Remaking, or Preserving, the City's Face

[Kris]

December 29, 2004

An Aesthetic Watchdog in the City Planning Office

By ROBIN POGREBIN


Amanda M. Burden in her office.

She is loath to go into detail, but Amanda M. Burden is clearly not crazy about the design for a Jets stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan. As director of the City Planning Department, she has built her reputation on concern for aesthetics: how a building looks, how it relates to the street, how it serves the people who use its public spaces. The proposed $1.4 billion stadium, a colossal complex with blinking images on its facade, has been faulted by critics for its visual noise and the way it would block views of the Hudson.

Yet much is riding on the proposal. For one thing, it is a pet project of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his deputy mayor, Daniel L. Doctoroff, who say it would advance New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics.

And Ms. Burden is a good soldier. In a recent interview, she would go only so far as to say the stadium could be "even better."

"We've been pushing the Jets very, very hard to improve the design - I am very intent on doing that," she said. "It should be an exciting experience."

Such is the balancing act for the city planning director as she strives to raise the bar for new architecture in New York. Yet Ms. Burden is making a significant impact, architects and planning experts say. She has not only repeatedly sent architects back to the drawing board, but also spurred commercial development in once-dormant neighborhoods like downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens; sought to preserve the character of others like the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx through zoning changes; and improved plazas and parks by backing the current renovation of Columbus Circle, for example, or by proposing new design guidelines for all privately owned public spaces.

"I believe that by raising expectations, higher standards will become the norm," she said in an interview at her office.

Compared with a Robert Moses, the think-big public works czar who imposed a sweeping vision on highways and parks across the city from the 1930's to the 60's, Ms. Burden might be considered an aesthetic watchdog. "She is the design conscience of New York," said Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, an influential private research agency that opposes the stadium. "We just haven't had this design sensibility in City Hall - maybe ever. You're seeing that in the quality of public and private design, whether it's an office building in Midtown or the Brooklyn waterfront."

Historically, the City Planning Department has focused more on responding to developers' proposals than on trying to mold them. The last time the city took an aggressive role in architecture was in the 1960's, when the heady social ideals of urban planning drew many architects to public service in the Lindsay administration.

"It's hard because New York doesn't believe in planning," said Hugh Hardy, a prominent architect. "The plan was the grid - and to make money by increasing density."

In devising urban design master plans, Ms. Burden has set enforceable guidelines like those for Hudson Yards that mandate retail spaces with a sense of continuity and transparency, ample sidewalk widths, trees along the street, adequate tower setbacks and limits on tower widths. Without Ms. Burden, there might be no High Line project, its supporters say, a plan for a 22-block elevated garden stretching from the downtown meatpacking district to 34th Street on Manhattan's West Side. Friends of the High Line, a nonprofit group, says that Ms. Burden made a compelling case for the project to Mayor Bloomberg, who initially opposed it, and fostered the design competition that attracted top-flight architects, including the winners, Diller, Scofidio & Renfro.

Other prominent commissions awarded through Ms. Burden's influence include Richard Rogers's new East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan - which calls for better access, amenities and open space - and the transformation of Staten Island's Fresh Kills landfill into 2,200 acres of new park and recreation. Ms. Burden is overseeing the master planning process for both.

Some might assume that Ms. Burden coasted into office because of her social connections: she is a stepdaughter of the CBS founder William S. Paley, the former wife of media moguls (Carter Burden, then Steve Ross) and the companion of Charlie Rose, the talk show host, with whom she is frequently photographed at glamorous events.

But she was hardly a shoo-in: she had supported Mark Green, Mr. Bloomberg's opponent, in the mayoral race, and Mr. Doctoroff wanted Alexander Garvin, then chief planner for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Yet she had earned her credentials, overseeing the planning of Battery Park City for 10 years, starting in 1983, while pursuing her master's degree in urban planning at Columbia University.

