56 Leonard's second most expensive unit is asking $24 million.

It may look like a glass and steel version of wooden Jenga tower, but a piece of 56 Leonard Street will cost buyers considerably more than the $13 Parker Brothers game. Just a month after the Alexico Group closed on a $350 million construction loan for the downtown tower, nine units—ranging from a lowly two-bedroom on the 14th floor to a $24 million full-floor penthouse on the 57th floor—have been listed with Corcoran Sunshine. (The Herzog & de Meuron-designed tower does have one major advantage over a Jenga structure: it's not likely to fall down anytime soon.)

The penthouse, just one floor shy of the building's top unit, clocks in at a sizable 5,252 square feet, and is carved into four, very generously-sized bedrooms. The $24 million price tag is not for the faint of heart, but at about $4,500 per square foot, it's a steal compared to some of the new uptown construction heading skywards (432 Park and One57 are asking an average price of $6,000 per square foot, with prices rising significantly on the priciest units). Of course, knowing the way things go, the developer may hike prices in the future.

The Alexico Group and Houston-based Hines Interests, who are working together to develop the building, are asking $3.62 million for a 14th floor two-bedroom at 56 Leonard, which at 1,733 square feet only comes out to just a bit over $2,000 a foot—not bad for new construction by Pritzker Prize-winning architects!

"If you look at the rest of the market to see what you can buy for that price, that's very attractive pricing," Leonard Steinberg of Douglas Elliman told The Observer. Jonathan Miller at Miller Samuel also thought the pricing sounded reasonable, and pointed out that Superior Ink has done sales in the mid-$3,000s per square foot.

"I think there's nothing stronger in real estate in Manhattan than the power of a protected view," Mr. Steinberg added. And at nearly 800 feet up in the air in a neighborhood without a huge amount of high-rise construction, the views at the top of 56 Leonard are about as guaranteed as they get outside of Central Park and the waterfront. The penthouse's great room will have northern, eastern and southern exposures.

Of the neighborhood, Mr. Steinberg said, "I also think that the eastern side of Tribeca"—56 Leonard sits at the corner of Leonard and Church streets—"has gone through a radical transformation over the last five years."

Still, 56 Leonard is by far the hottest project going up downtown. "There's no building that's comparable," said Mr. Steinberg. "It's one of those buildings that's pioneered a whole new classification of living in Tribeca. Tribeca's never been known for its views—this building is going to deliver a level of views that's never been seen in the neighborhood."

And while 56 Leonard isn't Herzog & de Meuron's first foray into New York—the Swiss architects worked on developer Ian Schrager's green 40 Bond Street in SoHo—the 57-story tower will be the Swiss high-design duo's first contribution to Manhattan's skyline.

In fact, the tower of glass will be the architects' first skyscraper, period. The tower has been well-received by New York's architectural establishment, and is as anticipated a building as any in a city that has no dearth of starchitecture to look at, and look forward to.

Interest from bidders was "through the roof," according to one person involved in the process, with 20 to 30 prospective buyers, including a number foreigners from the Middle East and Asia. An offshore investor was the winner, taking home the 36-story, 600,000-square-foot Class A office tower at Seventh Avenue and 48th Street, according to sources familiar with the bidding but not directly involved in the deal. We're trying to track down more details about the price and the buyer's identity. 

The Observer reported in early March that the property was being quietly shopped by CB Richard Ellis' Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan (Ms. Stacom declined to comment). Hines, a Texas-based real estate investment firm, with $22.9 billion in assets worldwide, bought the 600,000-square-foot midtown prize in partnership with General Motors in 2000 for $150 million, or $260 a square foot. The city's 74th-tallest building was completed in 1989 by Solomon Equities, featuring such dubious architectural features as a fake glass chimney, an uncanny resemblance to the neighboring Death Star, and an unmistakable sway in a brisk fall wind. The victim of '80s overbuilding, it was purchased shortly afterward by Morgan Stanley.

The bank continues to occupy more than 300,000 square feet, or half the tower, and as of this fall was considering consolidating its back offices into a large block of vacant space in the building, across the street from its headquarters, Bloomberg reported. Other major tenants in the building include Mendes and Mount and Ernst & Young.

lkusisto@observer.com

Darcy Stacom of CB Richard Ellis, who listed the tower for Hines, called the losing bidders on Thursday to tell them that the building was in contract and that the deal could close within 24 hours, a relatively breakneck turnaround, according to that one representative. She could not be reached for confirmation. But a source familiar with the process disputed the 24-hour closing estimate.

Hines acquired the Emery Roth-designed tower, built in 1985, from Sumitomo Life Realty in 2004.

drubinstein@observer.com

The City Council approved the controversial MoMA tower yesterday afternoon by a vote of 44-3, which is supposed to be the last step in the approval process, but is really just the last step before the inevitable lawsuit challenging the approval process.

So it's just barely even news that an opposition group said yesterday it's likely to file suit against the Jean Nouvel-designed tower.

The tower is controversial--it rises 1,050 feet over West 53rd Street--but it's unclear exactly what the grounds for legal action would be. The MoMA tower doesn't seize any land under eminent domain, so it's not subject to the thorny litigation that's plagued the proposed Atlantic Yards development and could affect the city's plans for Willets Point. The best guess it that it would be an environmental challenge, and those suits don't have particularly high rates of success (though longshot wins are possible; see, for example, Westway).

Assuming it doesn't sink the project, a legal delay might not hurt the developer, Hines Interests, given the current market conditions. A Post article last week speculated that the unfinished designs Hines took to City Planning--which cost them 200 feet off the top--might have been a plan to sabotage their own project.

One interesting note from the Council vote: Dan Garodnick--whose district starts just south of West 54th Street and includes a sizeable number of the tower's opponents--voted against the project. But since the building actually lies in Council Speaker Christine Quinn's district, Mr. Garodnick wasn't pressed to rally his fellow Councilmembers and invoke the usual home district deference that members accord to projects in each other's districts.

The request comes after City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden chopped 200 feet off the top of the tower, which was to rise to 1,250 feet, the height of the Empire State Building. And it’s a bit of a reverse of the usual scenario: Typically, when developers reach the Council—the last stage in the city’s land-use approval process—the Council members negotiate with them to make their project smaller, not bigger.

It's probably important to note that 1,250 hasn't always been its height. Back in 2008, when the project went through the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the developer put its planned height at 1,155 feet; so before it shrunk by 200 feet, it apparently grew by 95. 

We’ll have more from the hearing later today.

ebrown@observer.com