Go West, Old Men! Nine Firms Vying for Huge Hudson Yards Leases
It took decades for the New York Coliseum to be torn down and replaced by the Related Companies’ Time Warner Center. While most of that time it was a different developer trying to build the damn thing, the fact remains, Related’s president Jeff Blau has his work cut out for him. “At Hudson Yards, we’re looking at about 2.5-times the Time Warner in that first phase, and the key to getting financing will be getting the office space leased,” Mr. Blau said yesterday at the Masters of Real Estate panel hosted by The Observer.
Until he can find tenants for at least a portion of the 4.5 million square feet of office space planned at the megaproject, it will be all but impossible for Mr. Blau to start building. That had been a challenge ever since the economy collapsed in late 2008, not long after Related won the bid to redevelop the rail yards—O.K., so that deal wasn’t finalized until 16 months ago, but whose counting—but Mr. Blau said the firm had seen a surge in interest in the past six months, and there are now nine companies actively looking at relocating into offices at Hudson Yards, and they are all looking at leases over a million square feet. Read More
