Next week 19,000 guests from 90 countries will descend on Cannes, France, for MIPIM, a four-day event that roughly translates as "International Market for Real Estate Professionals" featuring speaking panels and networking opportunities that allow developers to shop major new projects to prospective tenants and investors.

Greetings from Cannes.

The conference is considered the biggest of the year on the global real estate event schedule. But in Manhattan’s tight knit, somewhat-insular real estate community, few know of it.

“I am not familiar with Mipim???” One developer with a major new speculative office building rising out of the ground emailed The Commercial Observer when questioned whether he was going.

The developer wasn’t the only one in the dark. Several prominent real estate executives interviewed by The Commercial Observer either weren’t familiar with the conference or weren’t planning to go.

Of course not everyone was taking a pass. The Related Companies and Oxford Properties, partners in the massive development project planned for the West Side rail yards, is setting up a booth at MIPIM, a source at the partnership said. Brookfield Properties, the real estate investment trust that has a competing large-scale development known as Manhattan West nearby is going to have executives attend. A person at the REIT said that it will be sending the company’s head of development based out of Britain, not New York executives like Related and Oxford are sending to represent the rail yards.

My-Lan Cao, MIPIM’s director of press said that the large real estate services companies Jones Lang LaSalle, Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE would all have professionals at the event. She ceded that the list of New York names was short, but that a few high profile companies would be there, revealing that Thor Equities, the real estate investment company run by Joseph Sitt will be at the conference to give presentations on the Takashimaya Building, the roughly 100,000-square-foot Fifth Avenue retail and office building Mr. Sitt bought in 2010 for $140 million and has been trying to lease for near record breaking numbers.

Ms. Cao said that owners - like Mr. Sitt - in search of filling space can tap a global pool of tenants at the event.

The rail yards and Manhattan West will not be alone. Ms. Cao said that several large scale development projects from around the world will be represented at the conference. A proposed $4 billion development outside of Moscow envisioned by the Russian agency, the Skolkovo Foundation, that is being billed as Russia's Silicon Valley for instance will be on display. Skolkovo is seeking partners, capital and developers.

“A number of cities will be there as well, including Paris, London and Berlin,” Ms. Cao added.

Ms. Cao, who is based in Paris, said that city was sending officials to solicit partners in major infrastructure and development projects it is seeking to plan and build in order to improve transit, create business districts and build new housing.

The Middle Eastern country Qatar, which has poured state resources into a large development outside the Olympic Village being built in London for the 2012 Summer Games, is also going to be at MIPIM to show off its project.

Some of the world’s largest capital sources will also be there. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, one of the largest investment pools, which famously pumped in nearly $7 billion into Citibank during the scary depths of the credit crisis, will be at the show Ms. Cao said.

So will some American money sources such as Lone Star Funds and TPG Capital. Ms. Cao said that the New York real estate financing consultant and equity placement firm Carlton Advisors was also scheduled to attend.

"About six of us are going," said Howard Michaels, chief executive of Carlton Advisors.

Dgeiger@observer.com

Attorney Barry LePatner, founder of LePatner & Associates LLP and author of construction shock books Too Big to Fall: America’s Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward and Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets, has his own 30,000-foot-high view looking down on the current state of New York City’s construction industry. He believes there will be a $25 trillion construction boom in New York and the rest of the country between now and the year 2035.

Barry LePatner: Cassandra or Nostradamus?

But from his view up on high, the industry is not as active as it needs to be.

“We are in the third year of a ‘new normal’ economic environment for real estate, design and construction,” said Mr. LePatner in an interview with The Commercial Observer.

What this has caused is a term of relative impotence, where he perceives all the big players in New York City sitting on a pile of cash, committing themselves to a state of frugality instead of prodigious development.

“They are loaded, according to every responsible, knowledgeable source. They are sitting on the sidelines with all the money they could ever want,” he said. “But they are not going to invest in many cases, other than the Relateds of the world, because they build and they have huge resources to draw on—or the Vornados or the SL Greens.”

Other players, he said, are not getting the access to construction funding due to the sheepish behavior of the banks.

“It is easier for them [the banks] to make vast billions of dollars off charging fees than it is to risk putting money in under the constraints they’ve allowed to bear to wit,” he said. Those wishing to start a project would need to put at least 40 percent of the costs down. Developers, meanwhile, want to put down next to nothing and let all the construction loans be financed. This leads to a period of stasis, Mr. LePatner adds.

