375 Pearl Street - Verizon Bldg (downtown) - Proposed Renovation - by Cook + Fox

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262007...tower_deal.htm

DOWNTOWN TOWER DEAL
VERIZON SELLS CHEAP TO TACONIC



375 PEARL ST.
Will get window wall.

By LOIS WEISS
September 26, 2007

Verizon is selling the majority of its building at 375 Pearl St. to Taconic Partners for the dirt-cheap price of $172.05 million.

Taconic and investment partner Square Mile Capital are buying a condominium interest in 930,000 feet of the 1.098 million foot structure, Taconic executives said.

"We saw it as a Taconic-style play: finding great bones at a good value and we put our foot to the metal to take it," said Taconic Partner Paul Pariser.

The group is scooping up the 32-story tower, next to Murry Bergtraum High School and rising over the city's downtown Civic Center, for $185 a foot at a time when land and even air rights in Manhattan have soared, in some cases, to over $500 a foot.

Taconic has hired Cook + Fox, architects of the the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park for design work and will spend up to $100 million to add as many as six elevator cabs, install new HVAC, new electricity, bathrooms and completely strip and reskin the limestone structure. The new design will also include 360-degree window walls.

Taconic will own the ground retail area along with floors 2-7 and 11-32. Verizon will retain floors 8-10 and cellar space for its "mission critical" switching facilities.

Bill Shanahan, Rob Stillman and Bob Alexander of CB Richard Ellis pitched the former New York Telephone property to a select group of developers on behalf of Verizon.

The deal is expected to close in December.

[212]

Hm!
First please remove the obnoxious Verizon sign.

[RandySavage]

Great news... that building is one the City's ugliest and most skyline-blighting (from Brooklyn).

[JacobNYC]

Oh you can't be serious. This is an early christmas present for ALL new yorkers.

[lofter1]

Good news for NYers --

But WHAT will these new owners actually do with their space in this thing?

It's in a terrible location -- blocks from any subway -- and even when the 2nd Avenue Line eventually gets down that way the nearest stations will still be way far off.

[londonlawyer]

Awesome!

[Derek2k3]

Isn't this only like 2 blocks down from the Chambers Street-Brooklyn Bridge stop at the Municipal Building. It takes like 5 min. to walk there. The area is pretty dead but the tenants will have great views in every direction.

[lofter1]

Those are some long blocks -- and cold & nasty ones come wintertime

[ablarc]

^ More evidence that the Second Avenue Subway is being built in an unsatisfactory alignment.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Originally Posted by lofter1

Those are some long blocks -- and cold & nasty ones come wintertime

It's closer to the subway than 10th Ave in the 50s. The SAS Chatham Sq station will be about 1000 ft away.

I don't see the big deal with the subway. Verizon workers commute there every day.

[Tectonic]

I don't think the subway would be a big deal either. The re cladding should be interesting with Cook + Fox as the architect.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The building has high ceilings, 16 - 17 ft.

[krulltime]

Hurray for New York! This is a Verizon buliding I would never missed.

[TREPYE]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262007...tower_deal.htm

DOWNTOWN TOWER DEAL
VERIZON SELLS CHEAP TO TACONIC


.

Oh, Please go all the way with this eyesore POS monstrocity --that exemplifies how bad NYC treats it waterfront-- and decontruct it.

[Archit_K]

Not bad, consider it a facelift for One Brooklyn Bridge Plaza... I don't understand why Verizon is selling majority of it's bldg. 4 little or nothing. Does this mean the Verizon logo will be removed?