By Roland Li 1/01 7:06pm

Westward Whoa!

hudson_park_block_3_big

Can Stephen Ross Make 11th Avenue the Next Hot Address?

On a recent evening at the 92nd Street Y, Stephen Ross, chairman of the Related Companies, reflected on four decades of transformation—for the city, where he has built more apartments than almost any other developer of his generation, and also for himself. In September, Mr. Ross, 72, stepped down as the CEO of the once-humble affordable housing outfit he transformed into a luxury real estate behemoth.

Not that he’s stepping aside. There he was a few weeks later, alongside Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn on the formerly desolate Far West Side, breaking ground on the Hudson Yards project, a glass and steel city within a city that is actually larger, in terms of square footage, than downtown Portland or downtown Baltimore. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/12/12 11:47am

Mr. Ross' Neighborhood

Hudson Yard_Aerial from south

Danny Meyer Taking Over Hudson Yards, the World

As if there was not enough anticipation surrounding the construction of Hudson Yards, here is probably the one reason to trump any other: Danny Meyer will be setting up shop on the Far West Side.

The Related Companies and Union Square Hospitality announced a new partnership today, whereby Steve Ross and his globetrotting development company will take a stake in Union Square Events. While not encompassing all of the restauranteurs operations, USE offers more than just catering but also runs the sports venue operations for Mr. Meyers sprawling eatery empire, and now it will do even more. So no fine dining, necessarily, but Mr. Meyer will be offering a range of culinary options, from private residential dining to catering events in Hudson Yards buildings as well as operating restaurants and outdoor cafes. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 12/07/11 2:00pm

ICSC

i-love-new-york

The White Whale of West 57th Street: Nordstrom appears poised for NYC

It’s the great white whale of Manhattan retail.

Aside from Walmart, Nordstrom is the store every retail broker in the city dreams of harpooning and reeling into a new home. One prominent broker familiar with the store, the amount of space it needs and the rents it would probably be willing to pay estimates that the commission for handling its lease would be around $10 million.

But like a leviathan lurking beneath the waves, the department store has offered only fleeting glimpses around the city, most notably at several development sites and a few existing assets with the capacity to accommodate its sprawling footprint.

The scuttlebutt nowadays: Nordstrom is contemplating one of two leases, one at the West Side rail yards with the Related Companies or another at the base of Extell Development’s soaring new residential tower now rising at 157 West 57th Street. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 12/07/11 1:00pm

Whale Watch

The Category Killer.

Wooing Walmart: NYC brokers still have eyes for elusive retailer

The weekly phone calls. The dinner invites. The gifts.

When representatives from Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, waltz into the New York Hilton for this year’s two-day International Council of Shopping Centers conference, many of the city’s most intrepid retail brokers will be close behind them, perhaps even plying those officials with compliments, dinner invitations and business opportunities. Read More

By Guelda Voien 11/01/11 5:12pm

Anchor Tenant

The Coach House.

600,000 Square Feet of Office Space in the Bag for Coach

Luxury handbag stalwart Coach will relocate its offices to the Hudson Yards, scooping up approximately one-third of the planned south office tower as a commercial condo in a deal that will give the New York City-based company approximately 600,000 square feet.

Coach will move its corporate headquarters and consolidate three New York City offices into the building by 2015. The 1.8 million-square-foot tower, at the northwest corner of West 30th Street and Tenth Avenue, is one of 14 residential, commercial and retail assets envisioned by the Related Companies at its far West Side development site. Read More

By Zeke Turner 12/01/10 3:23am

Feature

The King of Columbus Circle Has Plans

On Nov. 15, Stephen Ross, chairman of the Related Companies and owner of the Miami Dolphins, strode into Room 238 of the New York State Supreme Court, four minutes after litigation over 3 Columbus Circle was slated to begin. A dozen lawyers waited around a square table in the center of the room, rattling gold Read More

By Eliot Brown 10:26pm

Selling Freedom

Zuckerman Bows Out of 1 W.T.C. Race

Mort Zuckerman is out of the running for the country’s tallest building.

Boston Properties, the real estate firm which the Daily News publisher chairs, on Monday pulled out of a three-way race to buy a stake in One World Trade Center, according to multiple government officials and a real estate executive. Mr. Zuckerman leaves behind Read More

By Eliot Brown 3/10/10 3:24pm

Port Authority Punts Vornado, Brookfield From One WTC

The race to sell off a portion of the Freedom Tower-officially, One World Trade Center-has kicked into a new gear.

The Port Authority, the New York-New Jersey-controlled bureaucracy that is developing the tower and shopping around an ownership stake, late last month dropped two developers vying to take a piece of the 1,776-foot tower, according Read More