And although her elegant black suits and demeanor are not what you might ordinarily expect to find under the fluorescent lights at public hearings, she appears to be holding her own, even in politically charged projects like rebuilding ground zero.

"She's been a strong advocate for a large amount of public space - ensuring that it is integrated within the site but also with the Lower Manhattan community," said Kevin M. Rampe, the president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. At the same time, Ms. Burden is fiercely discreet, those who have worked with her say. On the stadium, for example, she has made a point of keeping her differences with Mr. Doctoroff under wraps.

In person, Ms. Burden is similarly opaque: expansive about her projects but circumspect about personal matters or interdepartmental dynamics.

Ms. Burden also serves as chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, the department's policymaking body, through which she sets design standards.

"Good architecture is good economic development," she said.

Historically, developers have chafed at being saddled with prominent architects, because architects can slow the building process with design concerns. But these days, they often have little choice.

"Developers now go to better architects because they know excellence is required," said Frederic Schwartz, a Manhattan architect.

John E. Zuccotti, co-chairman of the Brookfield Properties Corporation, the largest downtown landlord, said Ms. Burden's design agenda occasionally made waves because it slowed or complicated the building process.

"It sometimes annoys people because the City Planning Department is not supposed to focus on architecture," said Mr. Zuccotti, himself a former Planning Commission chairman. "It's sometimes not the most efficient approach, but she has her role. Only time will tell whether she pushes it too far."

By many accounts, she has been careful not to push it too far with Mr. Doctoroff, who as deputy mayor for economic development is a booster for timely construction. Mr. Doctoroff said he and Ms. Burden had clashed "from time to time" on such matters but added that the disagreements were "nothing terribly dramatic."

"She clearly pushes people," he said, "but I think in ways that most have found helpful."

"Sure it costs more," Mr. Doctoroff said of the design process. "It's more difficult when you hire a famous architect; you have sometimes less control over your project. You're dealing with people who have a real desire to put art into buildings, and that complicates the building process."

Ms. Burden also makes a point of sounding out neighborhoods about development projects, like asking Harlem residents about their hopes for 125th Street. "The community is not going to buy in unless it reflects their culture," she said.

Being heard on development projects doesn't mean residents are happy about them. The Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning, an advocacy group for North Brooklyn, has yet to support plans for the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront, a residential and park project. The group argues that the plan fails to guarantee affordable housing and enough new parks and open space.

At the same time, the community advocates say, they do not fault Ms. Burden. "Amanda is doing her job," said Joseph Vance, a co-chairman of the association. "She doesn't control the purse strings. She can only do what she can do."

Members of Community Board 4, which covers the Far West Side, oppose the Jets stadium but say Ms. Burden is not to blame. "Amanda clearly has a commitment to community input into land-use planning, and that is a refreshing change from prior administrations," said Anna Hayes Levin, a vice chairwoman of the community board. "But she has a boss who is determined to make this plan work and therefore has her hands tied."

Ms. Burden defends the project. "This is for long-term growth - and that's just 10 percent growth over the next 30 or 40 years," she said. "We think that's the right thing to do."

She said she had already made a difference in the project, proposing parks on four sides and insisting on retail and active public uses to create more sidewalk vitality.

"You can measure the health of the city in the vitality of the street life," Ms. Burden said. "That's true in Bayside, Tottenville or on Madison Avenue. That's what people focus on - what's right in front of them."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

Guess Who the City Is Hiring to Do Some Planning

BY CHRISTINA ROGERS - Special to the Sun

March 3, 2005

New York has long lagged behind such cities as Paris, London, and Tokyo in its reputation for cutting edge architecture. Recently, though, it has had its internationally recognized triumphs, such as Yashio Taniguchi's expansion of the Museum of Modern Art and Richard Meier's shiny new condominiums in Chelsea. While private developers and wealthy cultural institutions are busy molding the city's skyline, the Department of City Planning has begun helping to bring some of that high design to the streets below.

