4 WTC making progress

Lois Weiss

BETWEEN THE BRICKS

The World Trade Center site is humming with activity. On Monday, we walked across the site and rode the construction hoist up at Silverstein Properties' 4 World Trade Center as the north Memorial pool was being tested.

The nearly one-acre square pools have water that cascades down the sides and flows into another dark square. Each pool is rimmed with the names of the victims, which will glow at night.

All the plaza's white swamp oaks are growing in nicely, with more being added all the time. The Greenwich Street cut through the site is just starting to be filled in as an actual road, slicing off 2 WTC, the Calatrava PATH station, 3 WTC and 4 WTC from the western half of the site with the Memorial area and 1 WTC.

Four WTC has asking rents in the $80s a foot and is being represented by CB Richard Ellis. New York City and the Port Authority have already leased space there. The lobby area feels cocooned from the outside, yet its polished black granite walls will reflect the area through its 65-foot-tall windows.

The largest of the buildings, 1 World Trade Center, where Condé Nast just signed its 1.1 million-square-foot lease, is only halfway to its 1,776 feet but is starting to become visible from all over.

"This is not your grandfather's downtown or even your father's downtown," said Sheldon Cohen of CBRE. "We must think of it differently."

*

Absorption of leased space is up in all sectors of the city, driving the vacancy rate downward. Sales activity has also been booming, as several $100 million-plus sales have driven the market to more than $9 billion already closed.

Kicking off this third quarter, the $160 million sale of the office condo at the Times Square Building closed yesterday to Blackstone.

Laurie Golub, general counsel of seller AFI-USA, said Blackstone will have a ground-floor lobby and own half of the 4th floor and then 5 through 16, which will be marketed as office floors.

"We will maintain half of 4 and below that," she said. "Once Blackstone was brought in, we did the deal in five days with James Kuhn of Newmark Knight Frank as the broker."

*

Throw out the old-fashioned clickers, as video cameras can now provide a more accurate pedestrian count.

A UK-based company, Springboard, is growing out of its British base where it provides data for the High Street retail district and many cities, and has now invaded the Grand Central Partnership Business Improvement District and the Times Square BID.

The BIDS will use the data to show foot traffic to businesses and tell retailers where shoppers are going and at what time of day. The annual cost is less than $6,000 per camera, said company founder Steve Booth. Places like malls and stores can also use their current security cameras with Springboard's proprietary software, according to Booth, a former security consultant.

The technology latches onto the moving person and quickly works to sort out groups as well as individuals and follows them down the street in both directions.

Fred Cerullo, president and CEO of the Grand Central Partnership, said the BID is trying the system for a year with four of its cameras fixed and one "mobile" so it can be used for special requests by brokers and business owners.

"Unlike clickers, this will be a 24/7 stream of data that will continue to support the marketing and business-assistance aspects of the BID," said Cerullo. "This can also establish trends that we can use over a period of time."

For privacy, the BID's cameras cannot recognize faces, but the city's police mounted cameras take care of that security issue.

*

The 21-story landmarked 1790 Broadway on the southwest corner of 58th Street just received permission from the Postal Service and Borough President Scott Stringer to change its address to 5 Columbus Circle.

"It's become a prestigious address, and people know where you are located," said Jeffrey Rosenblatt of Newmark Knight Frank, who is the agent on the building along with colleague Christina Martinez.

Marketing brochures are on their way to promote an 18th-floor availability of 11,500 square feet that includes three working fireplaces along with breathtaking views of Central Park. They are asking for rent of $60 a square foot.

Other tenants include Columbia Artists Management and Victoria Hagen Interiors.

*

A spokesman for Francis Greenburger of Time Equities insists our 50 West St. story is "premature." That may be so, but aside from the change in contractor to Skanska due to HRH's bankruptcy, and the pulling of partial new building permits, we also have sources telling us that Greenburger is currently negotiating with a hotel operator.

The spokesman said, "Fifty West is currently in predevelopment, and Time Equities looks forward to ultimately completing a successful project at the site." So do we.

*

Pine River Capital Management has inked a 25,125-square-foot lease at 590 Madison Ave. The Minnesota-based global asset management firm will jump from its current 7,000 feet on the 37th floor to the entire 38th floor by the end of this year.

The asking rent was $130 a foot. Studley's Daniel Posy and Joe Messina represented the tenant, while Jeffrey M. Sussman of Edward J. Minskoff Equities handled the ownership side in-house.

Lois@BetweenTheBricks.com