by the MTA. It's a city project. The MTA is a state agency.

Even sillier, you mention the MTA BUDGET which is totally different from the MTA CAPITAL PLAN.

Funds for MTA expansion projects like the Second Avenue Subway are 100% separate from funds for daily operations. The current issue with the MTA is a reliable additional funding source for daily operations, NOT the capital plan.

[STERNyc]

Pick up a newspaper. I'm willing to bet you have no business education and that your field of work isnt in the real estate industry, I'm also willing to bet that other than the WTC no other project over 1000 feet will go forward in NYC for atleast another decade.

[Antares41]

There just so much "uncertainty" and "lack of disclosure" by the financial sector, that I can't see how anyone can predict how building construction will proceed in NYC. Hell we don't even know what institutions are in trouble until after the fact.

That what makes broad generalizations inherently very risky.

For certain the "credit crunch" is going to result in some building not seeing one ounce of concrete or pound of steel. And, this situation is not resolving itself even with some portion of the 700 billion being dole to financial institution.

Each building has to be looked at on a "case by case" basis. Frankly, I am surprised that more building sites in Manhattan have not cease operations.

[STERNyc]

:haha: There are currently over well 150 highrises U/C in NYC, and this has been the strongest year for building permits in NYC since the early 1960's.


You don't have a strong understanding of time. All of which started before the current crisis, construction is a several year process. That's what happens during a bubble. It's popped and since the crisis there has been zero construction on projects over 100 million. 50 West Street was about to start construction and had financing in place, now its impossible to find financing and it won't go forward. Extell's 10th avenue tower, Extell's 57th Street Tower, the Drake, and countless other holes around Manhattan that aren't and won't go forward for awhile.

What are you talking about? The GLOBAL capital markets are temporarily frozen, which is a totally different issue. You claim this will affect things getting built 10 years from now, when nobody knows what the climate will be 10 weeks from now. Everyone (except for you apparently) knows that at some point, credit will again become available, and it will be at some point in 2009.

If you read my post I said financing was secondary. Yes financing will open back up but it won't matter because nobody is going to be building in this economy. Financing will no longer be given for big projects without a large prior commitment, there will be a glut of office space and luxury condominiums and no demand and commitments for new ones for awhile. It'll be the late 1970's to early 1980's, and 1989-1999 all over again.

This is all wrong. Do you even know any of these firms and what they do?

Chase is easily the strongest bank in the world right now. Dimon is the world's #1 dealmaker. Citi has tons of cash. Morgan Stanley, GS are fine under the circumstances. AIG is saved. Lehman is Barclay's.

More important, the investor returns from financial services have absolutely nothing to to do with this project, which is MEDICAL OFFICE SPACE.

Chase is so strong that there stock is lowest its been in 6 years. If Citigroup doesnt get bailed out it will go bankrupt. I know I'm talking to a genuine idiot when you say Morgan Stanley, AIG, and Lehman is fine, tell this to the thousands of employees they've had to lay off they'll be interested to hear.

Actually, many hedge funds are doing quite fine and have benefitted from the crisis, though I don't know why that's relevant for MEDICAL OFFICE SPACE.

Hedge funds have gone the way of the junkbond brokerages. And the demand for medical office space is so high that Extell doesn't have a single commitment.

It's a spec building. That's the point. Spec buildings rarely have tenants until after they are completed.

Actually that's not true. The last spec building that didn't have a tenant at completion was 2 NY Plaza that spelled doom for its developer.

You do know that Manhattan has the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the U.S., right? If your sage prediction is that no building can be built for 10 years in Manhattan, what's your prediction for the rest of the world? 100 years with nothing built? :haha:

Its about 8% which is about 30% more than it was last year and as I predicted things are going to get alot worse, we have not reached the bottom yet. As for the rest of the world, I said nothing about 100 years but yes this economic crisis has effected the whole world and projects throughout the world have been stopped or put on hold because of it.

Yeah, because they paid $125 a foot, when the market is $85 a foot. Tough luck for the owners. Rents go up and they go down. So what?

So we have an empty tower charging about 30% less, and a developer unable to pay its financiers.

Based on your embarassing lack of knowledge of financial markets, your prediction of the market botton is laughable, considering that even William Buffett wouldn't claim to predict the bottom.