As part of an initiative to step up the quality of urban design, the city agency is hiring high-profile, trend-savvy architects who are in effect acting as urban planners, in the first widespread planning effort since the 1960s that includes a comprehensive rezoning effort, several large-scale building projects, and architectural competitions.

"We are not just rezoning but trying to think comprehensively about how to preserve affordability, street vitality, and open public spaces," the director of the department, Amanda Burden, said. The idea, she said, is to be proactive and think intelligently about urban growth. By offering well-articulated master plans, the city hopes to give developers blueprints to build upon.

While architects have been involved for decades in city planning initiatives, not since the 1960s has the city taken such bold steps or given so much prominence to progressive architectural ideas in the realm of city planning, architecture experts say.

"Before, it was always the firms that did business as usual that got all the planning commissions," a partner at SHoP/Sharples Holden Pasquarelli, Gregg Pasquarelli, said. "Now there is a clear indication that 'business as usual' is not enough for a city as important as New York."

The city, under the direction of Ms. Burden, is both raising the bar on New York's design expectations and attracting attention through its use of design competitions, a method long favored by many cities in Europe. Architects who have excelled on the international scene are winning some of New York City's most coveted planning projects.

"If you had told me in January 2001 that Libeskind would be doing a major master plan in Lower Manhattan, I would have said you are crazy," a senior editor at Architectural Record magazine, Clifford Pearson, said, speaking of Daniel Libeskind, who created a master plan for ground zero. "But a lot has changed since then."

Mr. Libeskind's plan may be New York's most prominent, but more than a dozen other large-scale planning projects are on the drafting boards for sites in all the boroughs.

A leading British architectural firm, Richard Rogers Partners, along with a seven-year-old design firm, ShoP/Sharples Holden Pasquarelli, is working on a master plan for a stretch of the East River waterfront. The plan, which curves around the tip of Manhattan from Battery Park City to the East River Park, is intended to open public access to the waterfront for much of the Financial District by building a series of parks and recreational spaces, as well as a two-mile esplanade.

On the West Side, a New York-based architectural firm, Diller, Scofidio+Renfro, has teamed up with Field Operations to redesign the High Line, 1.45 miles of elevated railroad track meandering through Chelsea. In the 1990s, Diller Scofidio won the praise of critics with such high-tech design installations as a manmade "cloud" on a lake in Switzerland. The two architectural firms plan to transform the abandoned High Line into a series of gardens and public spaces linked by a walkway more than two stories up, offering views of the neighborhoods below.

Diller, Scofidio+Renfro is also working on a master plan for Lincoln Center, which will mold the concrete corridor on 65th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway into a main campus thoroughfare.

"It's a hot scene in New York now," the director and founder of Field Operations, James Corner, said. "Ten or 15 years ago, architects would have to go to Paris or London to make names for themselves, even architects based in New York."

Meanwhile, Field Operations is turning a garbage dump into a cluster of parks and sports fields, and a patchwork of swamps and wetlands into a cohesive landscape. The 2,200-acre redevelopment of Fresh Kills, the city landfill on Staten Island, is scheduled to begin as early as 2007.

Perhaps the most provocative project is Thom Mayne's design of the Olympic Village in Long Island City. Whether or not the city wins its bid for the 2012 Olympics, Queens will still get a new master plan from Mr. Mayne, whose buildings are known for their angular forms. His East River design will include 4,600 units of new housing, including a serpent-like structure along the riverfront.

"It is not just about a business model anymore," Mr. Mayne, of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Morphosis, told The New York Sun. "Rather, these projects are about balancing human needs with economic concerns at a large scale."

Historically, the city's planning department has been more focused on reviewing development bids than molding them. That began to change when the fabled planning tsar Robert Moses started to make sweeping changes to the city.

