Two More Towers to Break Ground at Massive Essex Crossing

The massive Essex Crossing mega-project on the Lower East Side, is about to get one of its biggest construction deliveries: a truck full of cash. Delancey Street Associates just received more than $250 million in construction financing from Wells Fargo and Citibank, allowing the developer to move forward with residential and retail developments on two of the project’s nine sites, which span four blocks from Ludlow Street to Clinton Street.

Construction on Sites 2 and 5, which began earlier this year, will eventually lead to 400 rental apartments, half of which will be designated as affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents.

The project is expected to create 4,400 construction jobs, most of which will be union.

Forty-eight years after the bulldozers came through, the Seward Park area of the Lower East side is being redeveloped into Essex Crossing at a price tag of more than $1 billion.

The 1.9 million square-foot mega-project will include more than 1,000 units of housing at nine sites near the intersections of Essex and Delancey Streets.

The development site is the largest city-owned plot of land below 96th Street. The build out will create 250,000 square feet of office space, a rooftop farm, a Regal Cinema, a bowling alley, an Andy Warhol museum and retail stores.

Taconic Investment Partners, L+M Development Partners, and BFC Partners were selected through a competition to develop the project. The consortium, known as Delancey Street Associates, will invest a total of $1.1 billion in the project.


Construction at sites 1, 2, 5 and 6 should be finished by 2018, with the entire project anticipated to be complete by 2024.

The project’s amenities will include a bowling alley and movie theater. A site has also been reserved for a public school, which will be developed by the School Construction Authority.

The Essex Street Market will relocate across Delancey Street, doubling in size to approximately 30,000 square-feet on the ground floor, plus a mezzanine of roughly 7,000 square feet.

The new market, anticipated to open in 2018, will accommodate all the existing market vendors at the time of the move and provide room for new vendors in a range of sizes.

The project will include an extensive assortment of retail and commercial uses, including the unique space to be known as the Market Line, a subterranean esplanade with vaulted archways that weaves from the second floor through the cellar of the three sites south of Delancey between Essex and Clinton Streets.

[See ElectricWeb | Blogger, June 6, 2012]

The natural light-filled, continuous Market Line will include a variety of spaces, consisting of small- to medium-sized vendor stalls with tenants that include retail and food-oriented uses, a culinary incubator and a center dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurs to learn craft skills and produce and sell hand-made merchandise.

In addition, approximately 40 retail spaces will be developed in the Market Line. The project also includes a large grocery store.

But one big concern is a lack of additional parking in the development plan.

Isaac Henderson, project manager of L+M Development Partners, said the developer consortium has been working with DOT on traffic issues. He explained that after talks with the DOT, they determined that with the congestion around the area of the Williamsburg Bridge, it wasn’t safe to include more parking.

Long known as the Seward Park Renewal Area project, the city has wanted to redevelop the sites since 1967, when it began tearing down old tenement buildings that were occupied by working-class immigrants.

The Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project grew out of collaboration between community leaders and elected officials, who have worked on the Essex Crossing plan for more than seven years. [See ElectricWeb | Blogger, Nov 13, 2012]

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22-Story Hallets Point Building Prepares for Construction

The massive $1.5-billion Hallets Point mega-project on the Astoria waterfront is ready to begin construction, now that the Durst Organization has acquired the final piece of the real estate puzzle. The developer paid $15 million for the land at 1-02 26th Avenue, and will go forward with the 2.5 million-square-foot residential and retail development. The project will bring more than 2,400 residential units to the heavily industrial area. Another mega-development, called Astoria Cove, is planned for the opposite side of the Hallets Point peninsula. That project, spearheaded by the Alma Realty Corp, will add seven buildings and 1,723 new apartments at a cost of nearly $900 million.

What is Hallets Point? It’s a new development planned for the waterfront along the Queens waterfront called Hallets Point, a peninsula that juts out into the East River just south of Astoria Park.

The mixed-use towers would share the peninsula with Astoria Houses and bring along much-needed amenities like a grocery store, retail and plans for a school in the process, according to the developer and representatives from the community, who have long complained about a sense of isolation.