Ofcourse not when his company relies mostly on equity capital.


They won't, and remind we when Detroit moved to New York?

Sure the loss of tens of thousands of jobs for one of the last true manufacturing industries in the United States won't have an effect on NYC. And even if the government bails them out like they do with everything else it won't be a solution, rather an option to delay the inevitable, the American auto industry produces a product noone wants, and without a complete overhaul their downfall is inevitable.

The 7 train is 100% financed, and is NOT being built by the MTA. It's a city project. The MTA is a state agency.

Even sillier, you mention the MTA BUDGET which is totally different from the MTA CAPITAL PLAN.

Funds for MTA expansion projects like the Second Avenue Subway are 100% separate from funds for daily operations. The current issue with the MTA is a reliable additional funding source for daily operations, NOT the capital plan.

In my post this was the last of my reasons, but yes these projects are in jeopardy if the MTA can not find funding for its daily operations, they've already taken a stop off 42nd street from the 7 line, now it'll only stop at 34th and 11th, which is retarded, because of it.

[Crawford]

WOW you're an idiot. Pick up a newspaper.

How about today's NY Times?

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/city-and-state-unemployment-fell-in-october-yes-really/

"Despite a near-constant drumbeat of layoff announcements by big companies, the unemployment rates for New York City and New York State dipped to 5.7 percent last month, according to the State Labor Department."

Oops. Guess you were wrong about that. So nothing gets built for 10 years? What does the NY Times say about the state and nation?

"Still, the city’s job market appears to be healthier than the state’s and the nation’s."

So if NYC has a healthier job market than the state and nation, and (according to you) nothing gets built in NYC for 10 years, what's your prediction for the rest of the country? New construction in the year 2084, give or take a decade? :jester:

I'm willing to bet you have no business education and that your field of work isnt in the real estate industry,

Wrong on both counts. I used to work in Private Placements at Credit Suisse (probably when you were in elementary school) and I currently earn a (very good) living doing site analysis/selection for U.S. firms in Mexico City. I have two Ivy League degrees.

I'm also willing to bet that other than the WTC no other project over 1000 feet will go forward in NYC for atleast another decade.

Paging Nostradamus: there are already buildings over 1,000 ft u/c, so you already lose that bet.

Please tell me more predictions. You predicted 9/11 in 1991? You predicted the 2008 credit meltdown in 1998?
:haha:

The fact that you believe you can accurately predict 10 years into the future, when the greatest minds on earth wouldn't claim to predict 10 weeks into the future, is truly hilarious.

[STERNyc]

Stop twisting my words.

I don't understand why you're posting an article that says seasonal employment is the lowest its been since immediately following the September 11 attacks to bolster your point. Reality check, yes NYC is doing better than the rest of the nation so that means NYC is doing good? No. NYC is hurting, read no new construction since the crisis, and the rest of the country is doing even worse. Take it from someone who lives in Manhattan not someone who lives in another Country.

So if NYC has a healthier job market than the state and nation, and (according to you) nothing gets built in NYC for 10 years, what's your prediction for the rest of the country? New construction in the year 2084, give or take a decade?

I said nothing about new construction for the rest of the country until 2084, where'd you pull that number out of your ass? I predict the rest of the country will not see big projects, 500M+ for another decade, give or take a couple of years.

Paging Nostradamus: there are already buildings over 1,000 ft u/c, so you already lose that bet.

You either refuse to read what I write or insist on changing my words. I said there will be no new construction of buildings over 1000 feet, except for the WTC, for the next decade. Basically every building shown here except for the WTC will not get built for another decade:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106169509/original.jpg

Once again you have no concept of time, that does not include 1000 footers that began construction before the current economic crisis.

Please tell me more predictions. You predicted 9/11 in 1991? You predicted the 2008 credit meltdown in 1998?
I did not predict 9/11 or the credit meltdown, never said I did.

[Crawford]

You don't have a strong understanding of time. All of which started before the current crisis, construction is a several year process. That's what happens during a bubble. It's popped and since the crisis there has been zero construction on projects over 100 million. 50 West Street was about to start construction and had financing in place, now its impossible to find financing and it won't go forward. Extell's 10th avenue tower, Extell's 57th Street Tower, the Drake, and countless other holes around Manhattan that aren't and won't go forward for awhile.