Numbers are supporting his soothsaying. There was $13.8 billion worth of construction projects that were started in 2011, a 31 percent drop from the previous year, according to the New York Construction Outlook Update issued by the New York Building Congress.
Most of those are the result of a decline in construction projects in the nonresidential sector, including all hospitals, offices, hotels and other institutional buildings.

Construction starts for all government projects in 2011, including roads, bridges and other infrastructure, also dropped by 39 percent, from $13.7 billion in 2010 to $8.4 billion in 2011.

Mr. LePatner believes this is the result of the public’s diminishing interest in fortifying a decaying infrastructure.

“There is a public lack of enthusiasm for investing in infrastructure that was there right after World War II,” said Mr. LePatner.

But these construction projects need to happen in order for businesses to follow.

“When we finish a number 7 line to the Javits Convention Center, businesses will flow there, just like the Hudson Yards. When we finish the Second Avenue Subway, businesses will flourish and new development will happen along that way in much the same way that the High Line triggered $2 billion of investment and assets in an area where it was just nonexistent before.”

drosen@observer.com

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 30^th 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.

The Coach House.

“Since its founding 70 years ago, in a loft not far from here, Coach has been a recognized leader in fashion accessory design and production,” said Mayor Bloomberg during a groundbreaking earlier today attended by Coach execs and Related officials. “Now, by announcing its intent to anchor a major new Hudson Yards office tower, being developed by the Related Companies, Coach is also leading the way into New York’s future.”

Coach currently owns its offices at 516 West 34^th Street, plus another small building that adjoins it—approximately 250,000 square feet combined, a source said. The company also leases office space at 450 West 33^rd Street, which expires in 2015.

CBRE Chief Executive Mary Ann Tighe, who represented Coach in the transaction alongside Vice Chairman Greg Tosko, noted that the handbag purveyor’s 34^th Street building will be a hot commodity, now that it’s hit the market, because of its zoning.

“They can build very tall buildings on those sites,” said Ms. Tighe. “If I were a betting person, I would bet it would [be developed as] a residential tower.”

Related Companies will also move its offices to Hudson Yards, Chief Executive Stephen Ross announced at the press conference attended by Bloomberg and an assortment of other politicians and real estate industry leaders. It is not yet known which tower Related will occupy, or how many feet they will take, a spokesperson for Related said.

Coach has been in the neighborhood for decades and in Manhattan for 70 years. They began planning to consolidate their offices more than four years ago but ultimately chose the Hudson Yards complex for its proximity to the High Line Park, Ms. Tighe said.

Tenants who take advantage of leasing the first five million square feet of commercial space at the complex will receive a 40 percent break in “pilot payments,” while those inking deals for the next five million feet will get a 25 percent break, said a spokesman for the Related Companies. These tax abatements are good for 15 years, the spokesperson said.

A handful of developers are competing to redevelop the so-called "Iron Triangle." (The NYC Economic Development Corporation)

While some people are hoping—futilely, perhaps—for a high-tech college at Willets Point, the official R.F.P. is also cranking along, with application filed this past week. Crain’s now has word of a handful of the developers competing to redevelop the Iron Triangle, and one looks to be a hit, if it weren’t already facing a few strikes.

The Related Companies has teamed up with Sterling Equities, which is controlled by Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, to submit a proposal to redevelop the 12.75 acres included in the project’s first phase, the sources said. Silverstein Properties, which is building three towers at the World Trade Center site, also threw its hat into the ring. None of the firms would comment. A source said Sterling had teamed up on bids with more than one firm.

Another firm known to have submitted a bid is the Flushing-based TDC Development. Of the 29 firms that were preapproved, Crain’s reports, Westfield Group, the Richman Group of New York, Edward J. Minskoff Equities and Hamlin Ventures did not submit bids, though it was not clear how many others had.

This is only the first of three phases, which includes housing and retail but not a planned convention center. Given CitiField’s proximity across the street, it makes sense the Wilpons would want in on the project, and they made the smart move of teaming up with Related, which seems to often win favor with city officials. Whether the Mets owners’ current imbroglio with the Bernie Madoff scandal will hurt the development team’s chances remains to be seen. 

