Vornado

Roberta’s Pizza opens next to Penn Station

Photo courtesy of Vornado

July 9, 2024

Roberta’s Pizza opens next to Penn Station

Roberta's Pizza has opened its first standalone location in Manhattan. The renowned restaurant, which opened in Bushwick in 2008 and quickly became a foodie favorite for its wood-fired Neapolitan-style pies, can be found between 33rd Street and 7th Avenue, next to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, within Vornado's mixed-use Penn District campus. The two-story restaurant combines a ground-floor to-go slice shop, a full-service restaurant, and a roof deck with a Tiki bar, the latter of which will open later this month.
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Food & Dining

Roberta’s new location next to Penn Station will open this spring

Photos © 6sqft

January 26, 2024

Roberta’s new location next to Penn Station will open this spring

By Aaron Ginsburg

Roberta's, one of New York's most well-known pizzerias, will finally open its new location next to Madison Square Garden this year. As first reported by Eater New York, the Bushwick-born restaurant signed a lease in November 2022 for a 5,200-square-foot space within the Vornado Realty Trust-developed Penn District, a new mixed-use campus around Penn Station, with plans to open last fall. New signage on the building, located at Penn 1 East between 33rd and 34th Streets says Roberta's will now open this spring.
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Food & Dining

See inside the new light-filled Moynihan Train Hall

Photo © Max Touhey

December 30, 2020

See inside the new light-filled Moynihan Train Hall

By Devin Gannon

As one of the few bright spots during a very dark time in New York, the new Moynihan Train Hall opens to the public on Friday. The new transit hub expands Penn Station into the landmarked James A. Farley Post Office Building on Eighth Avenue, increasing capacity at the busiest railroad station in the country by 50 percent. On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo celebrated the opening of Moynihan Train Hall, which was inspired by the design of the original Penn Station that was demolished in the 1960s. Ahead, get a look inside the new train hall, including the 92-foot-high massive skylights that total one acre and the new waiting areas for the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak.
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Here’s what Facebook’s huge new office will look like at Midtown’s former Farley Post Office

Rendering courtesy of Vornado Realty Trust

August 4, 2020

Here’s what Facebook’s huge new office will look like at Midtown’s former Farley Post Office

By Devin Gannon

Facebook has signed a lease for 730,000 square feet at the former James A. Farley Post Office, a Midtown landmark currently being converted into a mixed-use building, Vornado Realty Trust announced Monday. Reports of the deal first surfaced last December, but the coronavirus pandemic put into question the need for massive office space with thousands of workers. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the deal shows New York's resilience as the city recovers from the crisis. "Vornado's and Facebook's investment in New York and commitment to further putting down roots here - even in the midst of a global pandemic - is a signal to the world that our brightest days are still ahead and we are open for business," Cuomo said in a statement. "This public-private partnership fortifies New York as an international center of innovation."
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Real Estate Trends

February 25, 2020

Apple signs lease for four floors at 11 Penn Plaza

By Michelle Cohen

After the Post first reported speculations of the deal in January, they now report that Apple will lease four floors of space at 11 Penn Plaza. Sources told the Post that the tech giant became interested in the 1.15-million-square-foot building that stretches along Seventh Avenue between West 31st and 32nd streets across from Madison Square Garden after losing out to Facebook on a spot in the Farley Building. However, those with knowledge of the deal say that Apple has only signed a five-year deal, which may suggest that they are still keen on finding a larger, more permanent home in NYC.
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Real Estate Trends

August 5, 2019

Billionaires’ Row kosher deli fights high-rise developer over eviction

By Michelle Cohen

Cafe Classico, a kosher delicatessen that has occupied the storefront on West 57th Street next door to an 1891 French-style townhouse for 19 years has asked a judge to spare it from eviction, the New York Post reports. The LeFrak Organization and Vornado Realty have plans to build a high-rise tower on the next-door property at 29 West 57th Street, and the deli's landlord, 35 West Realty Co., has threatened to evict the longtime business over insufficient insurance coverage.
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New Developments

