Midtown Gets a Hudson Yards Boost
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Vol. 62, No. 37 • 22 pages in 3 sections WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2017 $2.50 OPINION TOWN moving Midtown gets a Hudson Yards boost to Midtown West BY CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA The largest transaction was to look west and south,” said neighborhoods.” ter, the area’s vacancy rate office The West Side of Midtown HSBC’s 548,000 s/f renewal Tristan Ashby, JLL’s vice During the quarter, Mid- is likely to increase. Large Manhattan accounted for a at 452 Fifth Avenue. This president and director of New town’s Class A vacancy rate blocks of space are expected Luxury residential bulk of the largest office deals was followed by JP Morgan’s York research. dropped to 11.2 percent. to open up at 550 Madi- brokerage signs lease in the area during the second 305,365 s/f lease at 5 Manhat- “West Side — and now far Meanwhile, Class A asking son Avenue, 425 Park Av- for 14,000 s/f of quarter. tan West. West Side — locations have rents jumped 2.5 percent to enue, 1 Columbus Circle and According to JLL’s latest “Large tech — and increas- become increasingly desir- $83.19 per s/f. JLL attributed 1100,1114 and 1271 Avenue office space at office report, 15 of the 20 larg- ingly the technology divisions able as many principals and these conditions to robust of the Americas. Vornado's est transactions in Midtown of the financial and insurance employees live in Central leasing activity at Hudson Midtown South was simi- 888 Seventh Avenue were for office spaces west of industries — remain in growth Park West, Chelsea, Hell’s Yards and Manhattan West. larly strong. tower. Fifth Avenue. mode and those tenants tend Kitchen and other adjacent In spite of the strong quar- The overall and Class A vacancy rate in the area Page A2 dropped to 2.4 percent and 7.4 percent respectively. The submarket also posted an 8.8 percent year-on-year increase in asking rents to $76.66 per s/f. Meanwhile, Class A ask- ing rents grew by 3.5 percent to $84.51 per s/f. Tech leasing has slowed down in Midtown South. Dur- ing the quarter, tech leasing in the area stood at 142,397 s/f, which amounts to just 17 per- cent of deals in the area. The biggest tech transaction for the period involved Google, Andrew Heiberger, which signed a 60,000 s/f lease expansion at 85 Tenth founder TOWN. Avenue. The transaction in- Page A2 creased the company’s space in the building to 240,000 DEALMAKERS s/f. While Midtown sub- Politics putting markets flourished, Lower a spin on real Manhattan grappled with a ballooning Class A vacancy estate market rate. The Union Square Partnership (USP) joined the Village Alliance, Council Member During the quarter, the Economist Heidi Margaret Chin and other community members honored Norman Buchbinder for his Class A vacancy rate in the Learner predicts commitment to neighborhood improvement with the unveiling of Norman Buchbinder area grew to 26.8 percent due Way at the corner of 8th and MacDougal Streets. The late Norman Buchbinder was interesting times co-founder of Buchbinder & Warren, a real estate brokerage and management firm. to new space at 3 World Trade ahead as real estate He was one of the original pioneers in the early 1980’s whose vision and passion for Center. The slowdown comes the betterment of the Union Square area culminated in the creation of Manhattan’s after a strong first quarter. reacts to the Trump first Business Improvement District (BID), which today is known as the Union Square During the first three months effect. Partnership. In addition to serving as a founding board member of USP’s BID, in 1993, of the year, Downtown regis- Page B1 Buchbinder led the creation of a BID for 8th Street and founded the Village Alliance. tered deal volume that was 44 Lori Buchbinder is pictured above at the dedication. With her are l-r: William Abramson, percent higher than quarterly William Kelley, Jennifer E. Falk, Lynn Brown and Council Member Margaret Chin. average since 2007. Industry baffled by state failure to back building program BY HOLLY DUTTON bridge s as two infrastructure allow the Department of In last month’s special projects that have benefitted Transportation (DOT) to hire session in the state legislature from using Design Build a contractor who would be re- in Albany, a bill that would in major renovations to the sponsible for both design and authorize a design-build pro- structures. construction of the project, gram specific to NYC was Two high-profile city proj- in contrast to the traditional WHO'S NEWS not included, despite broad ects — the $1 billion Javits method of agencies signing support from city officials Convention Center renova- separate contracts with an Eastern and many in the real estate tion and addition, and the $3 architect and a contractor. industry. billion Penn