Here are some project details:

•     The Durst Organization is the developer
•     Costs are estimated at $1.5 billion
•     The development will create jobs though construction and later, retail
•     The mixed-use development is slated to have twelve buildings on ten acres
•     Three of the buildings would be on existing NYCHA property (Astoria Houses)
•     Seven of the buildings would be residential, containing 2404 apartments
•     483 units would be affordable housing, geared toward seniors
•     1,921 units would be market rate housing
•     A few waterfront townhouses are also planned
•     Heights of the buildings would range from 20 to 40 stories

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The project is situated on 26th Avenue between the waterfront and as far east as 9th Street, and the Astoria Houses development is on the project’s south side.

Other elements of the development include construction of a K-8 public school on the Astoria Houses campus; retail, including a supermarket, drug store and restaurants; and a landscaped public esplanade along the East River. Underground parking is also planned for the development.

City and federal officials are looking for funding from Washington to expand the East River Ferry, pushing a plan that would bring the waterway service to Astoria’s developing Hallets Point peninsula and several other city neighborhoods.

click to enlarge

The project’s architect, Jay Valgora, who also designed the nearby 1,723-unit Astoria Cove development, is working on seven different projects that will help transform the city’s 528 miles of waterfront over the next 30 years.

City lawmakers have already given their approval for both projects.

Construction is expected to break ground later this year, and both projects should be fully completed by 2022.

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Plan to Build 3 Hotels, Apt Building & Supermarket in Jamaica

A Flushing developer is planning to build three Marriott-brand hotels in downtown Jamaica, near the LIRR and AirTrain station to JFK Airport. Chris Xiu recently purchased the site of the former Gertz department store on Archer Ave for $22 million in cash. The property, on the corner of Guy Brewer Boulevard at 163-05 to 163-25 Archer Avenue, is the largest development site in Jamaica.

Jamaica Tower LLC plans to construct two hotels — a Courtyard by Marriott and a Fairfield Inn and Suites — on Archer Avenue, near 149th Street.  Both hotels would be located in one building and will be built by Construction & Development Group of Flushing.

The new 16-story building will contain more than 330 hotel rooms, with 224 rooms planned for Courtyard, while Fairfield Inn and Suites would have 114 rooms.

Plans for the Archer Avenue hotels were approved by the Department of Buildings in August.

Mr. Xiu, who has built several hotels in Flushing, near LaGuardia Airport, and in Chinatown, also plans to build an apartment building and a supermarket on Archer Avenue, near Guy Brewer Boulevard.

The development site, which consists of two adjacent lots with nearly 90,000 square feet, includes an unused seven-story parking garage and several shops, and can accommodate of 720,000 square feet of new construction.

The developer intends to demolish the garage at 163-25 Archer Avenue, and replace it with market-rate housing with several hundred apartments.

He is also planning to replace the existing stores located at 163-03 thru 163-17 Archer Avenue with a large supermarket.

Jamaica Tower is also planning to build six-story hotel — a Springhill Suites by Marriott — at different development site located on Queens Boulevard, between Jamaica and Hillside avenues. That hotel will feature 160 rooms.

A representative from Marriott has confirmed that all three hotels are in development, and expects the hotels to be open for business within three years.

Downtown Jamaica, which has been dynamically changing in recent years, has become a major transportation hub since JFK’s AirTrain station opened in 2003.

And since the neighborhood is only minutes from the airport, at least a dozen new hotel and real estate developments have been planned for the area.

Councilman Peter Koo believes the projects will bring hundreds of new jobs to the neighborhood.

“When you build hotels, you bring prosperity to the community,” Koo said, adding that hotels attract tourists, who spend money in the neighborhood when they “shop for souvenirs, eat at local restaurants and call a taxi.”


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Another Tower Breaks Ground at Greenpoint Landing

Park Tower Group and L+M Development Partners broke ground last week on another building at Greenpoint Landing, a massive 22 acre project that will construct 10 towers and 5,500 housing units. Elected officials cheered the project for its inclusion of 1,400 affordable apartments, 300 of which are expected to be completed within the next two years. The mega-development will bring 4.2 million square feet of mixed-use buildings to the Greenpoint waterfront over the next eight years.
 