New renderings show Vornado’s Pompidou Center-like office plans for Chelsea

260 Eleventh Avenue expansion (Vornado Realty Trust)

October 5, 2018

New renderings show Vornado’s Pompidou Center-like office plans for Chelsea

By Michelle Cohen

A high-tech future awaits the 235,000-square-foot building at 260 Eleventh Avenue that served as headquarters for the iconic Otis Elevator company from its construction in 1911 until the company's move to midtown 1974. For the site's next life, REIT Vornado Realty Trust plans to renovate and expand the property, which they purchased in 2015, for commercial tenants. Now, CityRealty reports, a trio of renderings from Vornado's latest investor report provide a peek at the planned design overhaul by British architect Richard Rogers. Evoking the "inside-out" structure of the Pompidou Center in Paris and the high-tech Lloyd's of London building, the new addition displays exposed structural and circulation systems and a multi-story atrium beneath glass-enclosed floors.
More Renderings this way

June 16, 2017

Construction to finally begin on the new Penn Station – see new renderings!

By Dana Schulz

Just a day after Penn Station‘s long-awaited West End Concourse revealed itself to the public, for the first time allowing Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, and NJ Transit passengers to enter and board trains through the historic James A. Farley Post Office across 8th Avenue, Governor Cuomo has announced that Empire State Development signed the final financial agreement with Related Companies, Vornado Realty LP, and Skanska AB for the $1.6 billion Penn-Farley Complex. After decades of delays, construction will now begin to transform the historic post office into the Moynihan Train Hall, a new 255,000-square-foot train hall housing both Amtrak and LIRR ticketing and waiting areas, as well as 70,000 square feet of new commercial, retail, and dining space. But a development announcement from the Governor is never complete without a fresh set of renderings, and Cuomo did not disappoint this time.
All the renderings and details ahead

A rendering of 666 Fifth Avenue. Credit: Kushner Companies/Zaha Hadid Architects

March 29, 2017

Chinese company Anbang backs out of 666 Fifth Avenue deal with Kushner Cos.

By Dana Schulz

"Kushner Companies is no longer in discussions with Anbang about 666 Fifth Ave.’s potential redevelopment, and our firms have mutually agreed to end talks regarding the property," a spokesman for the developer told the Post. The timing of the Chinese insurance company backing out of the deal--which the Kushners hoped could increase the Midtown's skyscraper's value to a whopping $12 billion and include a flashy new Zaha Hadid design--is uncannily timed with investigations into Jared Kushner's supposed meetings with a scandalous Russian bank. But despite the controversy surrounding ex-CEO and current White House advisor Jared, Kushner Cos. "remains in active, advanced negotiations around 666 Fifth Ave. with a number of potential investors."
The full story ahead

Uncategorized

A rendering of 666 Fifth Avenue. Credit: Kushner Companies/Zaha Hadid Architects

March 22, 2017

Kushner Cos. vision for 666 Fifth Avenue has Zaha Hadid design and $12B ambitions

By Michelle Cohen

As 6sqft previously reported, 666 Fifth Avenue owners Kushner Companies and Vornado Realty Trust have been seeking financing for a new skyscraper planned for the site of the Midtown office tower that Kushner purchased for $1.8 billion in 2007; Chinese company Anbang Insurance Group is said to have been considering a substantial stake in the tower. Though it was reported that the redevelopment could be valued at $7.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal now cites sources who say the value could be as much as $12 billion, and that a reported deal with Anbang may be far from a sure thing. That huge number represents the projected value of what Kushner envisions as a 1,400-foot-tall mixed-use luxury tower with a design provided by the late Zaha Hadid in 2015, nine floors of retail, a hotel and big-ticket luxury condos on its upper floors.
Find out more about the possibly maybe very big deal

Architecture And Design

Sale of 666 Fifth Avenue to Anbang, would net $400M for Kushner Companies

By Dana Schulz

Anbang Insurance Group, the Chinese company who bought the Waldorf Astoria in late 2014 for nearly $2 billion, is now making headlines for another high-profile real estate transaction, this time against a controversial political backdrop. Bloomberg reports that Anbang is considering a stake in Vornado and Kushner Companies' office tower 666 Fifth Avenue, a deal that Jared Kushner reportedly set into motion before resigning as CEO of his family's company to serve as a presidential advisor to his father-in-law. If the deal goes through, not only will the Kushners profit some $400 million, but they'll receive an equity stake in the new partnership, which will refinance $1.5 billion in existing mortgage debt. The deal values the tower at $2.85 billion, and if Anbang's receives its proposed $4 billion construction loan to turn the top floors into condos, it will be the largest such loan for a single property in NYC history.
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Uncategorized

