Silverstein to Build Ultra-Tall Tower
A five-year deal has finally come to fruition, allowing Silverstein Properties to move forward with a residential tower.
By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor
Developer Larry Silverstein has acquired the former Mercedes-Benz Manhattan site in New York City for more than $100 million, and plans to build an ultra-tall residential tower in its place.
The CBRE team of Michael Laginestra, vice chairman; Michael Geoghegan, vice chairman and co-head of the firm’s consulting services, and Joan Meixner, senior vice president, consulting services, represented Mercedes Benz Manhattan in the transaction.
“The site is not currently zoned for residential so one of the things we needed to do was help monetize the site,” Laginestra told Commercial Property Executive. “We needed to partner with someone who could navigate the value-added waters of development in New York City and the obvious best solution turned out to be Larry Silverstein.”
The property is located at 530 West 41st St., but will change its address to 514 11th St., once the tower is erected.
Mercedes had owned the dealership space since the early ’70s but relocated to 770 11th Ave. in September of 2010. The deal has been in the works ever since, with the time finally right.
According to Geoghegan, the highly complicated sale and development deal was a long time in the making due to numerous approvals required for it to close.
Michael Geoghegan, CBRE
The proposed development will be located nearby Silverstein’s Silver Towers, which consists of twin-towered rental buildings at 600 W. 42nd St., and the 41-story tower at 1 River Place, totaling more than 2,000 residential units.
“Larry Silverstein is a significant investor in the community and saw the value so we were able to structure a deal,” Geoghegan told CPE. “Mercedes was looking to do something really significant on the West Side and tried to embrace the brokerage community and we spent years with them up and down the West Side and came to terms with Mercedes House, 333,000 square feet at 770 11th Ave. They got exactly what they wanted and now with the closing of the existing facility, they can tie a bow around the whole thing.”
Of course, Silverstein is well represented in Manhattan, and last month celebrated the topping out of 30 Park Place, Four Seasons Private Residences New York Downtown, the tallest residential building in the area.
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