The developers were joined by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, City Councilman Stephen Levin and others at the corner of Dupont and Commercial streets, on Greenpoint's northwestern tip, to announce the first three affordable housing developments.

One, located at 21 Commercial Street, recently topped-out and will house 93 units when it is completed next year.

Another, at 5 Blue Slip, which will have 103 apartments, is expected to be completed in exactly two years; while a third, at 33 Eagle Street, has a completion date of December 2016.

The affordable units at both 21 Commercial Street and 5 Blue Slip will be marketed for families earning 30 to 60 percent of the area's median income, with rents starting between $400 to $500-per-month. Half of the units will be two-bedroom apartments to provide more housing for families.
 
A fully affordable building at 33 Eagle St., with 98 units for residents who earn between 40 percent and 120 percent of the area median income, will open late 2016.

In addition to the affordable housing, the three properties that will be finished within the next two years will also have 9,000-square-feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Eventually, high rises will be built alongside the affordable-housing buildings along the waterfront. And as the rest of the project advances, other buildings will fan out along the rest of the site down to Green Street.

Greenpoint Landing is one of the biggest waterfront projects in the city, and will eventually replace a series of parcels, mostly used for industrial storage in a sleepy corner of Greenpoint, with about 5,500 new apartments—1,400 affordable units and 4,100 renting at market rates—along with 9 acres of parks, riverside walkways and open spaces.

Under terms originally negotiated during the Bloomberg administration, the developers would have received $136,000 in subsidy for each affordable apartment created. Now they will be getting $68,000 for each unit, according to city officials, an indication that the initial agreement was too costly for the city.

Park Tower and L+M Development have allotted 25 percent of their proposed units for affordable housing, which is more than the required 20 percent. They will also build and fund four acres of public parkland, and cash for the Newtown Barge Park project.

The School Construction Authority has allotted $45 million to build a 640-seat public elementary school for grades K through 8 on land that the developer set aside.

The development team also plans to install a ferry landing right by 5 Blue Slip. Along with the East River Ferry, expanded B32 bus service, and improvements to the Kent Avenue bike lane and addition of Citi Bike stations would alleviate transit issues.

Greenpoint’s landscape is certainly changing—with condo towers ranging from 30 stories to 40 stories lining a large swath of the waterfront.

The 10 blocks which comprise the overall project, were rezoned along with much of the Greenpoint and Williamsburg waterfront in 2005 to encourage the redevelopment of the neighborhoods.

The entire project is expected to be completed within eight years.

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Soaring 34-Story Tower to Break Ground at Riverside Center

After years of delay, Extell Development and the Carlyle Group plan to begin construction work on another huge residential property at 633 West 59th Street. The 330,000 square foot tower will rise 34-stories and house 244 apartments, with prices ranging from $1.25 million for a one-bedroom apartment to $20 million for a penthouse with terrace. Building 4 will be located mid-block between West 59th and West 60th streets, at the long-stalled five-tower complex called Riverside Center, a massive parcel of land overlooking the Hudson River.
 

The latest tower, designed by Goldstein, Hill & West Architects, will have 247 market-rate apartments spread across 326,189 square feet, with 1,844-square-feet of retail space on the ground floor housing a cafe

Units will range from one-bedrooms starting at 800 square feet to four-bedrooms that start at 3,000 square feet. Most units gas fireplaces, marble kitchen counters and walnut vanities in their master baths.

Amenities will include a swimming pool on the cellar-level, as well as 2,110 square feet for a community facility.

 The building is one of five that make up the Riverside Center mega-development, one of the last large development sites available in Manhattan. Two other towers at the site are already under construction.
 
Riverside Center is a five-tower, 3.3 million square foot development that will include 2,500 apartments, a hotel, a movie theater, an auto showroom, a new public school and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space, has broken ground along Riverside Boulevard between 59th and 61st Streets.

The site, part of the parcel of land between 59th and 72nd Streets along the Hudson River that was once owned by Donald Trump, is the largest development project on the Upper West Side.

