NEW YORK | 36 Central Park So. (Park Lane development) | FT | FLOORS

[vandelay]

My sincere hope is that they get a suitable architect to design a tower that belongs next to the Plaza, The Ritz Carlton, Hampshire House, NY Athletic Club, etc.

A NY architect like Peter Pennoyer comes to mind.

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

This is, probably, the best residential development site on the planet.

Per the Real Deal, Witkoff has bought enough air rights for a 1,200 foot tower, but is now trying to add even more rights by buying adjacent 21 west 58th Street.

http://therealdeal.com/2016/08/01/pa...-court-papers/

It needs to be taller IMO to balance things out. I hope they get it right. Also can't they get some megalomaniac Billionaire to fork over some cash for naming rights or soething so one of these buildings can get a real old fashioned NYC spire(not stick) on it. I mean at least just one of them?

[chris08876]

Would be nice for this to be a new tallest. I'd love to see a mixed used. Hotel and residential.



Although I hope we reach a point where NY will have unlimited air rights on every parcel. The whole notion of air rights is a bs hinderance to developers. Just build as tall as you want! Well, that's the dream at least.

Manhattan in general needs to be rezoned. All of NY does. What we have now is not aggressive enough. We need to think 40 to 50 years down the line. But hey, I may be asking to much.

[TechTalkGuy]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Although I hope we reach a point where NY will have unlimited air rights on every parcel. The whole notion of air rights is a bs hinderance to developers. Just build as tall as you want! Well, that's the dream at least.

My thoughts exactly!

Originally Posted by chris08876

Manhattan in general needs to be rezoned. All of NY does. What we have now is not aggressive enough. We need to think 40 to 50 years down the line. But hey, I may be asking to much.

We are doing that.
Look at the Hudson Yards for that vision.
Look at W. 57th and the Central Park skyline.
Look around - Brooklyn, Jersey City.

[chris08876]

^^^^

I agree, but its not aggressive enough to make a dent in the housing crisis. Two things really that the city needs.

1) Transit overhaul
2) Housing overhaul

What we have for #2 is not enough and with transit, , well, as we know, it's a slow and expensive process. VERY SLOW.

But on a tower such as this, I wish the developers would go overboard with the units. More units, the merrier. Get as much housing into the parcel as possible. Now, a tower like this isn't the solution to the housing crisis, but the idea of having many units would be nice.

Time will tell, but I hope they don't squander this potential site. Something underwhelming would be a sacrilege.

[TonyNYC]

[QUOTE=chris08876;7519886]^^^^

I agree, but its not aggressive enough to make a dent in the housing crisis. Two things really that the city needs.

1) Transit overhaul
2) Housing overhaul

What we have for #2 is not enough and with transit, , well, as we know, it's a slow and expensive process. VERY SLOW.


The construction of housing in NYC has exploded over the last couple of years.. in Manhattan ..Ultra high end like on 57th St, high end buildings in downtown, midtown, midtown south, Hudson yards, dozens of old commercial buildings converted to residential.. there are projects everywhere in Manhattan.

The biggest changes are being seen on the Long Island City, Greenpoint and Williamsburg waterfronts. LIC residential construction is INSANE! You drive thru there once a month and a dozen new projects are coing out of the ground... in the middle of a complete transformation from industrial to residential .. new buildings down on the water by Vernon and Jackson and around Queens Plaza and Citicorp building in Court Sq.

Williamsburg has been going thru it now for over a decade... just crazy amounts of development and the next in line is Greenpoint, which is just beginning its transformation.. dozen or so major residential buidligns goin up there..

Not to mention.. downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, Flatbush, Astoria, Flushing... literally everywhere!


The city is NONSTOP right now with development!

[NYguy]

Stay on topic people.

[chris08876]

Rendering:


Credit: http://therealdeal.com/issues_articl...y-money-files/

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Rendering:


Credit: http://therealdeal.com/issues_articl...y-money-files/

What? Is this serious? It's by far the worst design of the tower to date.

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Rendering:


Credit: http://therealdeal.com/issues_articl...y-money-files/

Eww.

[jsbrook]

Eww. Looks futuristic but not in a good way. Looks like something out of the Jetsons.

[streetscaper]

Wouldn't worry... it's an old Pelli Clarke design that did not win the design competition.

[mistermetAJ]

Originally Posted by streetscaper

Wouldn't worry... it's an old Pelli Clarke design that did not win the design competition.

I hope so because good lord that is awful.

[artspook]

"What? Is this serious? It's by far the worst design of the tower to date"
- SkyscrapersOfNewYork (from above)

I think the worst version of this building has been standing on CPS for 5 decades.

[JManc]

We are getting married in the Park Lane Hotel a week from today and now I learn they are going to blow it up at some point.

[NYguy]

^ Late congrats. Hope all went well.


https://therealdeal.com/2017/02/02/d...-in-park-lane/

DOJ, Witkoff seek approval to sell Jho Low’s stake in Park Lane
Without a sale, the hotel faces default, loss of financing

February 02, 2017

With the Park Lane Hotel hanging in the balance, developer Steve Witkoff and the U.S. Department of Justice have petitioned a federal judge to oust Malaysian businessman Jho Low from the project.

In a joint motion filed in Los Angeles, the DOJ and Witkoff are seeking approval for their plan to sell Low’s 55 percent stake in the Park Lane, allowing Witkoff to move forward with development. Without a sale, court papers said, the hotel faces “default, loss of financing arrangements, and foreclosure.”

