NEW YORK CITY—At first blush, a room full of commercial real estate executives would be hard pressed to reimagine a city. But as it happens, New York City is already being reinvented, with developers, landlords and investors simply going along and enjoying the ride.
That was the perspective of the participants in a panel discussion—entitled “Reimagining New York”—that was held in Midtown last week and hosted by Ariel Property Advisors.
“We're in an innovation economy now, and the creative companies are driving growth,” said Andrew Kimball, CEO of Industry City, a six million-square-foot “innovation and manufacturing district” that sits on the waterfront in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. “We've leased 850,000 square feet of space in the last 18 months. People want to make things now.”
For another speaker, a changed New York means investing in a new type of real estate. “We saw a building on the corner of 125th street and Park avenue that was crumbling and an eye sore. That bothered us,” said Yoav Haron, CFO of Artimus. He was speaking about the Corn Exchange Building, a 32,000-square-foot historic site that has stood for 100 years. It's the entry point to Manhattan for many Metro-North riders, it's right by the train station. This is a landmarked building and we're going to restore it.”
Artimus has work ahead of it but has faith in the area. “There's a lot happening in that corridor with a Whole Foods coming, a WeWork site and other retail. We expect to do well.”
But with change comes challenges, the speakers noted. “Land prices are way up,” asserted Jeffrey Simpson, CEO of property development at Greystone. “Also, 421a is a big question mark going forward; people don't know what's going to happen. Construction pricing is up too.”
Haron looked to the government to ease conditions in the market. “The political environment is a challenge. We need consistency in our laws.”
For Kimball, zoning regulations are serving as the thorn in his side. “The city could re-evaluate zoning rules. They have complexities that made sense in a 1960s world but they don't make sense today."
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
