Reply With QuoteGlad this is getting reclad. Hope KPF does as good of a job on the glass as 505 and 640 Fifth.
Building at 34 E 51st Street under demolition. SOM has designed a 21 story tower at the site.
Too bad I'm seeing very little of it.
Glad this is getting reclad. Hope KPF does as good of a job on the glass as 505 and 640 Fifth.
Building at 34 E 51st Street under demolition. SOM has designed a 21 story tower at the site.
Hopefully, SOM will design something decent instead of a lousy box.
It'll be a box because that's the easy way out.
BTW, is the building that's getting demo'd good lookin'?
No. It's crap.
The MTA is planning to sell its Madison Avenue headquarters to developers. Its a Pre-war tower that will probably be demolished and replaced with a massive office tower.
341-347 Madison Ave.
This whole frontage will be up for grabs, and its in the area the mayor wants to rezone for larger buildings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/ny...ters.html?_r=1
I don't like this building in the skyline but it's not bad at street level.
828 Second Avenue.
What a f..cling shame. Hopefully, something in the 1,000 foot range will rise here with the new zoning that Bloomberg is proposing.Originally Posted by gundam00
The MTA is planning to sell its Madison Avenue headquarters to developers. Its a Pre-war tower that will probably be demolished and replaced with a massive office tower.
341-347 Madison Ave.
This whole frontage will be up for grabs, and its in the area the mayor wants to rezone for larger buildings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/ny...ters.html?_r=1
A shame indeed. The rape of historic Terminal City just doesn't stop over the years.
IHOP signs for 49 years in West Village
The REAL DEAL
May 30, 2012
The Long Island-based Alrose Group appears to be turning a corner. The landlord investor signed a 49-year lease with the local International House of Pancakes franchisee last week for its retail space at 80 Carmine Street ...
Trihop — an affiliate of Ashkenazy Acquisition that owns the tri-state area franchise rights for the pancake house — signed the restaurant’s 10,500 square-foot lease on May 21 at Alrose’s commercial condominium, said Kevin Salmon, a partner at brokerage Salmon & Marshall Real Estate Investments. He and partner Matthew Marshall, represented both Ashkenazy and Alrose in the deal.
The new IHOP will have 3,500 square feet on the ground level, 1,000 square feet of covered outdoor space, and 6,000 square feet on the lower level. The rent is approximately $300,000 per year, Salmon said.
The unusual building shape provides multiple entrances that each target a different customer base, said Alrose’s president, Allen Rosenberg.
“It is basically a triple corner with entrances on three different streets,” he said, referring to Varick, Carmine and Downing streets.
The Varick entrance, he said, may appeal to a breakfast-and-lunch crowd from the neighborhood’s offices, while more residential diners will tend to enter on the other sides.
One Unusual Demographic
By ANNE KADET
One thrill of New York City living is the frequency with which one is confronted with the delightful question, "What's the deal with that?" Case in point for holiday shoppers: Manhattan Mall.
At first glance, this sparkling, Athens-by-way-of-Ohio-styled shopping center, with its soaring atrium, looks mighty impressive. And it should. The mall overlooks one of the world's great shopping meccas. It's just a block from Macy's, not to mention the middlebrow retail wonderland that is 34th Street. Plus, it sits atop seven subway lines and the PATH train. You'd expect it to house the galaxy's greatest collection of stores, or at least a Cinnabon.
Wesley Bedrosian Still, the more time I spent wandering the mall, the more I liked it.
Instead, there's a GNC, a dentist office and a Perfume Heaven kiosk, along with regional discount chains like Strawberry. There are a few high-profile tenants, like Victoria's Secret, Express and Aeropostale, but duplicate stores can be found a block away. There's no food court, no Santa, no fountains and no music. You can't even get a cup of coffee. "It's a strange collection," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of retail consulting and investment banking firm Davidowitz & Associates. "When a mall is successful, they attract all the top specialty chains. This is bad."