Riverside Center is the southernmost development of the stretch. [See ElectricWeb | Blogger, July 27, 2011]

Until recently, auto body shops and a parking lot had occupied the site of Riverside Center. When it is completed, the Riverside Center development will have five apartment towers with a park in the middle.

Locals fought over aspects of the development for months until it was approved by the City Council. Twenty percent of the apartments are supposed to be affordable, while the rest to be ultra-luxurious. Carlyle Realty Partners and Extell Development Company are developing the site.

Riverside Center is the final undeveloped parcel in the 77-acre Riverside South mega-project, and will stretch from 59th to 61st Streets, and West End Avenue to the edge of the West Side Highway. Extell and Carlyle Realty will continue to develop the parcel over the next few years.

 Riverside Center will contain:

•      3.3 million gross square feet.
•      A new K-8 school on West 61st Street - enrolling up to 1,300
•      A 250-room hotel off West 59th Street.
•      A massive underground automobile service center with a street-level showroom.
•      A shallow fountain and scrim that children and adults could walk into.
•      More than 3 acres of public space.
•      12% of the units set aside for affordable housing.

The entire development expected to be completed by 2018.

Jamaica AirTrain Station to Get 2 New Towers, $225M

The skyline in downtown Jamaica, a discount shopping hub that has struggled to stage a comeback, is about to change. Two new commercial and residential towers with 580 apartments is slated to break ground at the corner of Sutphin Blvd. and Archer Avenue in early December, near the AirTrain station to Kennedy Airport. The tallest building will rise 26-stories, dwarfing next tallest structure in the neighborhood of 99 cent stores and takeout restaurants, a 12-story federal building. The new towers will have a number of amenities, including a 24-hour doorman, balconies and a rooftop terrace.

The high-rise projects planned for 93-01 Sutphin Blvd are part of series of developments seeking to transform the neighborhood, and is the largest private investment in Downtown Jamaica in decades.

The $225 million buildings, which will be constructed by BRP Companies, a New York-based development company, will replace a Duane Reade located on the north side of the LIRR and AirTrain stations.

BRP Companies plans to build a 26-story tower at 147-22 Archer Avenue that will contain at least 450 apartments, the majority of which will rent at market rates.The first three floors of the structure will hold retail space.

The developer will also construct a 14-story building next door, at 147-34 Archer Avenue, which will house 130 apartments. A church will occupy the building's two-story base.

Between them, the buildings will have a total of nearly 523,000 square feet of residential space, 96,121 square feet of commercial space,100 new parking spaces and 17,375 square feet set aside as a community facility. The stores may include a new Duane Reade store, to replace the one being demolished.

The new towers will have a number of amenities, including a 24-hour doorman, children's play room and roof terraces.

City officials hope the huge private investment will help to revitalize the long-neglected neighborhood.

The developer expects to break ground in early December. It will take approximately two years to complete the project.

The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation said that the high-rise will be the tallest building in Downtown Jamaica.

Currently, the 12-story Federal Building on Jamaica Avenue is the tallest building in the area.

The developer picked up the 50,000-square-foot development site for $19.5 million from the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation this year. FX/Fowle is the architect on the project.

The tower project follows the announcement last year of plans to construct a $35 million hotel with 210 rooms in the same area, just south of the AirTrain station, also along Sutphin Boulevard.


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Happy Independence Day!

DeWalt expands initiative to make products in the USA

Leading toolmaker expands production in the US, creating jobs and increasing domestic manufacturing.

DeWalt announces the expansion of its initiative to make products in the USA. With this expansion, an additional 60 corded and cordless power tools are being made domestically with global materials.

An expansion of production into an existing company-owned plant in Greenfield, Indiana brings the total number of DeWalt plants in the United States to seven, with facilities in Connecticut, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, making some of the brand’s most popular tools.

DeWalt will now produce approximately 14 million products each year in the United States. Given a choice between a product made in the United States and an identical one made abroad, 78 percent of Americans would rather buy the American product, according to a 2013 survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

In addition to the efficiency that domestic expansion provides, DeWalt has also created new jobs for Americans across the country, adding over 500 employees to the expanded manufacturing facilities since the campaign began. This brings the total number of employees at US-based DeWalt plants to the thousands. DeWalt is also committed to hiring veterans and currently employs over 1,000 former members of the military in their manufacturing facilities alone.

