MetLife Inc.
Stuy Town Paper to Landlord:Read This!
The Round-Up: Wednesday
- Blackstone setting sights on Freedom Tower? [NY Post]
- "Handshake" seals Macklowe-Blackstone deal. [NY Post]
- Gramercy building goes for $130.5M. [2nd item] [NY Post]
- No. 7 extension could stymie 2nd Avenue Subway. [NY Post]
- Landmarks OKs experimental playground. [NY Times]
- Queens College moves ahead with dorm plan. [Daily News]
- Report: Midtown office space a relative bargain. [NY Sun]
- Stuy Town sale helps MetLife profit surge. [NY Sun]
Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.
Done: MetLife in 1095 Avenue of the Americas
The release says that MetLife will keep a "substantial ongoing presence" in super-spurned Long Island City. Whatever. It's all further evidence that no one wants to take the E or V train.
But don't tell that to the Elghanayans.
Release after the jump. read more »
- John KoblinStuy Town, Cooper Village Sale Closes
Wow, that was fast - literally, one month to the October day that owner MetLife agreed to sell the apartment complexes to an investment group led by Tishman Speyer.
The new owner's official word: "Tishman Speyer is honored to become the steward of this wonderful property."
And MetLife's giddy announcement after the jump. read more »
- John KoblinCity Springs For New MetLife Deal, But Where Was The Public Input?
Normally, the mayorally controlled Industrial Development Agency publishes an agenda about two weeks in advance of its meetings and holds a public hearing a few days before each. But the new MetLife deal didn't come up in the public hearing last week, and wasn't on the advance agenda for Tuesday's IDA board meeting.
"It demonstrates they were not willing to put it in front of the public, which is sort of to the detriment of the deal," said Good Jobs New York research associate Dan Steinberg. "The city would have had more leverage if the public was allowed to comment on it," he added, since the public's objections would show the pressure that the city was facing to exact greater concessions from MetLife.
For the full Good Jobs statement, see here. The details of the new agreement, passed by the IDA's board, can be found in the city Economic Development Corporation's press release here.
- Matthew SchuermanDiamond District Developer Nabs Tax Breaks, Now Needs Tenants
IDA: If you build it, they'd better come.
The city's Industrial Development Agency (IDA) this morning approved a controversial tax-incentive package to encourage development of a snazzy New York Diamond Tower on 47th Street.
While critics charged that the new building would merely "poach" existing tenants from older buildings in the city's ancient Diamond District, interim IDA Chairman Joshua J. Sirefman asserted that the tower would instead keep diamond-related enterprises from abandoning the old area altogether.
"Not only will the creation of a 21st-century facility provide an opportunity for industry growth, it will ensure that the site, which is in the heart of the District and is an attractive location for other commercial or residential uses, remains diamond- and jewelry-related, helping to keep the Diamond District intact," Mr. Sirefman said in a press release.
According to the IDA's rather rosy written analysis of the deal, the project would also generate between $134 million and $149 million in revenues for the city over 20 years.
But in order to take advantage of up to $49.6 million in approved tax benefits, tower developer Gary Barnett of Extell Development must first live up to certain occupancy standards.
If, for instance, he "fails to fill at least 65 percent of the new building with diamond- and jewelry-related occupants and at least 20 percent with businesses that are new to or expanding in the city," the developer gets no breaks to speak of.
Read the IDA's full announcement after the jump. read more »
- Chris ShottThe Beat Goes On at Tabla, One of City’s Most Exciting
The Biggest Deal: From Stuy Town to Speyer Shire
The Biggest Deal: From Stuy Town to Speyer Shire
Friday: Even More Reasons To Hate the Hamptons, To Love Harlem, To Fear the Market
Whites in Sagaponack
- Today's Most Gloriously Sensational Lead Sentence About the US Real Estate Market: "By any measure, things are getting tougher for American homeowners." (Seriously, the Wall Street Journal doesn't kid around when it comes to measuring toughness.) But GlobeSt.com clocks in at a very close second: "The buzz about a possible 2007 economic downturn is growing." (WSJ)
- MetLife can get away with crushing Stuy Town, but the monolith will really get into trouble if they move 1,700 executives into 42nd's old Verizon Building . Why? Because only five years ago NYC gave MetLife $26.4 million to move those execs to Long Island City. (New York Times)
- It's been 11 grueling days since the Times' article about Harlem's hotness, and nearly a month since a Post cover-story on the same topic. So it's time for The Sun to weigh in: "Harlem has finally been recognized as being in Manhattan... Harlem has arrived." (The Sun)
- What kind of sentiments are shared by the vacationers at the post-mortem Hamptons ? "Sometimes, perhaps, when you get down to it, those June and July pals are just not our kind, dear." Or: "Having a common experience was great but [you] didn't necessarily like the people you were having it with." Or: "[Class] distinctions might be more of an issue if they got together during the fall and winter." (New York Times) - Max Abelson read more »