Low, who was accused of siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from a state investment fund known as 1 Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, allegedly used those funds to purchase art, a private jet and real estate in Beverly Hills and New York — including the Park Lane.

Witkoff has not been accused of wrongdoing, and court papers say he cut a deal with the DOJ in September and has been cooperating with authorities.

Federal prosecutors moved last year to seize assets held by Low, including the Park Lane and several other high-end condos in New York.

Witkoff — along with investors Harry Macklowe and Douglas Elliman chief Howard Lorber — bought the Park Lane in 2013 in a deal that valued the property at $654 million. Low provided a majority investment with “proceeds derived from or involved in fraud,” according to court papers.

Plans stalled when the U.S. government moved to seize Low’s assets in July, preventing the developers from nailing down financing. But the Park Lane’s cash flow isn’t enough to pay expenses related to development and to stay current on the site’s $480 million in debt, which comes due this year. Witkoff issued a capital call to investors, but Low defaulted on his stake, according to court papers.

Thus far, the developers have come up with the cash to stay current on its bills, according to the Journal. If Low’s stake is sold, court papers said, Witkoff and the other investors would reimbursed for Low’s share plus 12 percent interest.

Court papers said Low sold 45 percent of his 55 percent stake in the hotel to Mubadala Development Co., an Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund. Mubadala recently began “to discuss the purchase” of Low’s remaining stake, subject to court approval, the Journal reported.

[chris08876]

This location would be perfect for a skyline defining, signature tower. Not just for one neighborhood, but for the whole city.

[mrnyc]

i'm not clear who owns and controls this property? it looks like jho low, the international shyster, owned the majority, but then sold off some in his endless dodges with the law. now i believe china's mega developers greenland own the majority, not witkoff. it all seems very shady, as i guess would be expected for property around there.

[NYguy]

Looks like we could end up with an entirely new team to develop the site.



https://therealdeal.com/2017/02/07/a...rk-lane-stake/

Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala opposes Witkoff’s bid to lead sale of Low’s Park Lane stake
Sovereign wealth fund wants to put whole project on the block

February 07, 2017
By Katherine Clarke

Mubadala Development, an Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund which owns a stake in the Park Lane Hotel conversion, is opposed to several key aspects of a plan to put developer Steve Witkoff in charge of selling alleged 1MDB fraudster Jho Low’s interest in the project.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice and Witkoff asked a federal court to approve the plan, known as a “cooperation agreement,” which called for Witkoff to lead the hunt for a replacement investor to take Low’s stake.

Approval would have allowed Witkoff to move forward with plans to redevelop the hotel into high-end condominiums.

But Mubadala thinks the project’s investors would be better served by selling the entirety of the project, rather than simply Low’s stake, it said in federal court papers Friday. The fund also requested that a third-party broker, rather than Witkoff, be put in charge of the effort to find a buyer.

Low is at the center of a massive money-laundering scandal and is alleged to have siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB.

“Mubadala believes a higher valuation, and thus a higher sale price, would be realized through an interlocutory sale of the entirety of the assets underlying the joint venture, rather than limiting such a sale to only interests held by the Low entities,” it said in court papers, filed in the central district of California.

The fund, which according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund institute has an estimated $125 billion in assets under management, said it expects a wider range of buyers would be interested in an opportunity to acquire the entirety of the assets, rather than in purchasing a portion owned by an existing structure that’s already negotiated the terms and conditions of the deal.

An independent third-party broker should be the one to “run a competitive and widely circulated bidding process to obtain the best price,” Mubadala said.

Mubadala bought a 45-percent interest in Low’s 55-percent stake in the project shortly after the original acquisition of the hotel, according to filings.

Witkoff holds a 15 percent stake. Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber and developer Harry Macklowe are also reportedly partners. The partners paid just north of $650 million for the building in 2013.

Mubadala’s position echoes that of several other Low-linked investors in the project.

The investors, who include Low’s brother Low Taek Szen, said Monday that the cooperation agreement was “unreasonable.”

“The agreement would provide Witkoff with the opportunity to enrich itself to the detriment of all other interest-holders,” they said in court papers. The investors urged the court to deny the motion.

Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did attorneys for Mubadala or the Low-connected parties.

But in an affidavit filed last week, Gene Patton, chief of the program operations unit of the Justice Department’s money-laundering and asset-recovery section, said Witkoff was “uniquely positioned to market the asset to potential investors around the world.

Arguments in the case will be heard Feb. 27 in Los Angeles.

The Park Lane project is in a precarious position, according to the Witkoff and DOJ filing. Cash flow from the project doesn’t currently cover payments on some $480 million in debt the partners took out. The partners have made several capital calls, to which Low has not contributed.

Lenders on the project include Wells Fargo Bank, Blackstone Group, Criterion, Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company and American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company.

[chris08876]

This should have the financial backing of UAE wealth fund aka Mubadala. This location is arguably one the best in the city. Lack of financing or capital should be out of the question, and an entity with the resources and big ambitions to make a statement in this city should spearhead the development.

I kinda hope whatever may rise here is built on pride. One of those cases where I hope arab money funds this. A mixed use would be ideal, and wouldn't have a risk margin such as a ultra-luxury residential tower (Given the saturation lately).

As mentioned before, the location is ideal for a signature tower. Tallest in the city I feel, but one that is the new symbol of NY. Maybe this is the megatall we have all been waiting for...