NEW YORK | 51 Astor Place | 13 floors

[yankeesfan1000]

Demolition of the building on site is in full swing.

[RobertWalpole]

Superb!!!!!!

[yankeesfan1000]

Minskoff forges ahead with 51 Astor Place office development
September 14, 2011 10:30AM



"Developer Edward Minskoff is preparing to break ground at 51 Astor Place, he told Real Estate Weekly, a 400,000-square-foot office tower between Third and Fourth avenues and 8th and 9th streets...

The project is slated to be finished by the end of 2013..."

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

EXCLUSIVE: Construction Loan Locked Down at Minskoff’s 51 Astor

The full-block office tower set to rise at 51 Astor Place has closed on a construction loan valued at between $165 and $200 million with Bank of America, a source familiar with the project told The Commercial Observer earlier this afternoon.



Construction loan locked down at 51 Astor.
Though the Edward J. Minskoff Equities tower has not yet signed any tenants, the 400,000-square-foot asset promises to be among the most technologically advanced buildings erected in Manhattan in the past decade, said the structure’s developer.

“It will surpass the Bank of America building [One Bryant Park] in some ways,” said Mr. Minskoff, who declined to speak about the specifics of the construction loan.

Minskoff is betting on the area near Cooper Union and on Manhattan’s need for updated office stock for a windfall of new tenants to the area. The only Class A office building in the submarket is at 610 Broadway, according to research from Cassidy Turley.

Rents at the Fumihiko Maki-designed tower will range from about $88 to $115 per square foot. The office will be completed and occupied by 2013, Mr. Minskoff said. “We’re having a lot of traction with tenants,” Mr. Minskoff said.

“It could be very successful certainly, but the price point makes me a little nervous,” said Robert Sammons, vice president at Cassidy Turley. “That’s Seagram building pricing.”

But the boutique office building could do fine with just one prestigious anchor tenant, added Mr. Sammons. “In reality, if he finds one or two Facebooks or Googles than he’s golden,” said Mr. Sammons of Mr. Minskoff.

The developer acquired the property for close to $100 million at the end of 2008 from Cooper Union, a school that is facing a $16.5 million budget deficit and, according to The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, is seriously considering charging tuition fees.

Mr. Minskoff insisted that the university, which owns the Chrysler building and leases it to Tishman Speyer long term, would not be putting any of its real estate on the block.”

A spokesperson for Cooper Union said that the school has absolutely no intention of selling any real estate assets.

http://www.observer.com/2011/11/excl...offs-51-astor/

[NYguy]

A good sign for development in the City. The headline says it all.


http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/111109962

Tenantless tower in East Village gets $160M loan
Tower in East Village will be first speculative office building to go up in years. Deal is third big property financing of week.

By Theresa Agovino
November 3, 2011

Edward J. Minskoff Equities closed on Wednesday on a $160 million construction loan to build what will shortly become the only commercial office building going up in New York City without a tenant.

Minskoff Equities plans to build a 430,000-square-foot, 13-story building called 51 Astor Place that will also include retail and education space. Demolition of the existing building located between Third and Fourth avenues and Ninth Street and Astor Place has already started. The new building should be completed by the spring of 2013.

...locking in the financing for a tenantless, speculative office building is a rare feat in a market still recovering from the real estate crash that began in 2008. And in a hopeful sign, two other financings that have been in the works for months closed this week. On Monday, in the biggest of those deals, Extell Development closed on a $700 million syndicated construction loan for 90 One57, the developer’s soaring hotel and condo project on West 57th Street across from Carnegie Hall. A $110 million mortgage refinancing for the Sofitel Hotel on West 44th Street also closed.

[yankeesfan1000]

Demo of structure above street level looked finished late last night. Another render of what we're getting built here.


Source.

[NYguy]

http://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/astor-master/

Astor master
With a mega-construction loan in hand, developer Edward Minskoff is betting the bank on his speculative Astor Place office tower.



February 01, 2012
By Adam Piore

In New York City, possibly the only thing rarer than a developer who can get a $100 million-plus construction loan these days is a developer who can get one to build a speculative office tower.

Recently, Edward Minskoff surmounted both hurdles, winning approval for a $165 million loan to build a flashy, 400,000-square-foot, 13-story office tower in the heart of Astor Place, an area one doesn’t normally associate with new office space.

“The fact that the building is not online today is a good thing,” he said. “Once we get beyond the election, I think the market is poised for another spurt in prices. But we would have to see some absorption to take away some of the supply.” If demand for his office space falls short, Minskoff’s options will be limited. He purchased the lot from Cooper Union, knowing that the zoning allows only commercial or retail on the site.

The 51 Astor Place site sits on an island at the top of Astor Place, bounded on all four sides by streets — Third Avenue, Fourth Avenue, 9th Street and Astor Place — providing the space needed to create an architecturally unique structure.

