Kushner, Vornado Planning Super Tall Vertical Mall
Vornado founder Steve Roth and Kushner Properties CEO Jared Kushner are considering a plan—created by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid—that will convert NYC's 666 Fifth Ave into a 1,400-foot mixed-use tower with a vertical mall, a hotel and a residential podium. The aluminum 41-story building will offer hotel goers unobstructed views of Central Park. Roth—who is developing the 950-foot-tall 220 Central Park South—already owns the building’s office space after purchasing it from Kushner, Carlyle and Crown Acquisitions for $710M in 2012. If Vornado and Roth move ahead on the plan, they will control the tower with a combined retail and office space. The Zara store—a separately owned condominium—will be unaffected by the plan, but Colliers International and other office tenants would be forced to move. Douglas Elliman Mainline Retail chairman Faith Hope Consolo says the move is a no-brainer, since New York is retail rich and going vertical has proven successful in the past. [NYP]
