NEW YORK | 30 Hudson Yards (North Tower) | 1,296 FT | 92 FLOORS

[NYguy]

http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/...yor-bloomberg/

Hudson Yards and New York’s love-hate relationship with Mayor Bloomberg

By Joan Gralla
July 18, 2012

At a public hearing on Thursday, the developers will ask a city agency to approve $106 million of property tax breaks for the first office tower planned for the site. The new 46-floor, $1.27 billion building, which is expected to house luxury retailer Coach Inc, should start going up in October, and be finished in July 2015, according to the filing for the tax relief.

Critics say the developers – The Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group Inc – should not be tapping taxpayers’ wallets, but should instead be relying on their own deep pockets.

However, supporters of the project note that the incentives being offered to all developers in the Hudson Yards area – a 40 percent reduction in property taxes phased out over 19 years – are much less generous than the 100 percent property tax breaks, plus exemptions for sales and mortgage recording taxes – that are available in other parts of the city.

The tax breaks Related and Oxford receive are expected to allow them to attract new tenants by lowering how much it costs to lease the new buildings. The same kind of program was used to build Lower Manhattan’s Battery Park City, the World Trade Center and to revitalize 42nd Street, a Related spokeswoman said in a statement.

Related’s plans call for 14 acres of open space, a “cultural shed” for events, 5,000 residences in nine buildings, 6 million square feet of offices, 1 million square feet of shops, a school and a hotel.

New York City borrowed $3 billion of debt to pay for the subway extension. Instead of selling general obligation bonds, the Bloomberg administration created a special debt-selling entity – the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation. The bonds will be repaid with so-called payments in lieu of taxes that developers will make once their buildings have gone up.

[Hudson11]

46 floors?

[NYguy]

It could be 46. Who knows what they are counting as floors.

[yankeesfan1000]

Wasn't really sure where to post this, but it's certainly welcomed news as previous reports had Credit Suisse looking for only about 1.25 million square feet. To put 3M sf in perspective, 3 WTC is 2.8M, and I believe the North Tower here is only 2.5M so Credit Suisse would take the entire North Tower, and then spill over into the South Tower.


Casting a Wide Net in Real-Estate Search

—Laura Kusisto
July 29, 2012, 8:56 p.m. ET

"Credit Suisse is throwing wide open a competition to lead one of the largest real-estate searches in town.

The Swiss bank has sent out a request for proposals to about 10 brokerage firms to lead its search for some 3 million square feet of office space in the city, according to multiple people familiar with the matter...

The bank is looking for a broker to help them with a process similar to the one being conducted by Time Warner Inc., in which they plan not simply to look for a single new space, but to undergo a complete review of their office space requirements...

...Much like Time Warner, the bank is likely to be the belle of the ball, as major developers like the World Trade Center and Hudson Yards are hoping to land major leases to help get new office towers off the ground.

Time Warner, which currently occupies about 4 million square feet of space in the city, is expected to narrow down its search to some finalist buildings in the coming weeks, according to brokers and developers familiar with the matter."

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by Hudson11

46 floors?

It is likely a typo, if not it is that like everything else in the USA, it has been shortened, but I don't think the latter is too likely.

[jd3189]

Originally Posted by yankeesfan1000

Time Warner, which currently occupies about 4 million square feet of space in the city, is expected to narrow down its search to some finalist buildings in the coming weeks, according to brokers and developers familiar with the matter."

No offense to Hudson Yards, but I hope Time Warner picks the WTC. Out of the two, it's the only one that is actually under construction. I don't understand why many of these tenants have to choose where they want go at this time.

[NYguy]

I would be surprised if Time Warner didn't get some space at Related's development. But there are other Hudson Yards towers in the mix, including Extell's One Hudson Yards.



http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2012...ving-train-car

Sneak Peek at New High Line Designs Show Train Car Cafe, Playground

July 26, 2012
By Mathew Katz



























http://www.rew-online.com/2012/07/24...line-from-csx/

City acquires final section of High Line from CSX

July 24, 2012

The City of New York has acquired the third and final section of the High Line from CSX Transportation, Inc., a major step toward completing the vision of preserving the entire historic elevated railway and transforming it into public open space. The transfer of ownership clears the way for design and construction on the final stretch of the elevated rail viaduct to extend the High Line park to West 34th Street. Design of the rail yards section is underway, and construction is expected to begin later this year.

The rail yards section of the High Line represents one-third of the entire historic freight structure, and runs for one-half mile north of the current High Line park, wrapping around the West Side Yards, an active rail yards used by the Long Island Rail Road, bounded by West 30th and West 34th Streets to the south and north, and 10th and 12th Avenues to the east and west.

