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Old Posted Feb 28, 2011, 5:08 PM
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This could be one of two new speculative towers being built, another signal that things are picking up...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...737840000.html

Developers Eye City Office Buildings .


Edward Minskoff is aiming to begin construction in July on 51 Astor Place

By DANA RUBINSTEIN
February 28, 2011


Quote:
Edward Minskoff, a member of one of New York's storied real-estate families, is hoping to begin construction in July on what would be the city's first large "speculative" new office building since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Mr. Minskoff says he will begin construction without any pre-leasing on a Maki and Associates-designed, 430,000-square-foot tower on a site overlooking Astor Place that he acquired in late 2007. Just outside the trendy East Village, it's an unorthodox location for an office building. Most of the city's modern office space is in Midtown and the Financial District.

But in a recent interview, Mr. Minskoff predicted that the building would attract high-tech companies, investment banks, insurance and advertising firms. "It's an area that a lot of young people want to work in," he said. He plans to charge about $65 a square foot per year, a modest amount for new space.

Speculative office development has ground to a halt in recent years as rents and demand have plummeted and financing for such risky projects has become difficult to obtain. But in the past year, occupancy rates and rents have improved somewhat as the city's economy has expanded.

If Mr. Minskoff is able to break ground, it would be the first sign so far that the financing spigot has reopened. He said that he is working with a construction lender whom he declined to identify. Of the financing, he said he is "processing it at the present time."

...Mr. Minskoff isn't alone in eyeing office projects. A joint venture of Pacolet Milliken Enterprises and Hines recently confirmed plans to build a more-than-400,000-square-foot skyscraper at 1045 Avenue of the Americas, to be designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, though it's unclear when construction will begin. A spokesman for Hines said the developers were still deciding whether to have a pre-leasing requirement.
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