Rockrose purchased the land between West 48th and 49th streets in 1998, planning to build the city's first ground-up telco hotel at the site, with a Federal Express distribution center as the anchor tenant in the base. The developer's plans changed when the telecommunications market abruptly collapsed. Since a lease had been signed with FedEx, Rockrose completed the basement and first two floors as a distribution center--building the infrastructure for future development of the upper floors.

Rockrose, which owns 315,000 rentable sf of air rights there, even more if there is a mechanical space need, plans to enlarge the structure once it secures a tenant for the additional space atop the building. The height of the building is not limited, except by the sky-exposure plan. Two full 90,000-sf floors, and two additional floors of 66,000 rentable sf, can be added if the tenant desires large floorplates.

The building offers a rare opportunity for a tenant seeking large, build-to-suit space in Midtown West, possibly cutting construction time by 50%, notes Patricia Dunphy, vice president of Rockrose. "Since the building was originally intended as a telco hotel, it has very high-caliber structural and technological features."