“We continue to grow our domestic capabilities because the professional using our tools wants to buy products made in the USA. DeWalt is making the power tools for the contractors and builders who are themselves building America,” said Frank Mannarino, President of DeWalt Professional Products Group.

“Whether it’s through our high quality tools made in the USA with global materials, convenient service repair centers, or products backed by extensive warranties, the DeWalt professional end user can expect premium power tools that are made and serviced by fellow Americans – some of whom are veterans – right here in the United States.”

With the added products, facilities, and a continued commitment to expanding domestic manufacturing, DeWalt is able to deliver products with greater efficiency, without adding cost, while keeping the same Guaranteed Tough® quality customers have come to know and expect from the brand.

“Perhaps most impressive is DeWalt’s aggressive program to assert itself as a truly American premier brand. We laud the effort and trust it is a sign of more good things to come,” said Contractor Supply’s Tom Hammel.

Look for DeWalt Made in the USA with global materials corded and cordless products this summer. For more information on DeWalt’s initiative to make products in the USA using global materials, and to view a full list of product offerings, visit www.dewalt.com/americanpride or watch a video about it here.

 The full-line of DeWalt products is available at:

 

Learn more at www.dewalt.com.
 

ElectricWeb Expanding Coverage from Mid-Atlantic to Florida

TheElectricWeb.com Surpasses 3 Million Unique Visitors,13-Million Hits Milestones   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
NEW YORK, New York (July 1, 2015) – TheElectricWeb.com, the electrical contractor-focused, online information services company, has reached the major milestones of 3 million unique visitors and 13 million hits.

On June 14, TheElectricWeb.com recorded its 13,000,000 page hit, followed shortly thereafter, on June 24 by its 3,000,000 unique visitor. TheElectricWeb.com offers electrical contractors a wide range of services: from filing permits and utility power requests online, to the latest electrical construction industry news and project reports. Electrical contractors rely upon TheElectricWeb.com to make better business decisions, and to optimize their internet usage. It has more than 16,000 registered users.

These significant milestones fall four years after the company launched its online information portal in June 2011. As the milestones tumble, ElectricWeb Communications is preparing for the debut of ElectricWeb-South and ElectricWeb-Atlantic, expanding its coverage area to the entire east coast.

A launch date for both operations is scheduled for September 1st.

TheElectricWeb has thrived because of its focus on practical matters: providing timely news about projects in development and helping electrical contractors to optimize their time online by consolidating internet resources into one, easy to navigate portal. ElectricWeb Communications president Peter Coyne says, “We’re thrilled to have surpassed the 13 million hits and 3,000,000 visitor marks. We have always believed in our electrical contractor-focused business model and, in an era where many businesses are scrabbling to find a model that works, it is exciting to be growing so fast. We believe the internet is opening up huge regional opportunities for businesses like ours: the growth in web-based marketing alone is immense.” 

More facts about TheElectricWeb.com
- TheElectricWeb.com generates more than 20,000 unique visits per week.
- It has published more than 980 articles, and has over 13,000 subscribers to its newsletter.
- Monthly traffic volume surpassed 400,000 (non-unique) hits, May 2015. 
- ElectricWeb | Newsletter has twenty-four corporate sponsors.
- ElectricWeb | Blogger – syndicated content has 29 RSS news feeds.
- ElectricWeb Communications was founded in 1998 by Peter Coyne, and was incorporated in 2000. 
- The company has offices in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, employing a staff of twelve.
  
About ElectricWeb Communications, Inc.
Based in New York City, the ElectricWeb uniquely fills the need of thousands of electrical contracting firms by providing valuable information and resources that they can use immediately, saving them time and money. The ElectricWeb is a dynamic edition of the original ElectricWeb model created by Peter Coyne back in 1998. With more than 34 years in the electrical industry as a supplier, as well as a contractor, Mr. Coyne’s unique knowledge and reputation are both well known and respected in the NYC electrical industry.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  
Carol Coyne, Vice President
TheElectricWeb.com
Tel: 212.470.4537
press@theelectricweb.com

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