The LIRR storage yard is the site of the future 26-acre Hudson Yards mixed-use neighborhood being developed by Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group, which will include more than 12 million square feet of new office, residential, retail, and cultural space, as well as 14 acres of public space.

Wrapping around this new development, the High Line will be a fully integrated open space within Hudson Yards, connecting this new neighborhood with West Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, while providing an historic link to the industrial history on Manhattan’s West Side.

[NYguy]

http://www.thehour.com/business/huds...7bda3d477.html

Hudson Yards: An urban town within a city

August 6, 2012

"To build these very large structures on top of the tracks is a huge challenge," says architect Bill Pedersen, co-founder of the architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, which designed Hudson Yards' master plan. "It's like dental work, threading through down below."

Ross told the AP that the architect for another high-rise along a central, tree-lined park is David Childs, who designed New York's tallest building, One World Trade Center, to be occupied by 2014.

Plans also include a riverfront park, and a cultural center that's been dubbed The Culture Shed, an exotic five-story structure with translucent, telescoping outer shells to accommodate art exhibitions, concerts, film screenings and other public events. The architect is Elizabeth Diller, with designer David Rockwell.

Ross says he wants construction to be finished on half of the planned Hudson Yards within a year of the towers' completion.

"The biggest obstacle to making this happen is, you have to create a critical mass; no one is going to want to live in a construction zone," he says.

[Zapatan]

There are 49 office floors here, either they made a mistake in the article or the building has been shortened, but It doesn't make sense to shorten it so it probably and hopefully is the previous.

[yankeesfan1000]

Originally posted by RW on SSC:

Coach tower financing faces deadline

By Friday lenders must submit proposals to Related Cos. to finance construction of its 46-story, 1.7 million-square-foot tower for Coach on the West Side.

By Theresa Agovino @theresaagovino
August 14, 2012 1:15 p.m.

"Banks eager to lend Related Cos. and its partner between $300 million and $400 million for the construction of the first tower at the developer's massive Hudson Yards project west of Penn Station must have their proposals in by the end of the week, sources familiar with the transaction said.

Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are among the banks Related approached about lending money for construction of the 1.7 million-square-foot, 46-story tower at West 30th Street and 10th Avenue that will stand next to the northern end of the High Line.

Coach Inc. agreed to become the anchor tenant there late last year and will put up about $500 million towards construction of the tower where it will own its 750,000-square-foot office. Related and its partner, Canada's Oxford Properties Group, will put in over $300 million. The tower is slated to be competed by 2015..."

[colemonkee]

That kid on the left is trouble. And the kid in the middle is his next unwitting victim.

Originally Posted by NYguy

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

that kid on the left is trouble. And the kid in the middle is his next unwitting victim.

LOL, I hope they plan some good drainage in there.



http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/120819954

Coach tower financing faces deadline
By Friday lenders must submit proposals to Related Cos. to finance construction of its 46-story, 1.7 million-square-foot tower for Coach on the West Side.

By Theresa Agovino
August 14, 2012

Banks eager to lend Related Cos. and its partner between $300 million and $400 million for the construction of the first tower at the developer's massive Hudson Yards project west of Penn Station must have their proposals in by the end of the week, sources familiar with the transaction said. Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are among the banks Related approached about lending money for construction of the 1.7 million-square-foot, 46-story tower at West 30th Street and 10th Avenue that will stand next to the northern end of the High Line. Coach Inc. agreed to become the anchor tenant there late last year and will put up about $500 million towards construction of the tower where it will own its 750,000-square-foot office. Related and its partner, Canada's Oxford Properties Group, will put in over $300 million. The tower is slated to be competed by 2015.

Even as it lines up financing, Manhattan-based Related is continuing to seek additional tenants for the Coach tower as well as for others that it plans for the 26-acre site over the rail yards, which is bounded by 10th and 12th avenues and West 30th and West 33rd streets. The building will be the first component of the more than 13 million square feet planned for the 26-acre site, which will include three office towers, a hotel, nine apartment buildings, a cultural center, a school and parkland. The $15 billion project could take as long as 15 years to complete.

However, Related has repeatedly said it won't go ahead and build the $1.6 billion platform over the rail yards until it secures a major office tenant. The Coach tower can go ahead because it is on solid ground. A Coach spokeswoman didn't return a call seeking comment while a Related spokeswoman said in a statement: "We have received significant interest from our lending relationships and are excited to start construction on the Hudson Yards this fall."