So you admit that you lied. You said nothing would be built in NYC for 10 years. Now you admit that worldwide financing is currently dried up, and this fluid situation could change at any moment.

Of course none of these buildings will be financed RIGHT NOW. You claimed nothing could be financed or built for 10 YEARS, which is absurd.

If you read my post I said financing was secondary. Yes financing will open back up but it won't matter because nobody is going to be building in this economy. Financing will no longer be given for big projects without a large prior commitment, there will be a glut of office space and luxury condominiums and no demand and commitments for new ones for awhile. It'll be the late 1970's to early 1980's, and 1989-1999 all over again.

None of these periods had no construction for 10 years, so again, you admit you lied. In all of these periods, there were dozens of towers constructed.

Lower levels of construction do not mean no construction, and there has never been 10 years in any major global city with no construction.

And nobody but you thinks that NYC is 2008 is remotely comparable to these previous periods.

Chase is so strong that there stock is lowest its been in 6 years.

You know nothing about Chase, the market, or the relationship between the overall market and the relative strength of a company.

Chase is so far ahead this year in the League Tables, it isn't even funny. In terms of dealmaking, they are completely dominant worldwide as of 2008. Jamie Dimon is the world's most powerful banker.

If Citigroup doesnt get bailed out it will go bankrupt.

Citigroup has TONS of cash reserves. They are over $50 billion over the "well capitalized" threshold. They may get more govt. capital, which is a completely different matter.

I know I'm talking to a genuine idiot when you say Morgan Stanley, AIG, and Lehman is fine, tell this to the thousands of employees they've had to lay off they'll be interested to hear.

:haha: Brilliant. A company has layoffs, so it then follows that the company is (as you claim) "dead". I guess every single company on earth is "dead", because every single company has layoffs in bad economies. Google just had major layoffs, so I guess Google is "dead." Coca-Cola and Pepsi just laid off 8,000 people in MEXICO ALONE, so I guess no more soda for the world...

And the fact that you put Morgan Stanley in the same boat as AIG and Lehman is just...:koko: What exactly has changed at Morgan Stanley?

Truly an idiot. Hedge funds have gone the way of the junkbond brokerages.

I'll tell that to my buddy who lives on Park Ave. in the low 70's, and is making a killing on the last few months.

And the demand for medical office space is so high that Extell doesn't have a single commitment.

You don't understand logical reasoning, do you? The lack of a signed tenant does not necessarily have any relationship to demand.

Even if it did, the project hasn't even been marketed until this month. Who on earth would sign a lease this quarter? All dealmaking is off till 2009 at the earliest.

Actually that's not true. The last spec building that didn't have a tenant at completion was 2 NY Plaza that spelled doom for its developer.

:rolleyes: There have been dozens of 100% spec buildings built since 2 NY Plaza.

Axel Stawski ONLY builds spec buildings, such as 565 Fifth and 360 Madison. He even built them in the early 1990's, and made a killing.

Macklowe ONLY builds spec buildings, and he did very well at 340 Madison.

Neither Stawski nor Macklowe opened these buildings with a single tenant.

[STERNyc]

Your twisting of my words is tops. Please bump this thread when a 1000 foot project outside of the WTC starts construction in NYC. I promise to bump it in a couple of months when this site is nothing more than a weed garden.


I refuse to continue going back and forth, with someone who not only doesn't know anything about the real estate industry, doesn't even live in NYC or the USA for that matter, and has a general lack of knowledge of business and history. You can attack me all you want, because Im not wasting any more of my time responding to you. I advise people to read both our posts, mine stand by reason. It pains me but NYC will not see the construction of another 1000 footer for about another decade.

[Crawford]

It pains me but NYC will not see the construction of another 1000 footer for about another decade.

:jester: Not as much as it pains me to not have your magical powers to see decades into the future.

You let us know when 2018 rolls around, and you give the ok for construction to resume in NYC. And don't forget to roll out your preapproved 21st Century construction schedule for the rest of the planet...

[StatenIslander237]

How about you both shut up and stop bickering. This website is not here for pointless arguements. Yes, the outlook is not good for the economy right now, anyone can see that. However, I refuse to be a complete pessimist and think that NYC will grind to a halt, shut down, CRASH AND BURN due to this! Think about the Great Depression. It was during that period that construction jobs fed the families of New Yorkers, and they churned out the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings (among numerous others), which today are revered as symbols of the progress and perseverance of this country.

