See more views by clicking on the links below:
New World Trade Center Skyline by Day
New World Trade Center View Looking South
New World Trade Center View Looking South at Dusk
World Trade Center Site at Night
World Trade Center Site from Midtown (Sepia)
*Images Courtesy of Silverstein Properties
See more views by clicking on the links below:
New World Trade Center Skyline by Day
New World Trade Center View Looking South
New World Trade Center View Looking South at Dusk
World Trade Center Site at Night
World Trade Center Site from Midtown (Sepia)
*Images Courtesy of Silverstein Properties
See more views by clicking on the links below:
New World Trade Center Skyline by Day
New World Trade Center View Looking South
New World Trade Center View Looking South at Dusk
World Trade Center Site at Night
World Trade Center Site from Midtown (Sepia)
*Images Courtesy of Silverstein Properties
Real Estate Mogul Donald Trump has offered to purchase the site where the Park51 Islamic Community Center stands.
A letter dated today was sent to the property owners via email with a statement:
“I am making this offer as a resident of New York and citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation,” Trump wrote to Hisham Elzanaty an owner who has the majority financing over the proposed site.
Building records show that the building at 45 Park Place has sold for $4.85 million in July 2009. Â According to previous statements by Elzanaty, “Develop it, raze it, sell it. If someone wants to give me $18 or 20 million dollars today, its all theirs.”
Elezanaty’s attorney made a public comment claiming Trump’s offer was merely a publicity stunt, calling the offer “laughable” and said it was not a serious one.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, owners of the World Trade Center Site will be holding a special meeting today to vote on the funding required for two towers being developed by Larry Silverstein.
The vote that takes place today will solidify tentative deals announced between the Port Authority and Larry Silverstein in recent weeks.
The financing terms call for $1 billion dollars help from the Port Authority to develop a 64-story tower at the World Trade Center site. The Port Authority will also provide $600 million in backup funds for another 71-story tower, contingent on Silverstein being able to raise $200 million in cash as well as tenants for the building.
These two buildings are being constructed in tandem with 1 World Trade Center which was previously known as the Freedom Tower.
Two years ago, the Port Authority faced an empty World Trade Center site with companies showing little to no interest in locating downtown.
It seems 1 World Trade Center is the address to have these days.
After having settled on its new headquarters at 1 Bryant Park, Bank of America is entertaining the possibility of 1 million more square feet at the World Trade Center.
Bank of America’s interest comes on the heels of magazine giant Conde Nast locating their new headquarters at 1 World Trade Center.
According to the New York Post, “Sources said the bank prefers at least half of its relocation space to be at a newly minted address with features similar to those at 1 Bryant Park, which it co-owns with Douglas Durst — i.e., LEED-certified environmental design, advanced electronic technology and relatively colum-free floor plates.”
Douglas Durst, along with Larry Silverstein are the two main developers responsible for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Silverstein also owns and operates the glass behemoth, 7 World Trade Center.
Bank of America is prospecting locations in both midtown and downtown.
“Downtown, only 1WTC (in which Durst now holds a minority stake) is in fullbore construction for completion in 2013. Larry Siverstein’s 4 WTC could offer comparable modern space, but construction above a six-story base awaits completion of a financing agreement between him and the PA,” according to the same article.
He was 14 at the time of the September 11th attacks, probably unaware that merely 5 years later he would be responsible for finding one of the most controversial developments in the nation.
According to reports published in the New York Daily News today, Francisco Patino was working for developer Sharif El-Gamal to help research and find an appropriate location for the Park51 development.
“I told him to go out and find available buildings for the project, and he did. He’s a phenomenal kid,” Gamal is quoted in the same article, “We were looking at buildings all over the area. I liked a lot of them but this was the one we ended up on. It was just meant to be.”
Patino, 23, currently works at Chase Manhattan Bank and has gained notoriety as a contestant on “American Inventor” a popular TV show that aired in 2006.