January 17, 2017

Trump to name New York developers Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth to oversee new infrastructure council

By Dana Schulz

President-elect Donald Trump has previously outlined his $1 trillion infrastructure plan not just as a means to repair and build bridges and roads, but as a real estate platform for private entities to build and subsequently own public works such as schools, hospitals, or energy pipeline expansions through $137 billion in tax credits. So it comes as no surprise that he's tapped two of his longtime buddies and big-time New York real estate developers to head up the new council that will monitor this spending. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump asked Richard LeFrak and Vornado's Steven Roth to manage this council of 15 to 20 builders and engineers, referring to the men as "pros" because "...all their lives, they build. They build under-budget, ahead of schedule."
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Policy

August 18, 2016

Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South now two-thirds erected

By Diane Pham

Robert A.M. Stern's latest Billionaires' Row blockbuster continues its rapid ascent into the sky. As CityRealty.com reports, 220 Central Park South (220 CPS) is now two-thirds of the way up, construction having knocked out about 600 feet of the tower's eventual 950-foot height. Application of the limestone cladding started in April and has thus far been installed across over one-third of the building. When finished in 2017, the two-winged skyscraper with its rare and direct Central Park South frontage will host 118 luxurious homes across 66 stories—and it will be one of the city's most expensive residences. Jump ahead to see more photos of all the work that's been completed.
More photos of the tower under construction here

August 10, 2016

Revealed: Kenneth Park Architects Reimagine Penn Plaza as a Vibrant Public Space

By Michelle Cohen

The past decade has seen an increasing effort to transform New York City's under-utilized–and sometimes dismal–public spaces into pedestrian plazas and other vibrant and attractive public oases. From Columbus Circle and Times Square to Downtown Brooklyn's Willoughby Street, new car-free spaces encourage passersby to linger and enjoy their surroundings. Vornado Realty Trust (VNO), one of the city's biggest landlords, has been working on a similar transformation of the urban sprawl that surrounds Penn Station and Madison Square Garden by implementing kiosks, seating and attractive architecture. Now, CityRealty.com has revealed new renderings from Kenneth Park Architects (KPA) showing their ideas and recommendations for repositioning retail space and optimizing pedestrian and vehicular circulation.
Take a look at the reimagined Penn Plaza

June 16, 2016

POLL: Do You Prefer Bjarke Ingels’ Wave-Like Tower or the Free-Fall Ride for Penn Station?

By Dana Schulz

While Governor Cuomo is busy trying to make his plans for $3 billion in renovations at Penn Station a reality, developers are hot to come up with a new design for 2 Penn Plaza, the tower directly above the station and Madison Square Garden. Vornado Realty Trust, who owns roughly nine million square feet around Penn Station including 2 Penn Plaza, released renderings in March for a glassy, wave-like tower by starchitect of the moment Bjarke Ingels. The concept is quite a departure from the current, stale state of the site, but yesterday an even more futuristic idea came to the table. Brooklyn Capital Partners tapped AE Superlab to create a plan for the world's tallest free-fall tower ride above the station. "Halo," as it would be called, would rise 1,200 feet from the roof, have 11 cars, and move as quickly as 100 miles per hour, giving it a top-to-base free fall of about six seconds. BIG's design wouldn't change much in the way of 2 Penn Plaza's current configuration, but it would create more retail space at the base. Halo, though it would cost $637 million to build, claims it would bring in up to $38 million a year for the state. Since Brooklyn Capital is contending with Vornado Realty Trust and Related Companies to upgrade the space, we want to know which of these ideas you think is a better fit.
Vote for your choice!

