The big real estate news of the day is that the empty lot on the southeastern corner of West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue - right near the movie theater on the south side of 42nd Street - will finally get developed. The NY TImes' coverage of the deal starts off with:
A New Jersey developer plans to build a $1 billion office tower on the last parcel in the 13-acre Times Square redevelopment district, bringing an end to the 26-year effort to clean up an area that was known as the Deuce when it was a motley collection of movie houses, sex shops, T-shirt stores, pimps and drug dealers.
The Deuce! Forgotten NY has a great feature on the old Deuce, New York magazine wrote about design firm Fox & Fowle "Acing the Deuce" in 2002, and earlier this year, Metropolis interviewed Marshell Berman, City College professor and author of On the Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square, who described the Deuce as being hostile to women and some gays back in the day.
The NJ developer, SJP Properties, bought the land for $260 million in June and will build a tower known as 11 Times Square. The lot's history is fascinating - the land has been passed around a couple times, due to recessions and commuinty opposition. Apparently building a tower there was supposed to be the first big post-September 11 project, but deals fell through. Construction will be completed in about three years, give or take the time the lease is signed, etc. That building will have some sweet view of the Port Authority!
Photograph of the empty lot from A9