The article also mentions, “Patino was barely a man in 2006 and had only come to this country when he was 12. No young newcomer could be expected to understand the sensitivities beneath the contradictions.”
After clearing a vote against landmark status for 45-47 Park Place, another hurdle has emerged concerning the development of what has been dubbed “The Ground Zero Mosque” or the Park51 Mosque.
The mosque which is slated to be located at 45-51 Park Place, built on two parcels of land, is only half owned by the developers spearheading the project according to the NY Post which first broke the report over the weekend. The building at 45-47 Park Place, which had been undergoing landmark status hearings is owned by Soho Properties, the developers of Park51 — whilst the building at 49-51 Park Place is not. Park51 is named after the address 51 Park Place, the address in scrutiny.
More surprisingly, the owner of the other parcel of land is actually Con Edison. This information took even Community Board 1 proponents by surprise who had not heard of this revelation through its own hearings.
According to the article, “Sharif El-Gamal, the head of Soho Properties, first came forward in 2006 seeking to buy the empty building at 45-47 Park Place, said Melvin Pomerantz, whose family owned the property.
Pomerantz said El-Gamal eventually raised $4.8 million cash for 45-47 Park Place. El- Gamal paid an extra $700,000 to take over the lease with Con Ed for the building next door. The lease expires in 2071.”
The discrepancy emerged because the two buildings were connected years ago, as it housed a former Burlington Coat Factory and was generally assumed ownership for that entire parcel was under one ownership, without the Community Board #1’s knowledge that Soho Properties would be developing half of the site under paying a $33K a month lease to Con Ed.
Con Ed is appraising the property for a potential sale, “The utility is now doing an appraisal to determine the property value, and it would be up to El-Gamal to decide whether to accept the price, the utility said. The price is estimated at $10 million to $20 million.
“We are following our legal obligations under the lease. We will not allow other considerations to enter into this transaction,†Con Ed said.
The sale proposal will go to the Public Service Commission, where it could possibly face a vote by a five-member board controlled by Gov. Paterson,” according to the same article.
Do you think that this will be a significant hurdle for the Park51 Mosque?
The bank which owns nearly 230 apartments at Rector Square has announced that it will be planning a “bulk sale” of the apartments in September according to reports from Independent.ie.
The Anglo Irish Bank has been embroiled in a legal dispute with Rector Square’s developer Yair Levy and won an order of foreclosure on the Rector Square building.
Yair Levy seems to have ground accustomed to legal problems, after Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and unit owners of the building have both filed suits against Levy’s company YL Real Esate, for mishandling the operations of the Rector Square building. YL Real Estate has defaulted on $165 million in loans.
According to the same report, Units initial sold for $1000 per square foot  are now valued at $400 per square foot. It is not clear what the foreclosure rate for the units will be when the parcel of units go up on the block in September.
If you build office space, someone is bound to move in. Conde Nast has confirmed they signed a tentative deal that would move from their flagship Times Square location into the building formerly known as the Freedom Tower.
According to NY Magazine, employees were emailed a memo regarding the move today:
‘We have been evaluating real estate opportunities that would allow us to house all our brands in a single, state-of-the-art headquarters, as some of you may already know.As part of that process, we are in active discussions regarding 1 World Trade Center, a development project underway with the Durst Organization (our 4 Times Square landlord) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
While a final decision is several months away — and a move itself unlikely before 2014 – we wanted to keep you apprised of the status of this project. We also wanted to alert you, since it is now highly likely that we will move from 4 Times Square, whether to 1 World Trade Center or another location, that we will be reviewing our present and future space requirements for each of our businesses. More information about that process will be communicated shortly.”
It was speculated that Conde Nast would be one of the first tenants at the World Trade Center site after Durst was confirmed as one of the of two developers overseeing the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site. Durst’s relationship with high profile tenants was seen as an advantageous by the Port Authority.
This is the second announcement of publications moving into the lower manhattan area. The Daily News, America Media Inc. and Manseuto Ventures have recently called our area their new homes.