Real Estate Trends

April 18, 2016

Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Gets Stoned; New Renderings and Construction Shots

By Ondel Hylton

At the forefront of Midtown's high-rise sierra, a new peak is emerging. Simply addressed 220 Central Park South, the two-winged development is being designed by celebrated historian and poet of the city's skyline Robert A.M. Stern and developed by commercial and retail heavyweights Vornado Realty Trust. The tower portion of the complex has already ascended some 300 feet above street level and is noticeable from many parts of Central Park. Ultimately, it will stand 66 stories, 950 feet high, making it among the tallest residential buildings in the city. The exclusive, Central Park South-fronting wing, dubbed "The Villas" is up to the third of 17 stories and will be topped by a palatial quadplex penthouse. Earlier this month, the tower's warm limestone cladding was being applied to the lower mechanical floors, which will have 18- to 24-foot-high ceilings, boosting the building's height by more than 100 feet and allowing nearly all its residences to possess Central Park views. To coincide with the construction work, Vornado recently published a collection of new renderings in a property portfolio, showing us for the first time several new looks at the project, including three full-scale views from Central Park and close-up looks at the base, porte-cochere, and an upper-level interior.
Check out the renderings and construction shots right here

March 16, 2016

Bjarke Ingels Reveals Glassy Wave-Like Design for 2 Penn Plaza Overhaul

By Dana Schulz

Another day, another reveal from Danish wunderkind Bjarke Ingels. This time the starchitect has taken on a project at much-loathed Penn Station, transforming 2 Penn Plaza (the tower directly above the station and Madison Square Garden) from a nondescript, monolithic slab to a shiny, playful tower. The renderings, first spotted by NY Yimby, show a somewhat typical glass mass, but the fun begins above the ground levels, where a wave-like canopy of glass panels ushers people in to a new retail base.
More details on the proposal

Architecture And Design

The Most Important Towers Shaping Central Park’s South Corridor, AKA Billionaires’ Row

Carter Uncut brings New York City’s development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. This week Carter kicks off a nine-part series, “Skyline Wars,” which will examine the explosive and unprecedented supertall phenomenon that is transforming the city’s silhouette. To start, Carter zooms in on the biggest developments shaping the southern corridor of Central Park.

November 25, 2015

The Most Important Towers Shaping Central Park’s South Corridor, AKA Billionaires’ Row

By Carter B. Horsley

They did not come from outer space when they landed on our front yard while the NIMBY folk and the city’s planners and preservationists weren’t looking. Some are scrawny. Some are dressed like respectable oldsters. They’re the supertalls and they’re coming to a site near you.
read more here

November 4, 2015

220 Central Park South Costs $5,000 Per Foot to Build, Now 50 Percent Sold

By Dana Schulz

Robert A.M. Stern's 220 Central Park South has been keeping us on our toes, from its $1.3 billion construction price tag to its $200+ million penthouse to its lightning fast sales (the building was one-third sold after just six weeks, and it's now more than 50 percent sold even though listings for the 118 units have yet to go public). The latest head-spinner comes courtesy of The Real Deal, who reports that developer Vornado is spending $5,000 per square foot to build the Billionaires' Row blockbuster. The actual land comes out to $1,500 per foot, with the remaining $3,500 per foot going to "hard, soft and financial costs." The total sellout is close to $3 billion, and of the 59+ units that are in contract, 14 were pricier than $50 million.
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Uncategorized

Construction Update: Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Begins Race into the Sky

Image courtesy of Desimone Engineering

July 8, 2015

Construction Update: Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Begins Race into the Sky

By Ondel Hylton

Billionaire's Row's race into the sky continues. Two of its biggest projected selling towers are beginning to rise out of their gargantuan foundations and are rushing to claim their piece of coveted Central Park-fronting airspace. Construction of Vornado's 220 Central Park South development has an early lead against Extell Development's significantly larger Central Park Tower (formerly Nordstrom Tower) across West 58th Street. The first level of concrete and re-bar are now poking up above street level and the elevator/stairway cores are now clearly visible to pedestrian passersby.
See new images of the tower here

June 3, 2015

Starchitecture Firm Snøhetta Will Design Vornado’s Penn Station Area Overhaul

By Dana Schulz

Back in April, we learned that Vornado Realty Trust was hoping to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into revitalizing the Penn Station area with new retail space, public plazas, and other infrastructure. Now, Crain's reports that the developer has tapped Oslo-based starchitecture firm Snøhetta to handle the overhaul's master plan, the same architects responsible for the 9/11 Memorial Museum Pavilion and the public plaza in Times Square. Snøhetta will be responsible for creating a "framework" for both Vornado's Penn Plaza buildings and the surrounding street-level spaces. And in a similar vein to the recently approved One Vanderbilt scheme at Grand Central, the master plan will include closing off part of West 33rd to vehicular traffic in the hopes of creating a permanent pedestrian plaza near Madison Square Garden.
More details and specifics on the street closures ahead