In the 1950s and 1960s era of urban renewal - now considered by many planners and architects to be a disaster - entire neighborhoods, such as Downtown Brooklyn, were bulldozed to make room for boxy residential towers. For decades, the failures of urban renewal have haunted planning efforts throughout the city.

"In New York, there has been 30 years of paralysis in terms of planning," Mr. Pasquarelli said, "and we are just starting to shake that hangover off, and it is time to think big again."

Many architects attribute the renewed interest in planning and architecture to the widely publicized process of choosing a design for the master plan of ground zero, which drew the attention not only of architects but also of the public.

"There was this big meeting at the Javits Center, where architects like Beyer Blinder Belle presented their plans," said Architectural Record's Mr. Pearson." And the people said, 'No, this is not what we want.' I think it initiated a conversation that is still going on and convinced developers in the city that design is something that can help sell their project."

Rebuilding ground zero may have brought the issue into the public consciousness. But according to Ms. Burden, Mayor Bloomberg has long understood that it is not enough to promote development, the city needs to recognize that sophisticated design choices directly contribute to the public's welfare.

"The bottom line is that great architects and great architecture translates into economic development," Ms. Burden said. "It brings jobs, it brings investment, and raises the property value. And the mayor has always understood this and is making a push for the city to be more proactive in bring architectural excellence to New York."

Architects are beginning to take notice.

"This administration, for the first time in a long time, has understood the bigger picture, that New York City is a world capital and therefore is worthy of the highest levels of design," Mr. Pasquarelli said. "They see it doesn't cost more money to have design excellence. It is just about making an effort to find the best people to think creatively to make a positive environment."

As many large-scale planning projects await public review and approval, however, some planners are reluctant to declare success before seeing the final product.

"The question here is, architects spend all their time designing individual buildings, so when they are given the job of designing an area or a neighborhood, are those details and design schemes able to translate on such a large scale so they will fit in with the social fabric," an urban planner and architect, Craig Whitaker, said.

For many critics, though, it is too soon to tell.

"I think the jury is still out," Mr. Pearson said. "There haven't been that many successful large-scale urban projects, but there is starting to be some."

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/9992

[billyblancoNYC]

Study puts industrial area in strike zone

Transit a priority; other uses debated

By Anita Jain
Published on March 28, 2005

The city planning commission is studying whether to rezone 5,700 acres of industrial property on Staten Island's West Shore.

Possible options for the prime real estate, a vast area that accounts for 15% of the borough's total land mass, include business and residential development, as well as transportation upgrades.

Currently, 3,200 acres are used by industrial concerns--ExxonMobil and New York Container Terminal, among others--but manufacturing continues to flee the area. The other 2,500 acres, dotted with brownfields and wetlands, are vacant.

While small manufacturing parcels have been given over to other uses in recent years, the West Shore is the largest such area in the borough ever considered for rezoning.

"Rather than do piecemeal rezoning, we are looking at all the issues on the West Shore," says Len Garcia-Duran, director of the Staten Island office for the planning commission.

The study, slated to be finished by the end of 2006, is funded by a $150,000 grant from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, a planning group that includes the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and other agencies.

New auto routes or mass-transit projects are likely to be among the study's recommendations, because of Staten Island's major traffic congestion. One possibility, already reviewed by the city's Economic Development Corp., is a light-rail system for commuters.

"There absolutely has to be a transportation component," says James Molinaro, the borough's president. "There's no public transportation at all on Staten Island."

City Councilman James Oddo, who represents a part of the area covered by the manufacturing zone, agrees that transportation has to be improved. He also calls for commercial rezoning, citing the success of Teleport, a 100-acre office park with dozens of corporate tenants that's located in northern Staten Island.

Mr. Oddo opposes residential development, saying that the borough already has too much housing. "No elected Staten Island official would embrace unchecked residential development," he says.

Randy Lee, a Staten Island developer and chair of the Building Industry Association of New York City, argues that the borough--one of the state's fastest-growing counties--does need housing. "The highest and best use of the area is residential use," he says. "There's already an excess of office space and a limited number of tenants."

