Extell Files Permits to Demolish Six Midtown Buildings for a New Mega Development
A Google street view of the six buildings set to be razed
Yesterday, Gary Barnett’s Extell (the developer behind the Nordstrom Tower, One57, and the controversial 250 South Street, to name just a few) filed a string of demolition permits with the city’s Department of Buildings to raze six buildings along West 46th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The doomed four- and five-story structures are at 3 West 46th Street, 5 West 46th Street, 7 West 46th Street, 9 West 46th Street, 11 West 46th Street and 13 West 46th Street. And on Monday, The Real Deal reported that Barnett has secured ownership of two neighboring properties at 562 and 564 Fifth Avenue from Thor Equities and SL Green Realty. The prolific developer also owns 2 and 10 West 47th Street on the northern side of the block in the heart of the Diamond District.
Back in 2014, sources said that Extell was planning for a new hotel tower at the site, but given the large amount of land the savvy developer has assembled (more than 30,000 square feet by our count) it will likely yield the largest tower built on Fifth Avenue in more than a generation.
Rendering of what Thor Equities planned at 564 Fifth Avenue before selling to Extell
Currently, only two condominium towers front this prized stretch of Fifth Avenue, Trump Tower and Olympic Tower. According to the CityRealty 100 (PDF), an index of Manhattan’s top 100 condominium buildings, average sale prices at Trump Tower have increased 18 percent over the prior year, with its six recorded sales averaging $2,688 per square foot. Olympic Tower at 641 Fifth has seen a similar increase (15.9 percent), with 13 recorded closings averaging $2,327 per square foot.
Extell is not the only developer looking to cash in on the area’s booming sales. A few blocks north of the the development site, at 666 Fifth Avenue, Crain’s reported that Vornado Realty Trust and Kushner Properties may overhaul the office building, redeveloping it into into a thin, mixed-use 1,400-foot tower designed by Zaha Hadid. South of Extell’s site, Ceruzzi Properties and Shanghai Municipal Investments USA hopes to begin construction this spring on a 71-story residential tower at 520 Fifth Avenue.
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