This is a video report by Bradley Hope at The Sun about a lost work by Keith Haring which was recently uncovered during the redevelopment of a loft at The American Thread Building in my neighborhood of Tribeca. The space was formerly an exhibition space in the old days when Tribeca was an artist's neighborhood and you might find Haring at the Mudd Club on White Street a few blocks away. The work is similar to the painted patterns that he did on the walls, floors, and ceilings at the Pop Shop and the 23rd Street gallery at the School of Visual Arts, where he and I crossed paths in 1979, just before his rise on the 1980's art scene. I remember him taping similar drawings on the underside of the cover mats of copiers in the cafeteria at SVA one day, so that students would get a free little bit of art on the edges of their copies. Much of the work from this period like his famous subway drawings, were experimental, effusive and temporary in nature, a good deal has been painted over and lost. Keith Haring died in 1990 at the age of 31, of complications related to AIDS. His work is iconic of the 1980's New York Art scene and continues to inspire new generations.

I'd shown this space when it was on the market a couple of years ago. It was a huge, dramatic, but very clunky commercial space, which required a bit of vision on behalf of a purchaser and their architect to mold into a residence. There was no sign of Keith's work visible at the time. It was on the market then at about $4 million and in need of a complete gut renovation. Including the Haring mural, the renovated space is now being offered at just under $17 million. Since the art can't be moved, I certainly hope that whoever acquires it, will appreciate and preserve the work that accidentally graces their new home.

Rendering: West 8, Rogers Marvel Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Quennell Rothschild and SMWM

"Governors Island will be at the center of this new era of waterfront recreation for New York City"

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Elliot Spitzer announced the selection of Dutch firm West 8 to lead the effort in the redevelopment of Governors Island into what may become one of the largest and most exciting public spaces in the nation. West 8 heads a team comprised of renowned architectural firms; Rogers Marvel Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Quennell Rothschild and SMWM. The Mayors office described the project; "Together, this area comprises 90 acres of parkland that will provide unique outdoor recreational activities for New Yorkers. The Great Promenade and forty-acre park will provide places to relax, play sports and explore, all with an incredible view of the Statue of Liberty. The plan will create a 40 acre green space with a new plantings and rolling hills recycled from the demolition of existing structures formerly used by the military on the island.

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It's late. The television drones softly in the background. I lift my face up from the laptop, pick up the remote, and mindlessly surf right into The Stoler Report on CUNY TV causing me to pause and listen in. Suddenly, my channel surfing is not quite as mindless anymore. The show is an engaging round table conversation on property development in NYC. It's host is Michael Stoler of The Sun, NYU and a Senior Principal at Apollo Real Estate Partners. The broadcasts are available online too (RealPlayer required) at The Stoler Report Web site and has been on our recommended sites list since we launched. A couple of recent shows focused on Tribeca and Lower Manhattan development, and will be of particular interest to my readers. They cover residential and hotel developement, retail space, and office leasing in the downtown market.

The first is Developments in Lower Manhattan (30 min.) The guests include Benjamin McGrath of Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc., which is completing their mixed use residential/retail development at 101 Warren Street in Tribeca. I visited there Tuesday evening to preview the new Barnes and Nobel. 200,000 square feet of large scale retail space has been built and leased there; with Bed, Bath & Beyond now open too, and an even larger Whole Foods on the way, as the one million square foot building approaches completion. It has fundamentally transformed Greenwich Street on the borderline between Tribeca and Lower Manhattan. Also on the show are Steven Witkoff of The Witkoff Organization, which did Cipriani Residences at 55 Wall Street; and Joseph Harbert from Cushman & Wakefield commenting on commercial leasing. Next, What’s Happening in Hudson Square & Tribeca (30 min.) focuses on the commercial and retail components of these neighborhoods with Elliott Ingerman, Tribeca Associates; William Rudin, Rudin Management; and Carl Weisbrod, Trinity Real Estate. Interesting talk, and a peak inside the heads of some of the players shaping the landscape of New York City.

related links:
The Stoler Report
Developments in Lower Manhattan (30 min.)
What’s Happening in Hudson Square & Tribeca (30 min.)

updated 12.5.2007

In West Chelsea on Wednesday, the new residential developments, close to the High line, opened their doors to the brokerage community for an extra long, 4 hour, open house tour. It was a big hit with the brokers, hundreds of whom were seen brushing shoulders with gallery hoppers, and making the rounds at all of the sales presentation centers. It was like an open air mall for some of the most luxurious & priciest homes on the planet.

It demonstrated great cooperation among these competing projects to gain mind share, as it recognized the contribution that the agents make to the business of selling real estate in Manhattan everyday too. A full afternoon and then some, was spent by the staffers coddling, feeding and kibitzing with the agents. Most of them that I spoke with really liked the leisurely pace, which at the same time was a very efficient use of their time in learning about the offerings.

The tour was designed to peak interest for seven buildings, some brandishing architectural pedigrees like Nouvel and Selldorf, going up in the area from 19th Street to 25th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues; creating a district of glass curtain walled modernism, rising up around Frank Gehry's iconic IAC headquarters. With the transformation of the High line finally underway, and a concentration of architecturally significant, luxury residences rising, a glossy new neighborhood is beginning to form. It is characterized by these typically smaller boutique buildings that offer large spaces and design style as standard equipment. Each one has to offer something special to draw people to this far west enclave, blocks away from subway lines and with an emerging infrastructure of parks an amenities that are still a couple of years away.

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Third quarter 2007 sales numbers were released a couple of days ago by all of the major NYC brokerages including The Corcoran Group, and the results showed very clearly that the Manhattan real estate market was still red hot. The news was released almost simultaneously as the Stock Market peaked at a new all time high, shaking off the uncertainty caused by the sub-prime mortgage jitters, as the damage is increasingly seen on Wall Street as being manageable. I'll be posting the entire Q3 Corcoran Report on the market as soon as the downloadable versions are ready, but I'd like to take a moment to look at the downtown numbers and particularly those of my own neighborhood of Tribeca.

third quarter sales 2007 vs. 2006

Corcoran reported that the median selling price of a home in Tribeca, that's the price most people paid for a home, was $2.3 million, up 36% over Q3 2006; the average sale price was $2.286 million, up 25% over Q3 2006. Price per square foot was down by -8% indicating that the deals closed were on larger homes. Manhattan-wide, the number of deals closed was up by 20%, however fewer deals were done with -54% closed when compared with a year earlier. I believe that this actually reflects a shortage of inventory downtown as prices have risen, indicating increased competition for whatever is available.

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