Ground-up development, redevelopment and repositioning are essential and differentiating skills of our business. Our pipeline is huge and runs the gamut from the multi-billion dollar Penn Plaza district transformation (Farley/Moynihan Station/Madison Square Garden relocation/Penn Station/Hotel Pennsylvania) to District of Columbia new-builds to the Bergen and Springfield mall mega fixer-uppers to dozens of other projects, see Appendix III for project-by-project detail.
Farley Update - We and our partner, the Related Companies, have been designated developer to convert the Farley Post Office Building, which occupies the super block between 31st and 33rd Streets from 8th to 9th Avenues, to the Moynihan Train Station. This project has been expanded to incorporate the adjacent super block to the east and will now involve relocating Madison Square Garden to the 9th Avenue side of Farley (to be developed and owned by MSG), permitting us to develop on the old Madison Square Garden site a great, soaring Penn Station, 5.5 million square feet of mixed-use new-builds, and incorporating our existing 1.5 million square foot Two Penn Plaza into a 7 million square foot complex. This
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long-term project has been publicly endorsed by City and State officials and is now in the approval process. The joint venture is working hard on documentation, design, budgets, etc. A giant step forward was taken on March 30, 2007 when New York's Empire State Development Corporation completed the acquisition of the Farley building from the United States Postal Service. Vornado assets surround this project - One Penn Plaza, Two Penn Plaza, 11 Penn Plaza, Hotel Pennsylvania and various retail properties. As with all development projects, there may be significant scope changes and there can be no assurance that this project will commence, or if commenced, be completed on schedule or within budget.
We have gone back and forth regarding the organizational benefits of having a centralized development function or a decentralized one. It appears the latter has won out - Mitchell and Sandeep really do want to manage the approvals, design, budget and execution of the projects for which we hold them responsible. David is overseeing all New York development projects. Special thanks this year to Barry Langer and Sandy Reis. |