Minskoff takes pride in a discerning eye, honed over decades building an art collection that includes masterpieces from the likes of Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning and Jean-Michel Basquiat. So it’s not surprising that he hired the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Fumihiko Maki to design 51 Astor Place. The design is a distinctive Neo-Modernist edifice with three parts, consisting of a low-lying glazed box, upon which he will stack glass and dark granite geometric shapes. It’s a bold design that promises to transform the feel of Astor Place. Minskoff is banking that the cachet will draw the big-money tenants he’ll need to make the project work financially.

Minskoff said the building, which is scheduled to be ready for tenant construction at the end of 2012 and open for business in the spring of 2013, is “one of the smallest buildings I have developed in the last 25 years.”

“But I think it’s the coolest,” he said. “It’s not just another tall box. It will have an identity. It’s going to be very, very, very visible. It’s going to be an iconic building.”

[sbarn]

I really need to check out Astor Place after the previously existing building was torn down. It really was an eyesore. I really hope that this one turns out nicely!

[RobertWalpole]

I agree. I walked by on 30 Jan, and I was pleased to see the old CU building gone. This will be a nice addition to the area.

[NYguy]

roccocell

[DrNest]

I understand the reasons why, especially with respect to the financial funding of the construction, but I am surprised the design only calls for 13 floors. I would have the desire would have been for many more stories. Certainly something in the high 20s to mid 30s.

[sbarn]

Originally Posted by DrNest

I understand the reasons why, especially with respect to the financial funding of the construction, but I am surprised the design only calls for 13 floors. I would have the desire would have been for many more stories. Certainly something in the high 20s to mid 30s.

I think 13 stories, give or take a few, is pretty appropriate for the immediate neighborhood.

[NYguy]

Given the size of the building, making it taller would have called for smaller floorplates. Given what was said in the article, I think they would prefer it the way it is.

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/0...place.php#more

Renderings Revealed, Tenants Rumored for 51 Astor Place




Wednesday, February 15, 2012, by Sara Polsky

Developer Edward Minskoff describes his Starbucks-crushing 51 Astor Place office building as "black glass with black granite and silver fins," and for a few years now we've had just one rendering to demonstrate that. Now the building's teaser website is up, with a few more images of the 12-story Fumihiko Maki-designed building. Above, one look we haven't seen before. A few notable building features: a private green roof on the fifth floor, a tenant-accessible green roof on the 13th floor, and an urban plaza on the corner of Astor Place and Third Avenue. The lobby will include a James Carpenter-designed art installation "constructed of back-lit cast glass, which complements the building's overall design." The Astor Place plaza, meanwhile, gets an Alexander Calder sculpture.

Minskoff has said he hopes to fill the building with high-tech companies, investment banks, and/or advertising firms. A tipster tells us that IBM and Microsoft have both expressed interest in leasing the entire building. But nothing's been decided yet.

Official website...
http://www.51astorplace.com/

[yankeesfan1000]

This building looks pretty great. The sheer side is the only thing I don't love but could really be saved by the color contrast between the glass and entrance. But it's certainly great news that is being built, and blue chip companies are entertaining the possibility of new office space in an untraditional neighborhood.

[aquablue]

I wonder why black? Doesn't seem to work in that color.

[sbarn]

While it will certainly look better than what was previously there, the design seems a little "corporate" for the area. I guess we'll have to see how the actual building turns out, sometimes renderings are deceptive.

[NYguy]

I think it will be an interesting visual landmark for the area, similar to the way the Flatiron Building is in its neighborhood. Doesn't always have to be the tallest.

A tipster tells us that IBM and Microsoft have both expressed interest in leasing the entire building. But nothing's been decided yet.

Big name tenants will also help.

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2012/02/now-...-new-building/

Now We Get It: Minsikoff’s 51 Astor May Be New York’s Strangest New Building

By Matt Chaban 2/15

It’s one of the more unusual buildings in the city—an office building smack in the middle of Astor Place, designed by one of the world’s top architects. But as Edward Minsikoff’s 51 Astor Place, designed by Fumihiko Maki, comes closer to reality, the building has defied understanding.

Now, it has finally launched its website with updated renderings and floorplans (spotted by Curbed) which finally helps us get what the building is all about. The strange angles of previous renders made the building almost incomprehensible, but now we think we get it. It’s a rectangle sitting on top of a rhombus on top of an irregular pentagon—if you’re still confused, hopefully this slideshow helps clarify things a little bit.

Especially interesting is the absolutely outraged comments on Curbed, where people complain about another glass building coming to the Village. While it is true that brick and cast iron may have more character, this appears to be one of the more interesting buildings built in the neighborhood since, well, 41 Cooper Square, the new Cooper Union building finished a few years ago—which proves it is possible to do quite a bit more than just build a boring glass building, even if it winds up bankrupting the institution behind it in the process.

[NYguy]

Dan Nguyen @ New York City