Rockefeller Center
NBC Universal Takes Another Chunk of 75 Rock
NBC Universal has subleased roughly 100,000 square feet at Tishman Speyer's 75 Rockefeller Plaza from AOL, according to Crain's. (The Observer's Dana Rubinstein noted the likelihood of more space at 75 Rock in October.)
The move is part of NBC Universal's grand maneuvering to find 600,000 square feet of office space to consolidate its business operations, maneuvering that has seen the media giant kick the tires at 7 World Trade Center, Worldwide Plaza and the old New York Times building. Thusly, the 75 Rock sublease is reportedly short-term. read more »
Queen Beatrix Leases Space in Rockefeller Center
The Consulate General of the Netherlands has renewed its lease in Tishman Speyer's One Rockefeller Plaza, taking 17,156 square feet on the 11th floor for 10 years, according to CB Richard Ellis, which represented the consulate.
Apparently, in these uncertain economic times, consulates and other foreign missions are sought-after office tenants, according to CBRE senior VP Matthew McBride in a statement about the Netherlands lease. Why? The foreign offices aren't as affected by the economic zigs and zags as private sector tenants.
Dean & DeLuca Opens at One Rock
Dean & DeLuca is pulling a Starbucks. With an existing Dean & DeLuca Café at 9 Rockefeller Center, we got word last night that the 30-year-old specialty food retailer has opened a new location at the Tishman Speyer-owned One Rockefeller Center. But not to worry, the press release promises a “new café concept."
The new Rockefeller Center location is the first of three Dean & DeLuca cafes coming to Manhattan in the next few months; the others are planned for the new New York Times building at 620 Eighth Avenue and the read more »
Smith & Wollensky Takes It in the Chops
Jersey's Loss Is New York's Gain--Sort of
New Jersey loses about $8 million in foregone sales taxes from the move, according to the watchdog group New Jersey Policy Perspective, and another $9.6 million in grants and equipment that the network won't give back, according to this article in the Asbury Park Press. Hey, 10 years is long enough, ain't it?
Now, NBC, capitalizing on the return move as well as on plans to expand staff by 1,600, wants more tax breaks from New York City, according to Good Jobs New York.
- Matthew SchuermanLetters
Letters
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
- So much for the good old days in Greenwich Village. Bob Dylan and his brother have bought a Scottish mansion [above] in the Cairngorms National Park. If they had decided to rent, the place would have cost 3,000 Pounds (roughly $5,900) a night. [BBC News, via Luxist]
- The AIA Honor Awards have been announced, and four prizes have been handed out to local beauties: Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, the Modern, Bloomberg's HQ, and the New York Stock Exchange and Financial District's Streetscapes + Security. [Architectural Record News]
- Clinton Hill's decrepit Broken Angel has gotten a lot of attention (it even has its own Wikipedia page). And now that it's being renovated into condos, there'll even be a "reno blog." [Brownstoner]
- "Prime real estate and the city's seedy underbelly" go together like a horse and carriage, especially when "shady" landlords and prostitutes in patent leather are involved. [The Real Deal, via Gawker] - Max Abelson
Can New Owners Make Rock Center Sexy Again?
Events for November 10, 2006
There will be an unveiling of tribute panels honoring Vietnam War heroes at Vietnam Veterans Plaza, otherwise known as 55 Water Street.
A new WWII Veterans Memorial Plaza at Queens College will have its dedication ceremony in Flushing.
France presents the Legion of Honor award to WWII veterans at the French Consulate General.
Princeton University hosts a conference on "The Future Role of the United Nations in the Middle East" featuring U.N. Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown, former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and U.N. ambassadors from Iraq, Iran, and Israel at the Princeton Club.
Urban Tech unveils a reality-based AIDS/STD course for high school students at the Fredrick Douglas Academy.
The Long Island Housing Partnership holds its 5th Annual Chairman's Symposium on inclusionary zoning at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.
Update: Lewis Lapham and Gary Younge discuss "Creating a Real Opposition Force in American Politics" at the New School. —Nicole BrydsonEngagements on Ice!!!!!
He's getting his very first tenant at 7 World Trade Center, and it's a smart little group: The New York Academy of Sciences.
H3 Hardy Collaboration will be designing the 40th floor for the NYAS. Architect Hugh Hardy has designed the Rainbow Room up in Rockefeller Center--plus, you may remember, Windows on the World.
The press release calls this "a major milestone in LoMa's revitalization."
LoMa?
