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Still gearing up for Act III

22 November 2010 www.TheRealDeal.com

Continued on page 86

m for

plan,

ition,

rass-

area 

eet of 

p con-

cono-

my, priming that area for development is

one of the biggest moves Bloomberg has

made on the development front. In May,

the Related Companies and Oxford Prop-

erties Group finally, after a year-long delay,

inked a deal to lease the air rights over the

tracks there.

 At The Real Deal’s annual forum last

month, the president of Related, Jeff Blau,

said construction won’t start for at least 18

months, but that the company has gotten a 

lot of “corporate interest” from those look-

ing to take 1 million square feet of space.

Because the figurative foundations for

the planned Hudson Yards development

 were laid on the mayor’s watch, it “could be

the real legacy,” Arzt said.

 While Hudson Yards is clear ly where

the most attention will be directed, anoth-er project that will likely get full mayoral

attention is Hunters Point South, in Long

Island City, which will be a sprawling, mul-

tiphase affordable housing development,

predicted Steven Spinola, president of the

Real Estate Board of New York, the power-

ful trade group.

In fact, it’s a sign of that project’s viabil-

ity that its first phase attracted seven bids in

September, including by AvalonBay Com-

munities, Douglaston Development and a 

team made up of the Related Companies,

Phipps Houses Group and Monadnock Con-

struction. Spinola said that was far more in-

terest than expected; the city is scheduled to

select a winner by January. “It can be built

and will be built,” Spinola added.

Henry Stern, who served as parks com-

missioner under mayors Koch and Giuliani,

lauded Bloomberg for his 100 or so rezon-

ings, which affected many boroughs, espe-

cially in the face of a population that can

seem overly resistant to new construction.

“There is a lot of NIMBY-ism, and there

are also lots of BANANA people, who want

to ‘build absolutely nothing anywhere, near

anybody,’” said Stern, citing the opposition

to the Atlantic Yards development in Brook-

lyn.

But Stern, who now heads the govern-

ment watchdog group New York Civic,doesn’t see much happening, real estate-

 wise, between now and 2013, when Bloom-

 berg’s term ends.

“I don’t think the mayor will do much

 because he’s distracted by the presidency,”

he said. “He’s becoming a national figure,

so he’s less interested in severely rocking

the boat.”

 While the development and real estate

community tend to be big Bloomberg back-

ers, the mayor has taken a lot of flak for his

shovel-prone tendencies. State Assembly-

quiet of late, but ise again

Mayor Bloomberg is

expected to ramp up his

development plans.

Clockwise from top left: a Moynihan Station rendering, Governors Island, the Hudson Yards site, and

Hunters Point South in Long Island City.