April 8, 2015

Developer Vornado Plans to Spend Hundreds of Millions on Revitalizing Penn Station Area

By Dana Schulz

Most New Yorkers only venture to the area around Penn Station when it's absolutely necessary–traveling to New Jersey or Long Island, going to a business meeting at Penn Plaza, or seeing a Rangers game. Otherwise, we avoid it like the plague. But Vornado Realty Trust, one of the country's largest office landlords–they own roughly nine million square feet around Penn Station worth $5.5 billion–is hoping to do a complete 180 on the area by "investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new retail space, public plazas and other infrastructure, according to real-estate executives briefed on the plans," according to the Wall Street Journal.
More details ahead

Real Estate Trends

July 15, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Downtown Brooklyn is a Shining Example of Good Development; One of Greenwich’s Oldest Homes Could be Razed

By Diane Pham

Vornado Realty Trust and Crown Acquisitions have just paid $700M for 24,700 square feet of retail space plus air rights at the St. Regis Hotel and a neighboring townhouse. Insiders suspect they’re looking to get in on booming retail sales which could lead to higher future rents. [TRD] Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group, together with […]

Real Estate Trends

June 27, 2014

NYC’s Billboards to be the Biggest in the USA: Even More Wattage Being Added to Times and Herald Squares

By Ondel Hylton

Billboard signs along Times Square, and now Herald Square, are growing ever bigger and brighter as LED displays become the top choice for developers of new supersigns. Projects such as the upcoming Mariott Edition, Vornado's Marriott Marquis renovation, and the revamping of the Herald Center all include LED displays that will be among the largest in the world. Though more expensive to install than the standard illuminated billboard, the light-emitting diode canvasses have the primary advantage of being eco-friendly by using less electricity and lasting 25 times longer than their incandescent alternatives. Their cost depends on size, complexity, and resolution; and may run upward of $1000 a square foot. But new technology in the past decade has cut the average price in half allowing for a brighter and more prolific future in the city.
See videos and images these eye-popping supersigns

Vornado

Roberta’s Pizza opens next to Penn Station

Roberta’s new location next to Penn Station will open this spring

See inside the new light-filled Moynihan Train Hall

Here’s what Facebook’s huge new office will look like at Midtown’s former Farley Post Office

Apple signs lease for four floors at 11 Penn Plaza

Billionaires’ Row kosher deli fights high-rise developer over eviction

New renderings show Vornado’s Pompidou Center-like office plans for Chelsea

Construction to finally begin on the new Penn Station – see new renderings!

Chinese company Anbang backs out of 666 Fifth Avenue deal with Kushner Cos.

Kushner Cos. vision for 666 Fifth Avenue has Zaha Hadid design and $12B ambitions

Sale of 666 Fifth Avenue to Anbang, would net $400M for Kushner Companies

Trump to name New York developers Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth to oversee new infrastructure council

Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South now two-thirds erected

Revealed: Kenneth Park Architects Reimagine Penn Plaza as a Vibrant Public Space

POLL: Do You Prefer Bjarke Ingels’ Wave-Like Tower or the Free-Fall Ride for Penn Station?

A Victoria's Secret model's angelic East Village flat with a solarium and terrace asks $2.9M

Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Gets Stoned; New Renderings and Construction Shots

Bjarke Ingels Reveals Glassy Wave-Like Design for 2 Penn Plaza Overhaul

The Most Important Towers Shaping Central Park’s South Corridor, AKA Billionaires’ Row

220 Central Park South Costs $5,000 Per Foot to Build, Now 50 Percent Sold

Construction Update: Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Begins Race into the Sky

Starchitecture Firm Snøhetta Will Design Vornado’s Penn Station Area Overhaul

Developer Vornado Plans to Spend Hundreds of Millions on Revitalizing Penn Station Area

Real Estate Wire: Downtown Brooklyn is a Shining Example of Good Development; One of Greenwich’s Oldest Homes Could be Razed

NYC’s Billboards to be the Biggest in the USA: Even More Wattage Being Added to Times and Herald Squares

201 East 74th Street in Lenox Hill

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