I pop in now and then when I'm homesick and craving a true mall experience, and I'm always disappointed. Where's the Panda Express? Shoppers seem to agree. The mall's average Yelp rating hovers around two stars (the snazzy Time Warner Center mall on Columbus Circle averages four), and reviewers say it's most useful for its restrooms and for getting out of the rain. They wonder why the mall's owner—whoever that is—doesn't realize the property's potential.
So who's behind the mall? One of the biggest names in New York real estate, it turns out: Vornado Realty Trust. These folks are far from clueless rubes. The NYC-based firm owns more than 100 shopping centers, along with 21.5 million square feet of commercial space in Manhattan. It also owns big stakes in Toys "R" Us and J.C. Penney, retailers that happen to be tenants of, you guessed it, Manhattan Mall.
To Vornado's credit, today's Manhattan Mall probably represents an improvement over past incarnations. Built in 1910 as a Gimbel's department store, the building in 1989 was converted into a horrific mess of a mega-mall: 11 stories of mass confusion. The next owner converted the upper floors into office space and installed a Miami Beach-themed food court in the basement, with thumping music, video screens and one of the city's few Arby's. That didn't work, either. When Vornado bought it in 2007, hopes ran high for a turnaround.
Five years later, the place still puzzles. For starters, there's the question of how to get into the damn thing. As one friend observed, the easiest route may be to take the PATH train out to NJ and then back to the mall's underground entrance.
Then there's the mystery of the mall's target demographic. My guess: squirrels and crows. Almost everything sold here is shiny, glittery or metallic. The prime street-front location, for instance, is claimed by Afaze, a "refreshingly economical" regional chain selling accessories and plastic jewelry organized by color. There's a Hallmark store selling crystal hummingbirds. The Strawberry store has a flashy section that's literally labeled "sexy lingerie."
Still, the more time I spent wandering the mall, the more I liked it. My taste can parallel that of a sugar-dazed 12-year-old, and I found lots wonderful items, including (are you reading, Santa?) a pair of furry white thong slippers and a $45 iPhone cover bearing a rhinestone peacock. The center's laid-back pace is relaxing—if you want the shoe salesman all to yourself, this is the mall for you. And, boy, is this place clean. If I had to get an operation, I'd want it performed right here.
It's an attractive venue for retailers as well. Average annual rent is $114.58 per square foot. That's dirt cheap for Herald Square, where ground-floor asking rents range from $493 to $1000 per square foot. Stores with multiple locations in the area, like Express and Aeropostale, say that while their street-side stores lure a lot of tourists, the mall location helps them target a different market: It's an office-commuter crowd, says Express Real Estate EVP Doug Tilson.
Indeed, some stores stock their Manhattan Mall locations with a specific shopper in mind. Bob Dennis, CEO of Genesco, parent company of the 1,000-store Lids hat chain, says the mall attracts a "fashion customer"—the kid who wants his baseball cap to match his outfit. "In many cases they want to hook it up to their sneakers," says Mr. Dennis. Nearby Lids locations on the street, meanwhile, cater to tourists: It's Yankees, Yankees, Yankees.
Yet the mall leaves some shoppers wanting more. On a recent visit, 73-year-old Noni O'Hara, a retiree living in Peter Cooper Village, says she was at the center "out of desperation," scouting J.C. Penney for an elusive gift for her granddaughter. A frequent shopper at nearby Macy's, she'd prefer to see a few high-end stores at the mall. "It's a fabulous location," she says. "Something could be done with it."
So why doesn't Vornado step it up? The company wouldn't comment, but Mr. Davidowitz has a theory: The firm doesn't need to do anything with the property. Vornado made a wicked-smart bet on Herald Square when it bought the building for $689 million. "It knew the area would explode," he says. And it has. The world's hottest retailers have rushed to open or renovate flagship stores near the square; peak pedestrian traffic surpasses 10,000 shoppers an hour. The property's value has likely gone through the roof. "They've done that brilliantly, and that's what the transaction was about," says Mr. Davidowitz.
So for those craving an authentic mall experience, it's better to pin your hopes on New Jersey. And if it's just a Cinnabon you're craving, there's always Penn Station.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000..._MIDDLE_LSMini
I hate Vornado. The area has the potential to be so much nicer.
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