Whatever city officials decide, any rezoning is likely to take several years to complete. But officials are pleased that the process is at least under way.

"I don't want there to be any more ad hoc development," says Mr. Oddo. "Staten Island in 2005 is a by-product of absolutely no planning."

[NewYorkYankee]

Does anyone have any pics of the Teleport?

[billyblancoNYC]

It looks like a typical, low-rise, suburban office park. I support that, though, b/c it is a NYC alternative to NJ, and even Westchester and LI. It's something the city should push more of.

[TLOZ Link5]

For you, Yankee. Granted, not ground-breaking architecture.

http://www.murrayconstruction.com/teleport.htm

[NewYorkYankee]

Yuck, thanks for the link though! They are ugly! How close are these from the ferry terminal? Say, if you were walking (If thats an option). Also, what companies are in these buildings?

[TLOZ Link5]

The Teleport is pretty far from the Staten Island Ferry, which is at pretty much the northeast corner of the island; the Teleport is moreover in the middle of the northwest, pretty close to the center of the island. I doubt that it's a place you can walk to, and certainly not walking distance from St. George. A lot of telecommunications offices are there.

From the Port Authority's Website:



"The Teleport in Staten Island, New York, is a joint economic development venture of the Port Authority, the City of New York and Teleport Communication Group (TCG), a private telecommunications service provider. The 100-acre business park houses five Class A office and specialized buildings and a communications center that includes a 400-mile regional fiber optic network operating center linked to a satellite transmission facility.

"The Port Authority, originator of the Teleport concept and overall project developer, has real estate development and management responsibility for the business park, with a long term lease arrangement with the City of New York. TCG has sole responsibility for developing, operating and maintaining the communications facilities and services associated with The Teleport, including on-site shared tenant services.

"Over 22,500 square feet of technologically enhanced office space at the Telecenter building and approximately 30 acres for development are available."

[NewYorkYankee]

Thanks TLOZ. Is Staten Island very walkable?

[TLOZ Link5]

Thanks TLOZ. Is Staten Island very walkable?

HAH! ROFLMAO hahaha lol lol lol ROFL — ::suddenly sotto vocce:: No.

[NewYorkYankee]

lol, okay, thanks.

[Derek2k3]

WHERE'S THE REF?
Why New York needs London's development rules.
By Aaron Naparstek
naparstek@nypress.com

In the bloodsport of New York City real estate development, city planners are supposed to function as the referees. In theory, planners mediate between the aggressive, profit-focused real estate developers and the protective, neighborhood NIMBYs. In practice, New York City's referees kick back and watch Team Developer commit hard fouls and run up the score. When urban planning is working, it helps these inherently conflicting parties come to terms with each other and establishes a solid framework for healthy, long-term growth. When urban planning isn't working, you get New York City 2005: a city planned by and for real estate developers.....

http://www.nypress.com/18/18/news&co...nnaparstek.cfm

[krulltime]

The face of New York City 2025



The High Line/Chelsea


Fresh Kills/Staten Island


Greenpoint/Williamsburg


By CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

If we could look into the future, and see New York City two decades from now, what would we see?

For starters, in 2025, the city will probably be home to well over 8.5 million people - a half a million more than today - not to mention those who flock here daily and nightly to work and play.

"I see the city right now in an era of dramatic transformation," says Dan Doctoroff, deputy mayor for economic development.

"I do believe when we look back on this period of time, the post-9/11 decade, people will view this as one of the most significant building periods in the city's history."

As the city grows, Planning Department chief Amanda Burden and Doctoroff say they envision a future New York that is laid out more reasonably, is more attractive and doesn't force out all but the richest.

There are a handful of tenets driving the new New York:

*Increasing the amount of waterfront space available, and having more water taxis, marinas and other new recreational uses, such as parks and playing fields.