Crawford, I admire your optimism and your post giving a less negative outlook about potential future supertalls in our fine city brought my spirits up a lot... but don't delude yourself into thinking that everything is fine, when it's really not. Times are NOT good right now, no matter how you spin it.
STERNyc, it's good that you are realistic about the daunting troubles at hand. Like I said, times are certainly not good. I dislike your doomsday attitude, though. I hear enough of that already, and it's not what anyone needs to get them through this next period in history. Try being more optimistic, you'd be surprised how good it feels.

Remember, no one really knows what the future holds.

P.S. Please don't attack me either guys. I'm not here to fight.

[NYguy]

Yes, let's keep this debate civil, and keep your personal attacks to each other.

Stern, Crawford has answered your initial post, so I won't. Except to say that it is unrealistic to think that Midtown won't resume commercial construction for another decade. I think Larry Silverstein sums it up best with his piece yesterday in the Downtown Express on why Downtown has to build - and it is. But I think it pertains more to Midtown where there is relatively NO major new office construction:

http://downtownexpress.com/de_290/downtownwillrise.html

...when the economic future of our city, our state and our nation seems less than secure — it is easy to succumb to fear, doubt and cynicism.

It is important, however, to remember back to the period immediately following 9/11 and the dot-com bust — when Downtown lost 50,000 jobs, millions of square feet of office space sat vacant and many so-called experts had written Downtown off for good.

It's at least predicted that we will have a similar problem with vacant space coming back on the market...

In 2000 Sen. Schumer released his Group of 35 Report, which estimated that the city needed a minimum of 60 million square feet of new office space in the next 25 years just to retain existing office jobs, much less provide space for new ones.

New York needed new office buildings eight years ago — even before tens of millions of feet were lost to the 9/11 attacks and the wave of conversions of older offices to apartment buildings. From 1969 to 1989, Manhattan added almost 100 million square feet of office space — a 36 percent increase. But in the 19 years since, we’ve added only 7 million feet, an increase of under 2 percent. And meanwhile, the city’s office stock is getting older, which makes it less attractive to first class companies who want state-of-the-art technology and environmental standards.

...keep in mind that, through development booms and bust, New York City’s economy has always absorbed every inch of office space that has been constructed. There is no reason to expect this time to be any different.

No, there isn't...

By building now, even if demand for offices either Downtown or anywhere else in the city softens temporarily, we will be ready when the New York and U.S. economies rebound. And have no doubt — they will. They always do. With 55 years in the business, I’ve lived and worked through many of these cycles.

Building great office towers at a time like this is also the smartest economic decision we could make. It will serve as an economic stimulus as thousands of New Yorkers will be put to work right now, and it will create the capacity for the new jobs that will be created tomorrow.

Silverstein is a smart man, and is in a situation where he is fortunate enough that he can build what amounts to spec towers (towers 2 and 3). His towers will be in the best position when things turn around because he has virtually no competition. Office space coming back on the market now wouldn't really be comparible today - five years from now it will be even less so. But there's still the matter of Downtown vs. Midtown. There are still companies that will never move Downtown, no matter the situation. As far as residential goes, when credit becomes easier, that's less of a problem.

Now, as far as this tower goes, (the WPC), they apparently aren't planning anything before 2010. But they are targeting a very specific market. The success of this project depends on what kind of success they will have in the industry over the next year or two - we certainly won't know that next week.

[NYC4Life]

Wow, an entire page devoted to nonsense. Now i want to see actual news on this tower. :rolleyes:

[StatenIslander237]

It's not nonsense.....well the bickering was nonsense, but thanks Crawford for your post (the one with the pics), and thank you NYguy. That's a smart piece you quoted, and like I said, it's OPTIMISM we need.

....and now ladies and gentlemen, back to 55 West 33rd Street.

[Jibba]

Nice, solid design. The slanted set-back conflicts with the diagrid pattern, but will probably look better in its actual inception.

[NYguy]

One of the nice things about this tower, and most of the developments in the area, is the generous plaza that will front it.
The subway entrance adds a nice touch, though the station itself will be deeper than normal for various reasons.