Mr. Ross swept past his opponent, Joe Moinian, the building's owner and chairman of his own development firm, sitting upright on a front-row bench closer to the entrance. A big knot in Mr. Moinian's baby-blue silk tie hugged his neck. Mr. Ross sat down on a bench of his own, front and center, and crossed his legs, knees stacked. "Mr. Ross, I haven't seen you in years," said Judge Charles Ramos from the other side of the room. His robe hung open below his bow tie. "It's like an old-folks home."

The city's most powerful developer grinned and arched his eyebrows. "Thank you," Mr. Ross said. A black ribbed sock and black hand-sewn leather loafer with tassels dangled from below the right cuff of his navy pinstriped suit. His plan to take over Mr. Moinian's building by controlling the debt is unusual for Mr. Ross, but Columbus Circle is his home turf: He keeps a condo and office in the Time Warner Center, which Related co-developed after helping demolish Robert Moses' Coliseum. Knocking down Mr. Moinian's building could be the next step in remaking the area.

But at 3 Columbus Circle, Mr. Ross owns only the $250 million mortgage, which collects $70,000 in interest every day. After Mr. Moinian stopped making payments in January, Mr. Ross and his financier, Deutsche Bank German American Capital Corporation, accelerated the mortgage, demanding full payment and an additional $54 million as a prepayment penalty. It was the first step toward foreclosure and taking the building away from Mr. Moinian, who has already seen his 20 million-square-foot empire shrink during the Great Recession (Barclays Capital seized 475 Fifth Avenue from Mr. Monian and a partner in 2009).

FOR A LOOK AT THE TEMPESTUOUS HISTORY OF COLUMBUS CIRCLE, SEE THE CASTLES AND CLASHES OF COLUMBUS CIRCLE. >>

Mr. Ross appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box on Sept. 10 to talk about the real estate market and the Dolphins alongside Richard LeFrak. Mr. Ross' picture floated onscreen above the title "KING OF COLUMBUS CIRCLE."

"We bought a note on a property that was kind of adjacent to Time Warner Center," he told the show's host, Carl Quintanilla, just after noon. "We saw that there was a higher and better use and we bought the note hoping to do something there." CNBC cut to B-roll of 3 Columbus Circle with the Moinian Group's "M" logo on the scaffolding in clear view.

When Mr. Moinian bought the building, a homely red-brick tower built in the 1920s at 1775 Broadway for General Motors, for $130 million in 2000, it was mostly full. Newsweek kept offices there until 2009. Before credit dried up, Mr. Moinian began a bold plan to raise the building's profile, investing $175 million for renovations, including a fresh sheath of glass. He changed the name to 3 Columbus Circle and raised asking rents.

It's not the ugliest building in the area, but the glass, which catches the reflection of Lord Norman Foster's Hearst Tower across the street, isn't fooling anyone. According to media reports, Mr. Ross would like to demolish Mr. Moinian's tower and replace it with one designed by a famous architect; he is planning to move the city's first Nordstrom's to retail space on the lower floors to anchor the tower, and fill the upper floors with 140 condominiums; and the company began shopping for architects in September. Related declined to comment.

"It's just not something that I think a lender should be saying," Stephen Meister, Mr. Monian's lawyer, told The Observer over the phone on Monday. Mr. Ross has stipulated that any new tenant in the building would have to agree to a six-month demolition clause with no provision for reimbursement.

Between Mr. Moinian's raising rent in the building and the lenders' attempts to scare off new tenants, 3 Columbus Circle is now less than 20 percent occupied. On Monday, a leasing advertisement on the building's black scaffolding read, in big white letters, "contiguous block of up to 650,000 RSF"--that's in a 770,000-square-foot building. From CNN's 10th-floor cafeteria across the street in the Time Warner Center on Monday afternoon, The Observer counted four construction workers painting sealant around a drain and installing glass sheathing on the fourth-floor balcony--perhaps dutifully polishing the Titanic's banister.

In court earlier this month, Mr. Meister, a litigator's litigator wearing a dark pinstriped suit that offset his razorback brown hair, told Judge Ramos that he wants to perform what he calls "a Ross-ectomy." There was hushed laughter. The judge slouched and gazed through half-moon spectacles at the tip of his nose.

"It's not that there are bad vibes," Mr. Meister continued later.

Judge Ramos was amused: "Bad vibes?"