*Creating more mixed-use areas that seamlessly weave together business, shopping and residential areas.

*Bringing streets back to life with bustling outdoor cafes and better pedestrian access, and vastly expanding the amount of public green space for people to enjoy.

*Responding to community concerns so their specific areas are preserved and maintained rather than remade.

The spirit of rejuvenating the waterfronts wouldn't be limited to Brooklyn, Doctoroff said.

"All over the city, there's a recognition that many of the old uses of lands along the waterfronts, in many of the old industrial areas, [can] be put to use with other things that are more appropriate for this century," Doctoroff said.

In open space, a perfect example of innovative new park space planned for the future is Manhattan's High Line, an abandoned railroad track that runs for 22 blocks high above west Chelsea.

Business and residential districts would blossom around public transportation hubs such as Long Island City in Queens and downtown Brooklyn, as well as Hudson Yards on the West Side.

Much of that development is intended to keep crucial jobs from bleeding into New Jersey. Doctoroff sees a 2025 city with an array of new sports stadiums - the Jets in Manhattan, and new homes for both the Yankees and Mets.

He also speaks of a New York with enough new housing for 200,000 to 250,000 people, a good deal of it in formerly distressed areas like the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the Rockaways. "There will be many more options for everyone at different income levels, different kinds of jobs, to live, work and visit," Doctoroff said.

But some places will resist change as much as others cry out for it, Burden noted.

"Those neighborhoods you grew up in and your grandmother grew up in will look a lot the same," she said.


THE HIGH LINE/CHELSEA


The elevated freight rail line that snakes across Manhattan's West Side will, they say, one day become what one designer called "a mile-and-a-half of surreal gardens in the sky."

Right now, the site - owned by CSX Transportation - is off limits to the average hiker. There are plans to convert it to public land.

The city already has committed upwards of $43 million in planning and construction money to transform the High Line into a ribbon of suspended parkland running between the hip Meatpacking District and W. 34th St.

"By preserving and reusing a fantastic piece of our industrial heritage, we will create an innovative public open space unlike any other in the world," said Joshua David of the non-profit group Friends of the High Line.

Plans for West Chelsea also foresee more development of the area's burgeoning art gallery scene and the inclusion of more affordable housing.


FRESH KILLS/STATEN ISLAND


Covering 2,200 acres on Staten Island, the former Fresh Kills landfill is ultimately envisioned as a sprawling park that encompasses any number of activities and landscapes.

"[Parks Commissioner] Adrian Benepe has already said it's going to be greater than Central Park - it'll be much more naturalistic ... something we don't have anywhere in the metro region," said Planning Department Director Amanda Burden.

There have been any number of suggestions as to what the Fresh Kills site - which is 2.5 times the size of the 840-acre Central Park - could accommodate: Biking, golf, ballfields, canoeing, tennis, bridle paths, a wildlife refuge and even a dude ranch.

Fresh Kills also is projected to include miles of car paths, a mountain biking course, horse trails and a running track. The various habitats for wildlife will include marshes, woodlands and prairies.

Although decomposition of the trash at Fresh Kills won't be complete for decades, work on some parts of the new parkland can begin in 2007, after the master plan undergoes public scrutiny. Parts of the refurbished park could be created and opened to the public between 2008 and 2012, with new stages opening about every five years.


GREENPOINT/WILLIAMSBURG


In these immigrant neighborhoods that have become renowned centers for hipsters, there will be a renaissance of activity centering on two miles of waterfront.

"There will be ... water taxis, boat launches, fishing, ways for people to finally access that waterfront," Burden said.

There would be a long public esplanade to stroll, and a mixture of light manufacturing and residential areas.

Importantly, thousands upon thousands of new housing units would be built, although limits would be set to keep building heights down near the water.

Several new parks would open to the public, including the Newtown Barge Park at the end of Greenpoint Ave., a park at the end of Manhattan Ave. and a state park on the waterfront between Williamsburg's N. Seventh and Ninth Sts.