Shown here, the WPC plan:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260594/large.jpg


Compared with some early subway planning for the site, gives an idea of the depth:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260561/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260575/large.jpg


Early planning also shows the plaza on what would become the WPC (and the Girasole in the background)

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260629/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260763/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260940/large.jpg

Compared to the final WPC version:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106287010/original.jpg


View from the upper offices:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106287027/original.jpg

[CMack]

NYguy, those are great elevation diagrams showing the incorporation of the subway and access. Very cool to see!

[NYguy]

http://www.globest.com/news/1294_1294/newyork/175391-1.html

Westside Medical Mart Tower Advances

http://www.globest.com/newspics/nyc_worldproductctrrend.jpg

By Cody Lyon
November 23, 2008

NEW YORK CITY-Despite a daily dish of sour news that paint the picture of a city in economic contraction, a group of developers say excavation had begun and marketing is underway, for a new 60-floor, glass and steel tower that will rise over-looking the Jacob Javitts Center. The 1.5-million-square-foot complex--scheduled to be complete by 2013--will bring an international multi-purpose trade center for medical professionals and vendors to Manhattan’s far west side.

Called, 'World Product Centre', the 977-foot tower, being built at 555 W. 33rd St., is a joint effort between the Greater New York Hospital Association and Extell Development Corp. Plans say it will serve an array of commercial and educational needs for healthcare suppliers and providers within that $336-billion dollar industry.

"You’re going to have 600 different companies dedicated to healthcare who now have a physical presence in New York City," Lee Perlman, president of GNYHA Ventures, tells GlobeSt.com.

The new ‘side-corp’ building on the site of the former CopaCabana nightclub will be minimum LEED-certified and in addition to serving as a trade mart, will contain two floors dedicated as a consumer health pavilion, where educational companies or organizations can interact with the public.

Interestingly, spokespeople say what has healthcare industry players most excited is that the complex will offer an environment that encourages transparency for that industry’s business transactions--a craft that has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years, resulting in congressional hearings and stiff penalties. The project, originally set to be built at the World Trade Center site downtown, has been in planning stages for years.

According to WPC spokesperson Michael Resnick, the idea’s genesis was the result of the personal experiences of Israel Green, WPC visionary and president. Resnick says that around ten years ago, Green’s wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. "He was told she had six months to live," says Resnick.

Green used his resources to travel the world and seek help for his wife’s condition. But, at some point, just days before what Resnick called a serious operation, the surgeon revealed surprising news to Green. "The surgeon came in and told him that his wife in fact, did not have cancer," says Resnick.

According to Resnick’s accounts, there had been plenty of evidence all along showing that Green’s wife was cancer free. But, in the end, Green left the experience feeling that the health care system, from the perspectives of doctors, providers, innovation providers and procedures was seriously disconnected.

That experience led Green to further develop his idea. Using his resources, he sought to create an environment or facility where doctors and manufacturers of medical devices and other technologies might come together to facilitate commerce, transfer knowledge and share education.

Then, Green discovered that the Greater New York Hospital Association had also been working on a very similar idea for some sort of medical merchandise mart. "We then wanted to form a single project," says Lee Perlman, president of the GNYHA of his pooling of ideas with Green.

Perlman describes the massive building as "a complex Disneyland and World’s Fair for healthcare innovation and education" where "no two days are ever the same, an international destination for the medical community."

Perlman says, while the complex will serve as a trade mart for medical service companies from around the world to showcase new products, "it will also be a place to demonstrate new services, a center where innovations are announced and, being that this is New York, a place where financial markets can intersect with some of the largest companies they serve."

"We have so many companies in health care that are publicly traded but virtually none of them have offices in New York City," he says. "One of my driving forces is that we create a place in New York where they can come and be connected to the financial services industry.”

World Product Centre’s Resnick agrees saying that "we want to create a center that highlights the biggest industry in the world, the industry that is most important, since when you think about it, the most important thing in the world is health," says Resnick.

Still, the health of New York City’s economy does not bode well for any project seeking to reach into the skies of Manhattan these days. This is not discouraging Perlman or Resnick as they intend to continue seeking to fill their building--with Consorta, Inc., leading those efforts.

"It’s fascinating to me that so much of the media attention about our project is being placed on the financing aspect," says Resnick. Meanwhile, Perlman stresses the uniqueness of the project, noting that the healthcare industry is a growth sector.