"It's that there is a cancer in the building!" Mr. Meister bellowed on from a podium next to the lawyers' table. "I have to get rid of Mr. Ross. I have to get rid of Mr. Ross, O.K.? I have got the money; he's right here." Mr. Meister slapped his right hand down on the shoulder of a plump man in a gray suit sitting at his hip. The only way that Mr. Moinian can take the scalpel to Mr. Ross is by paying off his $250 million mortgage.

The gray suit was a representative for SL Green, the publicly traded real estate company, run by Marc Holliday, that controls more than 30 percent of the office space in Manhattan. Mr. Holliday agreed in October to help Mr. Moinian refinance the building as part of a joint venture.

The biggest sticking point for Mr. Moinian is the $54 million prepayment penalty. Lawyers for both sides spent the majority of the 63 minutes in court arguing over the language that describes it in the mortgage document. Do 10 words between two commas on page 99--"provided that the Loan has not been accelerated by Lender," which it has been--modify the words ahead of the first comma or behind the second? And so on.

Halfway through the hearing, Judge Ramos examined the documents in front of him, head in chin, and sighed. He pushed his glasses up his nose. There was silence for one minute and 15 seconds as he stared at the mortgage. At the back of the room, an executive sitting to Mr. Ross' right wrapped his arm over the developer's shoulder and began whispering in his ear. Mr. Ross stared down at his dangling right loafer and nodded gently. At the end of the silence, Judge Ramos scratched his head and read the clause aloud. "... And then there's a comma."

"I am not going to try to argue with your logic," the judge said, "but I have to deal with the document as written."

Later, when discussion of existing examples of foreclosure practice came to a head, Mr. Meister gently hip-checked the skinnier Mark Walfish, Deutsche Bank and Related's lawyer, away from the podium to get a point in. Mr. Walfish was not amused: "Judge, this is great--this is like The Jerry [Springer] Show."

"I want to talk to the two of you in the back," the judge said. Mr. Meister continued to press his point forward. "In the back, right now!" The lawyers followed the judge out of the room.

Twenty minutes later, the lawyers emerged from the judge's chambers. "I need Joe. Is Joe here?" called Mr. Meister. Mr. Moinian and Mr. Ross, still yet to acknowledge each other, returned with their lawyers to see the judge. Twenty minutes later, they left without a word.

Nothing was settled.

On Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving, a representative for Mr. Meister's office dropped off at the State Supreme Court a Bank of America cashier's check signed by SL Green Management for $258,550,838.52. The numbers run to the edge of the paper. If Mr. Ross picks up the check by Dec. 6, the dispute is over and Mr. Moinian will have a new financier. If they leave the check in the court's vault, litigation over the prepayment penalty will continue, with Mr. Ross losing more than $70,000 in interest daily.

Nobody has any idea what Mr. Ross' next move will be.

"By the way, why would any lender turn that down?" Mr. Meister asked The Observer, referring to an earlier offer turned down by the lenders that included the prepayment penalty in escrow. "Think about that! Why would any lender whose real goal is to get repaid turn that down? That proves that they're predatory! The only reason to turn that down is because they want to steal the building. That's the only reason, O.K.?"

zturner@observer.com / @zekeft

According to the agreement, which is up for full board approval Wednesday and still needs to be signed by Related, the developer does not need to close on the deal until:

-Midtown office space availability rates hit 11 percent, according to brokerage CB Richard Ellis. While the current rate is at 14.8 percent as of March, 11 percent is relatively achievable, as according to CBRE numbers, midtown averaged well below 11 percent between 2005 and 2007.

-Manhattan co-op and condo sales price achieve an average $1,200 a square foot for a sustained period (it's slightly more nuanced than this). The fourth quarter of 2009 saw an average price of $1,051, according to Miller Samuel. The rate has cracked $1,200 a foot in three separate quarters in the last cycle, hitting a peak $1,322 a foot in the second quarter of 2008.

-The architectural billings index must pass 50 for the commercial sector. It's currently at a bit below 45, and was last over 50 in early 2008.

(The triggers were agreed to a couple months back, we reported at the time, and since, the negotiations have been devoted to smaller points.)