More PR after the jump. read more »
- Max AbelsonIt’s V-Day, Dammit!
Countdown to Bliss
Ride the Pink Pony: Rockefeller Center, Al Franken, Ugly Purses, and Gayhem
Can nutty Al Franken recalibrate as a mealy-mouthed politician? (Oh, we think so. Buh bye, Al! Have fun in Minnesota!)
Things at the New York Times are so out of control that the PUBLISHER OF THE PAPER COMPLAINS--TO THE PAPER--THAT HE IS MISQUOTED IN HIS OWN PAPER.
Bring out your ugly old purses, ladies! read more »
The White House's labor of love is recasting the C.I.A. as their own personal errand-bitches.
And what happens when you're addicted to dating egghead weenies?That Was a Debate?
Once again, it's easy to pity the daily newspaper reporters who have to tease coherence out of a debate that seemed oddly detached from the urgency and clarity that usually sets in six days before a primary.
From well-stocked press room at NBC's Rockefeller Center studio, the candidates seemed to be carefully balancing their supposed voting blocs, and they hardly engaged each other -- bar a garbled shot from Miller at Weiner for confusing capital and expense budgets.
The 25-second (!) answers, meanwhile, weren't enough to draw out shades of difference on issues like bilingual education, and drew a question from one reporter during post-debate spin as to whether the whole thing hadn't been a bit "bizarre."
And neither the debate nor the advance-man's nightmare of an ambush that followed it addressed what looks like a campaign-finance crisis in Miller's campaign, though Gifford seemed a bit off his game.
It was Anthony who engaged in one bit of positioning for a run-off with Freddy: asked whom he would support if he is eliminated, he chose Virginia, who did not return the favor.
Afterward, Weiner explained why he would support her: first of all, Fields is "affable and charming," the former a quality he declined to apply to himself. read more »
Terror: So Hot Right Now!
Our fearless intern Michael Grynbaum went to the British Building yesterday to see how Target stores' promo event would live up to its promise to turn the building's facade into a "vertical runway." He filed this report:
Consciously or not (and frankly, we're guessing the latter), Target's noontime fashion show at Rockefeller Center last Wednesday was more combat than couture. An unfortunate medley of bulky jackets, giant bull's-eyes and a troublesome soundtrack—"Sex Bomb" was a poor choice—served as an unnerving reminder that with the city on high alert, even the mindless world of fashion can't shake our summertime blues. (Or was that oranges? So hard to keep track of the alerts these days.)
Maybe Target was just looking for trouble. After all, plastering a major tourist spot with oversized targets wasn't sending the safest of messages.
Neither, for that matter, was choosing to debut the chain store's fall clothing line in the sweltering heat. Emo-thin models came strutting out in bulky parkas and faux-fur coats. Winter-wear in the summer sun? Isn't that the first thing we've been told to look out for? Given their lily-white skin tones, we doubt any of the beautiful folk were patted down. But instead of attracting customers, they only attracted suspicion. Especially the ones carrying the nuclear-code style black suitcases. Eep.
The event's organizers clearly hoped to focus more attention on something called a "vertical runway," featuring well-dressed acrobats rappelling down the stone façade of the British Building on 50th Street, overlooking the Rockefeller rink. But the sight of suited men falling from the sky evoked at best botched outtakes from The Matrix—and at worst, a disturbing flashback to September 11.
Even scarier was the acrobats' goateed German choreographer, Jochen Schweizer (at right), who could easily pass for a James Bond nemesis. Schweizer's business card is a mini-CD-ROM complete with digital press kit; if supervillains carried business cards, this would surely be it.
Schweizer's henchmen shaked and shimmied to the pounding dance music, at one point simulating a kind of mid-air coitus. "Do they get combat pay?" asked the journalist seated next to us. Bemused spectators couldn't decide where to direct their sympathy: to the acrobats risking their lives for a publicity stunt, or to the models forced into wearing three layers in 100 degree weather. One poor soul waltzed out in a snow jacket, tweed blazer and wool pullover. The women in attendance sweated him—literally. read more »
As the crowd dissipated, we wondered whether anyone else had detected the darker undertones lurking beneath Target's bright lights and fall colors. (Fashionistas are, after all, somewhat superficial folk.) Most went merrily on their way, blissfully unaware that the tendrils of terror have crept their way into one of America's last remaining strongholds: its moyenne couture. No matter—as long as Target keeps selling Isaac Mizrahi on the cheap, no one has to worry their pretty little head.
— Michael Grynbaum