[yankeesfan1000]

Thanks to RW for giving the heads up on the article.

Law Firms Widen Searches
Laura Kusisto August 19, 2012, 10:04 p.m. ET

"...Law firms don't like to pay too much for office space because even junior associates expect offices, and because rent money comes out of the partners' pockets.

Now other large firms are looking Downtown and to the new Hudson Yards development, trading less-prime locations for cheaper rents and the benefits of being in new construction...

...If firms continue the westward migration, some could even end up in the new Hudson Yards development. White & Case LLP has been scouting for potential office space in the Hudson Yards area, according to a real-estate executive familiar with the matter.

Another firm, Morrison & Foerster LLP, last year agreed to anchor Boston Properties' development on West 55th Street and Eighth Avenue.

"We're at the very beginning of a westward migration," said Mark Edelstein, chairman of the firm's real-estate finance practice in New York. "Eighth Avenue is the new Sixth Avenue. It's a little premature, but it's going to happen."

[Duck From NY]

I would expect that there are a lot of tech-involved companies looking for newer office space. I know that ugly rust-colored building a few blocks East of the ESB houses server-providers.

I have faith that the necessary tenants will be found, and from multiple industries. The location, the prestige, the cost all seem favorable.

[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...IONS/120829918

Nearly all unions climb aboard Hudson Yards labor-cost deal
Related Cos. hammers out worker pact that should get first half of megaproject rolling

By Daniel Massey
August 26, 2012

After months of tense negotiations, the Related Cos. and the city's construction unions have agreed in principle to a series of cost-saving measures that will help push the $15 billion Hudson Yards project forward and ensure that it is built with union labor. Some four dozen unions covering more than a dozen trades agreed to cut wage and benefit packages and change work rules in order to grab a piece of a massive construction project that could keep their members working for at least 10 years. The overall deal, known as a project labor agreement, is not yet final, but last week, District Council of Carpenters delegates voted to approve a 10% wage and benefit reduction for work on Hudson Yards, the last of the participating unions to agree to help Related control costs.

...The project labor agreement covers the first half of the Hudson Yards project: two large commercial buildings, a residential skyscraper, a mixed-use tower and a retail complex encompassing about 8 million square feet on the eastern rail yards. Both sides expressed optimism that a further deal will be worked out when construction is ready to begin on the remainder of the project. Related needed cost savings to help make Hudson Yards affordable to tenants and competitive with commercial buildings being constructed in lower Manhattan. With the first building—a 46-story tower to house the corporate headquarters of retailer Coach—slated to start rising in the fall, time was running out for a deal. A Related spokeswoman declined to comment.

[NYguy]

http://thornton.s3.amazonaws.com/con...ject_Sheet.pdf

[NYguy]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbr...lated-cos-ceo/

Billionaire Stephen Ross Steps Down As CEO Of Related

By Morgan Brennan
9/07/12

Stephen Ross started Related Cos in 1972, armed with a $10,000 loan from his mother and a business plan focused on affordable housing. Forty years later, Ross is a billionaire (worth an estimated $3.1 billion as of March) and Related Cos is one of the largest real estate developers in the U.S., famous for projects that include New York City’s Time Warner Center and Los Angeles‘ The Century. Now Ross, 72, is stepping aside as chief executive. His longtime lieutenant, Jeff Blau, will assume the CEO role, in an announcement that all but solidifies Blau’s status as heir apparent to the the Related Cos empire.

“It reflects the way the company has been operating,” says Ross, who will maintain his position as executive chairman. “The role that I have here isn’t really going to change at all. I won’t be relieving any responsibilities or stepping down from any; we are just putting the right kind of titles with the right kind of responsibilities.”

Related Cos currently owns and operates more than $15 billion worth of residential, retail, and mixed use property. Most of its projects are located in major U.S. cities, particularly New York. As the executive team settles into their “new” positions, Ross continues to focus his energy on Hudson Yards, the $12 billion, 10-year Manhattan development project poised to become the crown jewel of his four-decade, multi-billion dollar career. “Hudson Yards is monumental…and the challenge of that turns me on, if you know what I mean,” he reaffirms. Once completed, the 26-acre Related Hudson Yards will become of the most significant development projects in the U.S. since John D. Rockefeller Jr. created his namesake center in the 1930s.

Up next: breaking ground at Hudson Yards in October.

[Zapatan]

I love how 1WTC is still under construction in the background of that one rendering. Nice attention to detail whoever drew that

[NYC GUY]

Breaking ground in October? That's awesome!

[Dac150]

Good for him - obviously well accomplished and built a great company that in turn developed some great projects.