Yesterday's Port Authority One-Two Punch
The Port Authority has sold its 50% interest in the WTC's retail portion to partner Westfield for $800M and authorized Durst to put Conde Nast’s 842k SF at 4 Times Square on the market. Port Authority head Pat Foye wasn't kidding in September 2012 when he told a small gathering, including us, that his org wanted out of the real estate game.
The brokerage community wasn't sure when the massive Times Square block would come on the market (Durst owns the building, and Port Authority assumed the lease in order to get Conde Nast to 1 WTC). But no one's worried about oversupply, says Avison Young's Greg Kraut (whom we snapped with Murray Hill Properties' David Sturner). 69 blocks of 100k SF or more are on the market now, he tells us, compared to 100 a year ago. Meanwhile, large-block users are in the market for 21M SF, compared to 15M last year. Greg also says Hines' under-construction 7 Bryant Park is asking a base of $100/SF and climbing to $180, and if Conde Nast's space is priced right (starting in the low $80s/SF and climbing to $100k), leasing won't be a problem.
