Now that a prominent development partner and architects are on board, a key site catty-corner to Bryant Park is moving closer to a resolution.
The Post has learned that Hines Interests is now working with Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, the owner of 1045 Ave. of the Americas, which takes up a full block front between West 39th and West 40th streets. The now-vacant site previously hosted the headquarters of Milliken & Co. and was recently demolished.
Additionally, the architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed has now completed conceptual designs that do not need discretionary approvals, the owners advise.
Richard Webel, president of Pacolet Milliken, said, “Together with Hines Interests, one of the leading real estate development entities, Pacolet Milliken has been working for the last several years to formulate a project that can satisfy the demands of both users and investors for the highest quality office space on this unique site. Offering in excess of 400,000 square feet of rentable area, the project is potentially positioned to be at the leading edge of the next development cycle.”
Paul Amrich of CB Richard Ellis, who may or may not be the agent for the future tower, declined comment through a spokesman.
In December, the owners of the adjacent and recently landmarked Springs Mills Building, at 104 W. 40th St., sold 65,085 square feet of transferrable air rights to Pacolet Milliken Enterprises for about $12.2 million, or just under $200 a square foot. A spokesman for Savanna Partners, the owner of Springs Mills, declined comment.
Back in March 2009 we warned you that Milliken was tearing down its former showroom building and planning a new, as-of-right development.
No matter what is constructed, both the city and the Bryant Park Business Improvement District would be beneficiaries of enhanced payments and an improvement in the landscape.
*
It will be hard for any architect, however, to top the BIG design for Durst Fetter Residential’s large plot at the West Side Highway at the north side of West 57th Street.
Unveiled this week in New York magazine, the sliced-out white pyramid rises dramatically back from the Hudson River, leaving views from Durst’s adjacent and more conventional Helena residential tower rentals fairly intact.
Ingeniously, the structure starts as a rectangle and takes up the entire plot, but has the one corner pulled up and away. The interior slice actually creates an 80-yard-long park for future residents.
This would be the Copenhagen-based Bjarke Ingels Group’s first city project, and the firm has opened a Chelsea office while its namesake architect is residing part-time in TriBeCa. Approvals and land use tweaks will be needed to get this futuristic baby built, but it’s certainly a vast improvement over the parking structure Douglas Durst once told me he was considering for the site in order to keep cars from flooding Midtown. There will be an underground parking garage in the new building.
We also take this moment to say goodbye to the former Artkraft Strauss industrial building, where Times Square light spectaculars were once constructed. More recently the brick building had become a mishmashed billboard for visiting graffiti artists, until, under pressure from The Post, Durst had the outside repainted in a jungle motif by a separate artist.
Across West 57th Street, Avalon Bay has an option on much of the block, but if the real estate investment trust develops anything there, it likely won’t be as creative as the Durst proposal.
*
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney subleased the entire 30th floor of 1290 Ave. of the Americas from Bryan Cave. The deal for the 26,122 square foot floor had an asking rent of $64 per foot and extends through March 2019.
Lawyer Barry Slotnick is chairman of the Pittsburgh-based firm’s local office, which will relocate soon from 620 Eighth Ave.
Frederick Kane Marek of The Vortex Group represented Buchanan while Lewis Miller, Paul Milunec, Peter Turchin and Gregg Rothkin of CB Richard Ellis did the work for Bryan Cave.
*
Denim Habit just signed a lease for a store at 344 W. 14th St.
The building is just east of Ninth Avenue, which has been the luxury retailer’s mental boundary of the Meatpacking District. “You can stand at the front door of Apple and see the Denim Habit,” said Richard Skulnick of Ripco Real Estate, who represented the building owners. “Everyone coming from the subway [at Eighth Avenue] is walking past the store anyway.” The asking rent of $225 a square foot was also half the asking rents across the avenue.
Sal Ferrigno of Robert K. Futterman & Associates repped Denim Habit. Based in Philadelphia, Denim Habit recently bought National Jean. The new store has 2,250 square feet on the ground and an 1,800-square-foot usable basement.
Real Estate Equities owns this building along with the well-known Mobil car wash that is eventually destined for a retail transformation.
*
If you get a chance, check out the splashy, full-building billboard for Spanish retailer Desigual’s newest store at 958 Sixth Ave. The entire five-story building of 6,000 square feet at 36th Street is the company’s third store in Manhattan, with one in SoHo and another just steps away on West 34th Street. This building used to house a pizza shop.
At the end of September, about two months before it officially opened, the store hosted an “undie party,” bringing in hordes who lined up outside wearing just their panties and tighty whities. Jack Terzi of JTRE, who owns the building, did the triple net deal in-house, with an asking rent of $750,000 per year, so the tenant is responsible for all taxes and mainte nance. Desigual has showrooms upstairs from the two-story re tail outlet.
*
Brightroll is spilling into an ex pansion lease for 6,267 square feet at 295 Madison Ave. at East 41st Street, where it began in a temp space just two years ago.
The San Francisco-based tech company is a bit more than a startup, yet is already the world’s largest video advertising network, delivering millions of moving images to ad and other firms each day.
Elliot Warren and Loren Biller of the Kaufman Organization represented the tenant, while Ethan Silverstein of Cushman and Wakefield represented the ownership, which had an asking rent of $48 a square foot and will build out the new space. A capital improvement program is also under way, with a new lobby designed by Gensler Architecture. [email protected]