The group is getting customers to commit to long -term leases, then going to banks and financial service groups and saying, "listen, we have 200 great companies, they’re all credit worthy and they are all going to pay rent," said Perlman.

"It is a growth sector, and it will continue to grow," says Perlman. "We want it to grow in New York City."

[NYguy]

I'm fascinated by the subway aspect to these developments, which is really where any work at the site is, so I'll post these again...

One of the nice things about this tower, and most of the developments in the area, is the generous plaza that will front it.
The subway entrance adds a nice touch, though the station itself will be deeper than normal for various reasons.

Shown here, the WPC plan:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260594/large.jpg


Compared with some early subway planning for the site, gives an idea of the depth:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260561/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260575/large.jpg


Early planning also shows the plaza on what would become the WPC (and the Girasole in the background)

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260629/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260763/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106260940/large.jpg

Compared to the final WPC version:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106287010/original.jpg


View from the upper offices:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106287027/original.jpg

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/west-side-extension-no-7-line-getting-cavernous

West Side Extension of No. 7 Line Getting Cavernous

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article/files/image016.jpg

by Eliot Brown
November 24, 2008

Construction, it seems, is indeed under way for the extension of the No. 7 line, the cornerstone of the Bloomberg administration’s planned development of the far West Side.

The MTA’s capital construction page shows an update for November with pictures from below, where the agency is hollowing out the cavern for the station and making way for the eventual launch of a tunnel-boring machine, which will slowly dig its way along the 1.5-mile route.

The project, budgeted at $2.1 billion, would extend the line from Times Square to the base of the Javits Center on 34th Street, adjacent to the West Side rail yards. The Bloomberg administration has been the driving force behind the extension, which it says will help spawn tens of millions of square feet of West Side development.

The cash-strapped MTA had no desire to pay for the project, so the city is footing the entire bill, up to the $2.1 billion. Should costs exceed the budget (which many onlookers assume they will, given rising costs everywhere), the city and the MTA have yet to negotiate an agreement on who would cover them.

[JDRCRASH]

Building patterns similar to Hearst Tower. I think it looks pretty good!

[GraniteStoneNY]

wow. i hope that this one is also environmentally friendly like the BofA one. anyone have info on that?

[Indescribable]

It sure has a strange name.

[NYguy]

Of note here...

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/demo-contracts-near-for-hudson-yards-park

Demo contracts near for Hudson Yards park

http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/59120/545_articlebox.jpg

545 West 34th Street

By Adam Pincus
12/08/08


The city is moving forward with demolition to clear the way for a new four-acre park and boulevard as well as the entrance for the new terminal station for the No. 7 train for the massive Hudson Yards redevelopment project on Manhattan's West Side.

The city is expected to award its first contracts this week to raze two buildings on two large parcels spanning from 34th to 36th streets, and 10th to 11th avenues, which will become part of the new Hudson Boulevard and park.

And a block to the south, the city is seeking bids that are due Friday for the demolition of the former FedEx World Service Center building at 528-556 West 34th Street, to make way for the entrance to the No. 7 train on 33rd Street.

The buildings will be brought down in what many fear will be the worst economic recession in decades, leading critics to wonder who is going to build and occupy the massive skyscrapers envisioned for the Hudson Yards district or whether the structures will come down but nothing will rise in their places, a waste of functional buildings.

Hudson Boulevard and the park comprise a mid-block open space that is planned to run from 33rd to 39th streets between 10th and 11th avenues, and be lined with large office and residential towers. The first phase of the park and boulevard, from 33rd to 36th streets, is slated to be completed in 2013. A design team is expected to be named in the next several weeks, city officials said.

The city-led Hudson Yards Development Corporation is overseeing the long-term project to redevelop the West Side.

The two large parcels that will make up the park and boulevard are now mostly occupied by buildings but also include vacant land.

The three buildings that are coming down are a six-story, red brick residential building at 545 West 34th Street, and a seven-story commercial building at 524-542 West 36th Street, both between 10th and 11th avenues, in addition to the FedEx building.

Joe Restuccia, executive director of the West Side advocacy group Clinton Housing Development Company, which helped tenants from 545 West 34th Street find new apartments, said the weak private development market would likely assure that the land remained empty for years.

