RealShare EXCLUSIVE: Infrastructure Fuels City's Vitality

NEW YORK CITY-In order to keep New York a world financial capital, the city needs to “pay attention to infrastructure, transportation and public education,” said Peter Malkin, chairman of W& M Properties, during the RealShare New York conference yesterday. One of the speakers on a “New York Power Panel” presentation, his sentiments were echoed by others on the panel as well as during another discussion dealing with the Lower Manhattan marketplace. Stefan Pryor, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., noted that over the next six months there will be nearly $10 billion of construction activity in Lower Manhattan–a high percentage of that is for the Fulton Street and World Trade Center transportation hub efforts.

Peter Kalikow, president HJ Kalikow & Co. and MTA chairman, noted that the outcome of transportation bond act on the November ballot is the “live-or-die” moment for the proposed subway expansions on the West Side. “Investing in infrastructure is critical for New York City,” said Rudin Management Co. president Bill Rudin, during the panel moderated by Real Estate Media president and CEO Jonathan Schein. “If companies don’t want to be here our buildings are useless. Pound for pound we’re the most efficient city not using automobiles.” Rudin added that Lower Manhattan rail link connections are “really critical for the future of Downtown.”

Boston Properties chairman Mort Zuckerman noted that the public schools have a “long way to go” and that the affordable housing stock needs to increase to attract younger people. “We’re lucky that the industries that power the city are growth industries.”