Assuming Related signs its contract with the M.T.A., it will not have to close on the deal and thus be on the hook to start paying rent worth about $1 billion until the three triggers are hit. That kicks the can down the road some on the question of whether or not Related will indeed go ahead with the deal, which seems quite risky right now. (The company has put tens of millions of dollars thus far into the effort, before its 99-year lease starts). 

The infrastructure costs are tremendous (up to $1 billion for a platform over each of the two sections of the rail yards), and it's far from a foregone conclusion that big tenants will once again be willing to relocate far from midtown Manhattan. After all, there's now a lot of government-backed new vacant office space set to rise in Lower Manhattan, and Related wants a large office, retail, and hotel tenant committed before it starts on the platform.

Even if the triggers aren't hit, the M.T.A. can also call in the deal whenever it wants, giving Related 90 days to close and start its rent payments. Of course, if Related decided to bail on the project at that point, the M.T.A. would have to start over, opening up bidding for another developer.

Staff Summary 4-26-10 FINAL

ebrown@observer.com

The deal calls for Related to begin paying rent on the property, a 26-acre swath of land over the LIRR yards south of the Javits Center, once the economy hits a set of triggers showing improvement. Previously, Related was to begin paying rent shortly after it signed a contract, regardless of economic conditions.

The deal has been pushed off repeatedly, and last year the two parties agreed to wait another year until the economy improved. In the meantime, Related did not try to renegotiate the amount of the payment, although by installing the economic triggers, it delays payments that the cash-poor M.T.A. had budgeted for.

With the final papers of the deal still unfinished, the contract will not be signed Monday (or Wednesday, when the M.T.A.'s full board has its meeting), according to multiple people familiar with the agreement; however, neither side has expressed worries that the deal is imperiled.

ebrown@observer.com 

The names are part of a list of 29 firms released by the Bloomberg administration in response to a freedom of information request made to the city earlier this year. The list includes five firms—Related, Muss Development, the Westfield Corporation, TDC Development and the Macerich Company—that bid in 2006 on the project as part of an earlier solicitation by the city to develop the site. Three of those earlier finalists did not bid this time around, ending their ability to win the development: Forest City Ratner, Vornado Realty Trust and General Growth Properties.

Here's the full list, which includes Mr. Silverstein's Silverstein Properties, Mr. Levine's Douglaston Development, and the Georgetown Company, a firm led by former City Planning Commission chairman Joe Rose:

Albanese Organization

Artimus

Castlerock Partners

Ciampa Organization

CPC Resources, Inc

Douglaston Development

Edward J Minskoff Equities, Inc

Gotham Organization

Hamlin Ventures, LLC

King's Associates Inc

L & M Development Partners

Macerich

Melrose Associates

Muss Development

Related

Richman Group of New York, LLC

Rosenshein Associates/LCOR Incorporated

Settlement House Fund, Inc

Silverstein Properties, Inc

Smart Inc

SSJ Development, LLC

Sterling Equities

TDC Development

The Arker Companies

The Beechwood Organization

The Georgetown Company

Triangle Equites

Triple Five

Westfield Group

The city rezoned the Willets Point area in 2008 over the objections of many of the business owners that would be evicted or relocated, given that the city expects to use eminent domain to take control of the full site. Since, the opposition from the main landowners has died down—many of them cut their own deals with the city—while the smaller business owners have tried to raise concerns about traffic issues and the legality of a local development corporation that was established to lobby for the project. That organization, the Flushing/Willets Point/Corona LDC, was funded in part by the Bloomberg administration, which effectively directed funds to lobby the City Council and community board. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo began investigating this issue last summer after the business owners questioned its legality, although he has yet to issue any findings.

Otherwise, the bulk of the approvals are in place for the development, with the largest apparent hurdles being those of funding: The Bloomberg administration insists it has enough money in its budget to proceed with the project, although some bidders and onlookers are skeptical of this claim given the high cost of acquisitions. The Bloomberg administration has also said that the bidders would pay for the remediation of the development site, although a firm price tag has not been established.

The development is slated to be awarded in three phases, with the most valuable parcel going first, followed by two parcels that are further away from the subway stop at the southern end of the site. The winning bidder for the first parcel would have an option on acquiring the second.

ebrown@observer.com

Related and the M.T.A. recently reached a revised agreement over the financial structure of the deal, and the additional two months have been attributed by those involved with the project as time needed to finish documents related to the $1 billion, 99-year lease for the property. The deadline extension has been expected by those involved and familiar with the project, and Related executives have recently been expressing confidence that they indeed expect to sign the contract once the documents are ready.

