Real Estate Wire: KPF’s New Supertall Tower for Midtown Site Sensitive?; Crown Heights and East New York Having “A Moment”

Today’s real estate news highlights:

• Conversions, condos, rising land prices, and, of course, more coffee shops. It looks like Crown Heights is “having a moment” as Brooklyn’s new “it” neighborhood. [New York Times]
• Oh, it looks like East New York’s moment has arrived as well — though this change has a bit more substance. Under the Mayor Deblasio’s new initiative, City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod aims to spur a renaissance by rezoning the area to suit “thousands of residential units ringed by mixed-use corridors and bisected by a reimagined Atlantic Avenue”. [Crain’s]
• Ben Shaoul, the head of Magnum Real Estate Group, is in contract for the hotly sought after 199-unit Post Toscana and the 138-unit Post Luminaria rental buildings. Broken down Shaoul is paying about $800K a unit. He plans to turn the two buildings into condos. [NY Post]
• Time Equities launches sales at its 64-story luxury residential tower at 50 West Street and Rector Street. Prices per unit start at about $1.6M. [The Real Deal]
• James von Klemperer, a principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, says that the new tower designed for 1 Vanderbilt will “unbury views of Grand Central”. The 1,300-foot structure will mostly be made of a low-iron super clear glass, similar to what was used for the Fifth Avenue Apple cube. Other design details include indoor greenery, art spaces, and diagonal shapes of double-glazed terracotta for a lustrous look that references the masonry walls found in Grand Central. [DNA Info]
• After two previous attempts to build a $100 million project at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the industrial park’s manager has issued another request for proposals to develop the 6-acre site and a smaller neighboring area that would host a supermarket and space for industrial and office use. [Crain’s]

1 Vanderbilt (left); Crown Heights (right)