If the city won the 2012 Olympics, the waterfront between N. 9th St. and the edge of the Bushwick inlet would become parkland. On that land and the state land, Olympians would compete in events such as archery and beach volleyball.


DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN


In the city's vision, downtown Brooklyn will vie with New Jersey for any Manhattan companies looking to relocate.

With rough boundaries of Tillary St. to the north, Ashland Place to the east, Schermerhorn St. to the south, and Court St. to the west, the downtown area would see 1,000 new homes and 200,000 square feet of new retail space.

A total of 4.5 million square feet of new office space would also come with 700,000 square feet of retail.

Years into the future, the area is slated to become a mecca not only for shopping and business but for cultural institutions, libraries and performance spaces, all fueled by new housing and new jobs.

Public plazas, such as Willoughby Square, south of MetroTech, would rise, some with parking garages built below.

Flatbush Ave., Atlantic Ave., Willoughby and Court Sts. would be revamped to become more friendly to pedestrian traffic.


Originally published on May 7, 2005

All contents © 2005 Daily News, L.P.

[krulltime]

Infrastructure Fuels City’s Vitality


By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: September 22, 2005 07:48am

NEW YORK CITY-In order to keep New York a world financial capital, the city needs to “pay attention to infrastructure, transportation and public education,” said Peter Malkin, chairman of W& M Properties, during the RealShare New York conference yesterday. One of the speakers on a “New York Power Panel” presentation, his sentiments were echoed by others on the panel as well as during another discussion dealing with the Lower Manhattan marketplace. Stefan Pryor, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., noted that over the next six months there will be nearly $10 billion of construction activity in Lower Manhattan--a high percentage of that is for the Fulton Street and World Trade Center transportation hub efforts.

Peter Kalikow, president HJ Kalikow & Co. and MTA chairman, noted that the outcome of transportation bond act on the November ballot is the “live-or-die” moment for the proposed subway expansions on the West Side. “Investing in infrastructure is critical for New York City,” said Rudin Management Co. president Bill Rudin, during the panel moderated by Real Estate Media president and CEO Jonathan Schein. “If companies don’t want to be here our buildings are useless. Pound for pound we’re the most efficient city not using automobiles.” Rudin added that Lower Manhattan rail link connections are “really critical for the future of Downtown.”

Boston Properties chairman Mort Zuckerman noted that the public schools have a “long way to go” and that the affordable housing stock needs to increase to attract younger people. “We’re lucky that the industries that power the city are growth industries.”

When it comes to the much talked about real estate “bubble” Bruce Wasserstein, chairman and CEO of Lazard & Co. said that “internationally there is a great concern.” He also noted that the “calculus on value is multifaceted.” He said real estate here is “cheap by international standards. People forget that.”

More than 450 were in attendance at the event, produced by Real Estate Media, publisher of Real Estate Forum. Real Estate New York and GlobeSt.com. It is the fourth annual conference held here.


Copyright © 2005 Real Estate Media.

[lofter1]

Boston Properties chairman Mort Zuckerman noted that the public schools have a “long way to go” and that the affordable housing stock needs to increase to attract younger people. “We’re lucky that the industries that power the city are growth industries.”

When it comes to the much talked about real estate “bubble” Bruce Wasserstein, chairman and CEO of Lazard & Co. said that “internationally there is a great concern.” He also noted that the “calculus on value is multifaceted.” He said real estate here is “cheap by international standards. People forget that.”

The fact that NYC real estate is cheap by international standards means nothing for those NY citizens who need an affordable place to live. Wasserstein's statement has interest / value mainly to:

1) Citizens of another country and want to invest here.

2) Building owner's / developers who reallly don't give a hoot about making NYC a viable place for the millions of people who keep this city running and who do not earn enough to pay $1,000 / sq. ft.

3) The tax man.