Station overhaul Supporters say the method Consolidated “The bottom line is, we — have also been authorized shortens the timeline of proj- grows family are disappointed that it was to use design-build. ects and saves money. not included in this last spe- “Those projects are done However, while state proj- Brothers Rubin and cial session in Albany,” said under budget and in a great ects use the project delivery NYBC president Carlo Scissura Alex Isak are closing New York Building congress time frame,” said Scissura. method, it is off-limits to most their own brokerage president Carlo Scissura, “We’re going to continue public entities including city and Historic Preservation, Mayor Bill de Blasio, the who has long championed the to talk to the legislature and agencies like DOT. Department of Environmen- Real Estate Board of New operation to join program. “It’s a no-brainer. the Governor’s office and In 2011, Governor Cuomo tal Conservation, and Bridge York, Governor Cuomo, The acclaimed real estate We’re one of the last places in let them know that this is an expanded design-build au- Authority. Partnership for New York investment sales firm . the U.S. and maybe the world important piece of legislation thority as a pilot program to That pilot program expired City, and the Building and Page B4 that doesn’t do this.” that people need.” a few state agencies — the in 2014 but was renewed the Construction Trades Council Scissura pointed to the Design-build is a project Thruway Authority, DOT, next year, but the state leg- of Greater New York have Tappan Zee and Kosciuszko delivery method that would Office of Parks, Recreation islature failed to pass a bill have all expressed support in in 2015 that would have ex- adopting design-build for city panded design-build authority projects. to all public entities, including One notable exception is Fugitive tycoon accused of stealing those in New York City. the New York State Society It’s unclear why lawmakers of Professional Engineers secret data from Chinese investor haven’t yet passed the design- (NYSSPE), an organization build bill, with such broad that has been vocal about its BY CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA currently listed on Interpol support from city officials and concerns over the Design- HNA Group, the Chinese conglomerate that a “red notice” for interna- the real estate industry. Continued on Page A10 bought 245 Park Avenue for $2.2 billion earlier tional fugitives. this year, has emerged as a central figure in a The Xinhua report con- political scandal in China. tained comments from Yesterday (Tuesday) the Chinese gov- Guo’s alleged spies. A cer- ernment, through state-owned media outlet tain Song Jun said that he Hedge fund expanding Xinhua, revealed that Guo Wengui, a fugitive first met Guo in 2009. He tycoon who has accused top Chinese officials said that Guo promised at Carnegie Hall Tower of widespread corruption, has stolen sensitive to help him migrate to GUO WENGUI data regarding 146 HNA Group clients. England in exchange for BY CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA Guo, who owns a $78 million full-floor the data. Hedge fund Canyon Partners and art gallery D. Wigmore apartment at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel at “[Guo] betrays anyone for money, including Fine Art have signed leases at TF Cornerstone’s Carnegie Hall 781 Fifth Avenue, is accused of colluding with the country and his loved ones,” Song said. Tower on Manhattan’s “Billionaire’s Row.” an air traffic control worker and a Hainan Air- Meanwhile, a certain Ma Cong, an em- Los Angeles-based Canyon Partners is expanding to take an lines employee to gather information on HNA ployee of Hainan Airlines, admitted to spying entire floor at the 60-story tower. Canyon, which specializes in clients. The Chinese government said that for Guo between December 2015 to March investments for endowments, foundations and sovereign wealth Guo collected flights times and destinations in 2017. The Chinese government said that Guo funds, is adding 3,000 s/f to its space on the building’s 28th order to fabricate sex scandals and corruption used the data to create stories of love affairs floor. This is not the first time that the company has expanded allegations. Guo also reportedly attempted to between people who traveled on the same in the 60-story tower. In 2013, Canyon signed a seven-year collected information on American and Middle flight. Guo, who also goes by the name Miles renewal for approximately 8,000 s/f. The firm previously op- erated out of two smaller suites in the building. Asking rents Eastern celebrities and political figures. Guo is Continued on Page A10 Continued on Page A10 A8 W EDNESDAY , J ULY 12, 2017 R EAL E STATE W EEKLY TRANSACTIONS Meridian Capital an- rate of 3.50% and a five-year tures an initial rate of 3.375% Street in Manhattan.