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Early Addition
"Across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal" is becoming the new benchmark in swank office location. Crain's reports that the New York Times Building (pictured right) designed by Renzo Piano and FxFowle has "breathed new life into the formerly moribund area" across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
The proof? Sky-high rents from high-end corporate tenants. While Class A office space in the formerly "tawdry" district rented for about $30 per square foot in the year 2000, the well-appointed floors of the new Times Building are being snapped up for close to $100 per square foot--especially by workaholic law firms such as Covington & Burling, Seyfarth Shaw, and Osler Hoskin.
"The new southern terminus of the acceptable business district has been established," an executive from the real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank told Crain's. Aha! Now we have a nomination for the new neighborhood nickname: AcBuD ("Acceptable Business District").
And just across West 41st Street, another premium office tower will soon begin rising. Eleven Times Square (pictured left), developed by SJP Properties, is also designed by the architects FxFowle.
The developer of the Times Building is Forest City Ratner, a company perhaps better known for its controversial attempts to build a miniature city of high-rise offices, residences, and a basketball arena at the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn. The Ratner group has scored big with this midtown tower, having leased most of its 700,000 sq ft for premium rents in a tight market. The remaining 900,000 sq ft are controlled by The New York Times Co. The building is scheduled for full completion within 2007.
More:
Annie Liebovitz construction photos of the Times Building
Photograph of Eighth Avenue outside the Port Authority by specmotors on Flickr. The Times Building is visible in the upper left corner. Vacant lot in left foregroung will soon house another high-end tower designed by FxFowle.
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wait so the times is expanding or just moving in? what happens to their beautiful old building?
AcBuD?
Why wouldn't it be renamed "Times Square" or "Times-Port Authority Bus Terminal" (That's T-PABT to you)
Or what about "SoHK" (South of Hell's Kitchen)
In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if "Times" found its way into the neighbhorhood name somehow, like it did over a hundred years ago to Longacre Square
How is this news?
Nobody saw this one coming: Port Authority Business Tract - "PABST! The Blue Ribbon Office Space!"
[1]:
The old Times building occupying the block between W 43-44 Sts and between 7th and 8th Aves is being renovated and upgraded with a few exterior modifications at street level. It was built in 4 sections over the past 90 years and is quite a hodgepodge. David Dunlap of the NYT described the situation pretty thoroughly in an article dated March 21, 2006. It will be leased to new office tenants as the entire NYT staff moves into the new building. As for the original building (1 Times Sq, now crowned by Cup Noodles)... no changes as far as I know.
It's amazing how the architecture of the new New York Times really captures the nickname "The Old Grey Lady."
EricGewiz, some would argue that Hell's Kitchen runs as far south as 34th Street (and as far north as 59th).
Does anyone know if there are any plans to do anything with the Port Authority Bus Terminal? It seems like that site is ripe for at least the placement of a tower above the terminal itself (not that I would want to live on top of all the bus exhaust). It's going to be a low point in t he middle of a forest of towers soon.