Chelsea Tower Resumes Construction; One of Few NYC Bldgs with No Pre-Signed Tenants

By: Rusty Brooks

An exciting new development is set to be completed in the Chelsea neighborhood on New York City. Steve Cuozzo of The New York Post reports, “ground was broken on the 200,000-square-foot, 10-story tower at 220 Eleventh Ave. at West 26th Street in the anxious days of February 2020. But work paused once the pandemic took lethal hold in the terrible weeks that followed.”

According to The New York Post, “a JLL team of Cynthia Wasserberger, Peter Riguardi, Frank Doyle and Michael Pallas are ready to market the project, which should open for tenant buildouts in the first quarter of 2024. It’s one of a handful of entirely speculative buildings — meaning without pre-signed tenants — to go up since the coronavirus arrived.”

Wassberger told The New York Post, “our tenants won’t all necessarily be arts-related. They’ll likely also be fintech, media and financial services.” But the building “will have a lot of art in it,” appropriate to the neighborhood that’s home to the Gagosian, Pace and other premier galleries. The structure will have a 12,000-square-foot roof deck and terraces on several tenant floors — more than 15,000 square feet of outdoor space in all. It boasts ceiling heights up to 17 feet and tenant amenities including a lounge, fitness area and even a dog park.”

In a show of confidence in the stability of the real estate market and in the future of the city of New York, “as at other spec office buildings now underway, owners Joseph and Mitchell Moinian are aiming high on rents — $200-plus per square foot for the penthouse floor and in the low-mid $150s for lower floors.” The Moinians are also part of a joint venture with Boston Properties to build a nearly 2-million-square-foot office skyscraper known as 3 Hudson Boulevard in the Hudson Yards district — but that project won’t go up until an anchor tenant is signed, according to Cuozzo.

The New York Post believes, “The Hudson Arts project aims to exploit the West Chelsea neighborhood’s ongoing resurgence. It’s close by the massive Terminal Stores warehouse-to-offices conversion site in which L&L Holding Company is a partner. Other neighbors include the born-again XI condo towers that were recently rescued from foreclosure by Steven Witkoff and Len Blavatnik.”

The Moinian Group has a long and successful history in New York City. According to their website, The Moinian Group is one of the largest privately held real estate investment companies in the world. Pioneering in the development of state-of-the-art, visually distinguished properties, the firm focuses growth on its premier positions in New York City commercial, residential, and hospitality.