« A clear voice on Atlantic Yards | Main | Suspension of FCRC Demolition: What Next for Atlantic Yards? »
May 2, 2007
Placing Bets on a Strong Manhattan Market
The NY Times
By Alison Gregor
Forest City Ratner's ownership portion of the new NY Times headquarters appears in a Times article as an example of how speculative development in Manhattan is on the upswing.
For a developer who can gather the money to start construction, a major advantage of speculative development is an ability to charge market rates when the building is finally leased and to lease it in smaller units, which typically fetch higher prices per square foot, said MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president for commercial and residential development at the Forest City Ratner Companies, which built the Times Building.
The Times Building consists of a 700,000-square-foot speculative commercial condominium owned by Forest City stacked above a condominium owned by The New York Times Company, forming a tower of 1.54 million square feet in total. The whole building is being constructed by Forest City. The developer’s condominium, which consists of Floors 29 through 50, is 85 percent leased, Ms. Gilmartin said.
Given the robustness of the Manhattan office market, Forest City was not surprised to see the Times Building lease quickly, Ms. Gilmartin said. The market has an overall vacancy rate of 5.4 percent for prime space, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
NoLandGrab: Unlike the two articles about Atlantic Yards published last week, this one by nature discloses the business relationship between Forest City Ratner and the NY Times.
Posted by lumi at May 2, 2007 7:47 AM