New Development Considered for 660 12th Ave.

NEW YORK CITY- Rockrose Development Corp. is taking the old adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” to heart. The locally based firm is considering plans for its 220,000 sf site at 660 12th Ave. Those plans range from establishing a hydroponic farm to a television studio or tennis courts.

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.