Vornado Realty Trust is contemplating tennis courts for the US Open as a short lived alternative for a skyscraper close to Madison Sq. Backyard, as the actual property developer copes with what its chief government referred to as an “office apocalypse.”
The world the place the 61-floor workplace tower in Manhattan was deliberate may additionally turn into the positioning of basketball courts, New York Style Week or perhaps a large billboard that’s 150 toes (46 meters) tall by 197 toes vast, in line with an internet promotional brochure.
The brand new workplace tower was set to interchange Lodge Pennsylvania, which was shut through the pandemic and demolished. However Vornado put the tower plan on maintain together with components of the huge redevelopment plan to remake Penn Station final yr after excessive rates of interest and the shift to working from house triggered a crisis within the business actual property market.
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A Vornado spokesperson mentioned the renderings within the presentation had been for “conceptual purposes.”
“We are currently considering a number of potential interim options for the Hotel Pennsylvania site,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Crain’s New York beforehand reported on the brochure.
There’s a “total blacklisting of office in the capital markets,” Chief Government Officer Steven Roth mentioned on an earnings name earlier this week, resulting in an “office apocalypse” within the central enterprise district. He mentioned the positioning the place the tower was deliberate, often known as PENN 15, is now absolutely flattened.
If Vornado’s new plans are in step with present permits often known as a basic challenge plan, they may transfer shortly, mentioned Casey Berkovitz, press secretary on the Division of Metropolis Planning. “It makes sense that in the short term they’d want to do something to the space,” he mentioned.
The brochure states that the flattened house provides a “diverse range of scenarios for brand activations and events,” together with “basketball activation with NCAA-sized courts, a tennis model, a big coated tent setup or an outside live performance venue.
— With help from Katherine Chiglinsky
