67-Story Super Luxury Condo/Hotel to Begin in Tribeca

Silverstein Properties has secured financing for a 937-foot, 67-story Financial District tower at 30 Park Place that will house a Four Seasons hotel and condominiums. The developer reached an agreement for a $660 million construction loan toward the $950 million project. The hotel portion of the property will include 149 rooms, with 161 ultra-luxury private residences above. Robert A.M. Stern Architects will design every aspect of the building and the interiors. 30 Park Place, which is also known as 99 Church Street, will be the tallest residential building n lower Manhattan. Tishman Construction will begin work this fall, with a grand opening scheduled for early 2016.

Developer Larry Silverstein was forced to shelve a planned Lower Manhattan hotel/condo tower next to the Woolworth Building when the economy plunged in 2008. Now he's getting another chance.

With $660 million financing in completed, the developer of three World Trade Center towers just 1½ blocks away, is ready to break ground on the super luxury tower at 30 Park Place.

Designed by Robert A.M. Stern, who seeks to replicate the architecture of the 1920s, the building also is slated to include a 149-room Four Seasons hotel. The tower is be called the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences New York Downtown

The deal—where a penthouse in the 310-unit building is expected to run as high as $34 million—marks the latest manifestation of the booming upper-crust condominium market in New York. Super-luxury condos at under-construction buildings such as the green-glass tower One57 and the 1,396-foot 432 Park have been flying off the shelves as their cranes have risen, fetching new highs for prices just 4½ years after the financial crisis.

In part, this boom has come from pent-up demand from international buyers who see New York real estate as a safe, long-term investment, and have been paying up to live in tall, slim towers.

There's a huge, huge international clientele in the New York market, not just from Russia and Brazil, international buyers are coming from everywhere.

The $950 million project—previously named 99 Church—had its genesis back in 2006, when Mr. Silverstein, bought the former of Moody's Investors Service headquarters and demolish the aging office building. In early 2008, Mr. Silverstein unveiled designs for the tower, which at the time was to be the tallest residential building in the city.

The developer began digging, but the economic downturn—and plunging demand for condos—made the project unfeasible and the site was mothballed, as Silverstein waited for the market to come back.

Meanwhile, the success of other new developments has helped bolster the outlook for 30 Park Place.

For instance, the boxy glass tower 56 Leonard under construction in Tribeca has already signed more than $1 billion in contracts to sell more than 70% of the 145 units.

In the West Village, developer Steve Witkoff has signed contracts for all 90 units under construction at his high-end 150 Charles Street development. Averaging nearly $3,300 a square foot, the sales are well above what the developer initially expected. The units have been on the market for less than three months.

In Midtown, prices are even higher. Two units at the 1,004-foot tower One57, being built just south of Central Park, have found two buyers paying more than $90 million each, the highest prices ever for an apartment in the city, the developer has said. Down the block on 57th Street, another developer is planning a more than 900-foot tower in an attempt to replicate the success.

Of course, high prices today don't necessarily mean they will be there tomorrow, a particularly difficult reality for condo tower developers given that the buildings take far longer than houses or midrise apartments.

After the economy tumbled, developers of condo towers across the country had to surrender their buildings in foreclosure.

Still, Manhattan will draw far more demand than supply for some time to come. Silverstein expects the tower to be completed early in 2016.