"Do you believe there is a speculative office building that will be built on the West Side?" he said. "My real concern is the land will be vacant for quite some time and there won't be any improvement in the area."

David Farber, vice president and general counsel at the Hudson Yards Development Corporation, wrote in an email: "The park and boulevard remain on schedule to be completed in 2013, and therefore we must go ahead with that demolition work."

Five demolition bids have been received for the two park and boulevard parcels, which are expected to cost approximately $6 million to $8.5 million each, said a spokesperson for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which is handling the demolition contracts.

The bids were closed October 24 and the city had 45 days to select a contractor, the HPD spokesperson said. The city may choose a contractor after the 45-day period, but the winning company is no longer bound by its bid.

[aliendroid]

How did this end up 1011ft, did they add a 40 foot pole to the top?

[STERNyc]

Please tell me more predictions. You predicted 9/11 in 1991? You predicted the 2008 credit meltdown in 1998?
:haha:


A friendly little update.

Downtown Express:

50 West delay
Another casualty of the free-falling economy is 50 West St., the condo tower Time Equities hopes to build in Greenwich St. South.

Francis Greenburger, C.E.O. of Time Equities, told Crain’s New York Business last month that the firm is slowing work on 50 West’s foundation, because he doesn’t have a construction loan to build the 65-story tower.

“Our main bank group told us they can’t do it now,” Greenburger told Crain’s. “They advised us to come back to them in the spring.”

UnderCover called Greenburger’s spokesperson for more information, but she would not confirm anything and would not give a new completion date for the tower. The building was supposed to rise above ground next summer and open in 2011.

The luxury tower was not one of the community board’s favorite projects, but that doesn’t mean board members are happy to see it stalled.

“The last thing this community needs is another uncompleted project…or another hole in the ground,” said Catherine McVay Hughes of Community Board 1. “Hopefully the financing will come through and what was promised can be realized.”

New York Observer:

Vornado Exec: 125th Street MLB Project ‘Shut Down’

Another new development project canceled.

Speaking at an investor conference yesterday, Vornado CFO Joseph Macnow gave word that the company’s troubled plans for Harlem Park, an office tower on 125th Street, have been officially scuttled.

“We’ve shut down a couple of development projects,” Mr. Macnow said.

“We were going to build the first office building in Harlem in 50 years on 125th Street and Park Avenue. We’ve shut that project down. The economics are not warranted today to do that job.”

Vornado had once wanted to build a 630,000-square-foot office building as a home for a Major League Baseball television network. The developers said they had tentative leases on only about one-third of the space, and thus Vornado couldn’t find financing to build the tower.

In preparation for the tower, Vornado had even gone to the community board and negotiated a concession package in order to gain an exemption from a planned rezoning that would have limited the height.

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-es...ject-shut-down

© 2008 Observer Media Group


Everything's still a-go and a-okay, right?

[NYguy]

A friendly little update.

Downtown Express:

50 West delay
Another casualty of the free-falling economy is 50 West St., the condo tower Time Equities hopes to build in Greenwich St. South.

That's old news (check the thread)

New York Observer:

Vornado Exec: 125th Street MLB Project ‘Shut Down’

Speaking at an investor conference yesterday, Vornado CFO Joseph Macnow gave word that the company’s troubled plans for Harlem Park, an office tower on 125th Street, have been officially scuttled.

As is that, though they just made it official. Doesn't have any relevance here though.

[NYguy]

How did this end up 1011ft, did they add a 40 foot pole to the top?

1,011 ft is just the height to the top of the parapet, or what will essentially be the roofline.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/106145561/large.jpg

[aliendroid]

1,011 ft is just the height to the top of the parapet, or what will essentially be the roofline.



even better, that makes this a real supertall without even cheating. I only like to count bulky parts of the building into the height, not spires.

[antinimby]

Then don't count the spires. Buildings don't cheat. It's these silly skyscraper sites (and "authorities") that count them into the height.

If one chooses to not count them, then don't. No one is forcing you to.

[NYguy]

Then don't count the spires. Buildings don't cheat. It's these silly skyscraper sites (and "authorities") that count them into the height.

If one chooses to not count them, then don't. No one is forcing you to.