Apparently unconnected with the two-month extension, Related's minority partner in the deal, Goldman Sachs, has dropped out of the development, providing a blow to the developer financially, if not image-wise as well.

Details were not immediately available about Goldman's departure, though Related expressed a continued commitment. "Related is and remains the majority partner of the venture. Goldman Sachs has informed us that they will no longer be moving forward as a minority partner," Related spokeswoman Joanna Rose said in a statement. "Related remains fully committed and has the capabilities to execute on this historic development opportunity to create New York's next great neighborhood."

A bit more info about the contract with the M.T.A. is in a memo from the agency, obtained by The Observer, sent late Friday to the M.T.A.'s board. The memo says that Related has until March 31 to sign the contract, when it will have to plunk down $21.75 million and trigger another $21.75 million in payments over the following year. (The whole deal is valued at a $1 billion transaction for the MTA in today's dollars; the entire 12 million-square-foot mega-development, if built out fully, would run an estimated $15 billion.)

Should Related, led by Stephen Ross, indeed sign the contract by March, it would then obligate itself to close on the deal once the economy improves to the point where it hits a set of quantifiable triggers that include commercial vacancy rates, according to multiple people familiar with the deal. Thus the true test of whether or not the deal for the rail yards will happen is at that point—when Related must close on the deal and commit to the full 99-year lease (and the $1 billion in payments) or back out.

THE PROCESS HAS become considerably more drawn out and far more uncertain than imagined at the economy's peak, when the M.T.A. was first soliciting bids for the site. The M.T.A. had planned for the $1 billion to start rolling in, and budgeted accordingly in its capital plan.

Now Related must find major tenants willing to leap over to the far West Side and be anchors for a new giant complex of hotels, retail and office towers. And the development must have a certain critical mass of tenants to get going: the platforms alone for the two 13-acre rail yards are estimated to cost up to $1 billion, meaning a promised set of occupants is needed to get financing.

The City Council and the Bloomberg administration recently rezoned the western rail yard (the eastern was rezoned in 2005), likely adding value to the property and clearing some uncertainty out of the air.

Below is the memo to the M.T.A. board:

Here is an update on developments relating to the West Side Yards.

As previously outlined, MTA and Related have agreed to a set of closing triggers and are extending the conditional designation letters for the ERY and WRY by an additional sixty days for the parties to finalize contracts.  We were advised today that Goldman Sachs does not intend to proceed as Related's minority partner on the projects.  However, Related, as managing partner, has reaffirmed its commitment to the projects, on the same economic terms as previously laid out.  Related also has expressed its commitment to finalizing the ERY and WRY contracts (and related transactional documents) by the end of March.  As before, at contract signing Related would be required to deposit $21.75 million into escrow, and pay an additional $21.75 million in contract deposits, in two installments 180 days and 360 days after contract execution.

The development of the Far West Side has reached significant milestones recently, including the re-zoning of the Western Rail Yard and the completion of the first phase of construction on the extension of the #7 line, both of which occurred in December. We remain excited and optimistic about finalizing our agreements with Related to advance these transit-oriented developments on Manhattan's West Side.

ebrown@observer.com

According to the mayor's public schedule, Mr. Bloomberg is off to Related's new mixed-use tower rising up on 10th Avenue and 42^nd Street, where the city is helping to fund a Frank Gehry-designed set of three theaters, a new home for the Signature Theater Company.

And Monday, the mayor had a press conference with Related in Chelsea, celebrating the Council's approval of the rezoning on the West Side rail yards, the planned $15 billion project for which Related is the designated developer.

The giant firm is probably the city's busiest developer, and has long been considered to be close to the Bloomberg administration, particularly during the reign of Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who was an old friend of Related Chairman Stephen Ross.

That close relationship has attracted criticism at times, particularly in the run-up to the Olympic bid in 2005, but generally the firm is quite effective at executing on projects (the Time Warner Center site, for instance, stagnated for more than 12 years before Related was selected to build on it). 

Update 1:25 p.m.

The event, per an announcement from the mayor's office, was to announce the city's commitment of $25 million toward the theater. The city had previously committed just $9.5 million. 

ebrown@observer.com