Right. A buildings height only matters in official rankings anyway. That being said, we do know that spires count officially. Those are just the rules. For example, you don't have to call red, "red". You could call it blue....:)

[HyperPower]

This building looks like it might get the nod soon. Thank god for it, now I will have something to keep my attention in these forums for the next couple of years. God knows the WTC site will take another 20 years just to finish the foundations.

[NYguy]

This building looks like it might get the nod soon.

What do you mean, "get the nod soon"? The building is already approved.

[NYguy]

Work on the "other" medical mart...
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1230802320314400.xml&coll=2

Cuyahoga County grants 1-month extension on medical mart site selection

January 01, 2009
Joe Guillen, Plain Dealer Reporter


One month after setting a Jan. 15 deadline for choosing a site for a proposed medical mart, Cuyahoga County commissioners have granted a one-month extension.

Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones said Wednesday that the county granted the extension at the request of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., the Chicago company analyzing potential sites.

Commissioners already face criticism for the slow pace on the $1 billion project, which includes an accompanying convention center and is expected to capitalize on the region's strong health care industry.

Cleveland Clinic Chief Executive Toby Cosgrove and an executive at Forest City Enterprises, which owns property being considered for the mart, have urged county officials to speed up the selection process.

They fear a New York developer planning a larger showroom in Manhattan for medical companies will open first and possibly hurt the Cleveland project's chances of success.

The county has been waiting months for Merchandise Mart Properties, which will own and operate the mart, to study two downtown Cleveland sites: Tower City and the current Cleveland Convention Center.

Jones said the latest delay is not the commissioners' fault.

"We are all anxious in Northeast Ohio to see something done," Jones said. "But this is a very complex deal. There shouldn't be any concern about MMPI's commitment to this simply because they're devoting an extra month to getting it right."

A representative for MMPI could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Cuyahoga County Republican Party Chairman Rob Frost said it's time the three Democratic commissioners show more leadership, rather than stand by and wait for MMPI to produce its report.

"The utter lack of leadership on the part of the county on this is breathtaking," Frost said Wednesday. "It appears the only thing they were able to accomplish is increasing the taxes and starting to collect the revenue."

County taxpayers are financing construction of the project through a quarter-cent sales tax increase that commissioners approved in 2007. The tax, which will be in place for 20 years, generated $42 million in its first full year.

Over the 20 years, the tax could raise $1 billion. The county intends to borrow money for the project and use the tax to pay off the debt.

[HyperPower]

What do you mean, "get the nod soon"? The building is already approved.

I meant getting built soon, not being approved by various agencies. The 7-line extension will obviously be the first major milestone in developing the area.

[NYguy]

I meant getting built soon, not being approved by various agencies. The 7-line extension will obviously be the first major milestone in developing the area.

I don't know what your definition of soon is, but it most certainly won't start construction this year.

[NYguy]

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/extell-plows-ahead

Extell plows ahead
Will Gary Barnett be the last man standing in New York real estate?

http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/61291/extell_plows_ahead_articlebox.jpg

By David Jones
January 2009


Three years ago, an up-and-coming real estate firm called Extell Development Company was denied the right to develop the controversial Atlantic Yards site, despite outbidding rival Forest City Ratner by $100 million.

Now, the world has completely changed for both companies, with fortunes rising for one and falling for the other. The credit crisis has halted the $6 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn for Forest City Ratner, while Extell has emerged as the most active developer in the rehabilitation of Manhattan's West Side.

_________________________

Apparently betting that the proposed Hudson Yards development on the far West Side remains viable, Extell has also announced plans for a 60-story office tower called the World Product Centre, which would operate as a merchandise mart for the medical industry. Estimates of the tower's cost range from $500 million to $1 billion; however, financing for this project has not been announced.

Extell is working with the Greater New York Hospital Association and an investor named Israel Green on the former Copacabana site at 11th Avenue and 33rd Street, which is scheduled for completion by 2013.

Officials said they plan to find at least two anchor tenants to commit to 10-year leases at the site, but it remains unclear whether the development has any chance of reaching fruition, or if this is just another political stake being driven into the ground with the intention of keeping the Hudson Yards plan viable.

Schwartz, who said the economic downturn is just beginning and believes that recovery is several years away, argues that this is "a really good time" to be positioning properties for development for the next up cycle. "We've been encouraging a number of our clients to do exactly that," Schwartz said.