A new $1 billion financing commitment from Asia is breathing life
into a stalled Jean Nouvel-designed residential tower next to the Museum
of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan.
Singapore property
developer Pontiac Land Group, owned by the billionaire Kwee family, is
making a $300 million equity investment in the tower, according to the
Wall Street Journal. An additional $860 million construction financing was secured from Asian banks, according to a company announcement.
The
72-story tower, designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning French
architect, is known as 53 W. 53rd Street and will feature 145 luxury
condominiums. The building's lower floor will include 36,000 square feet
of new gallery space for the museum's second, fourth and fifth floor,
the largest expansion for the museum since 2004.
"We are
delighted to partner with Hines and Goldman Sachs on this landmark
project," Kwee Liong Tek, director of Pontiac Land Group, said in an
announcement. "We have long admired MoMA's contribution to the city and
the world, and we are pleased that this project will expand their
galleries and enhance the visitor experience."
The
tower's owners, Houston-based property developer Hines and Goldman
Sachs, acquired the 18,000-square-foot site from the museum in 2007.
Hines
originally planned a 1,250-foot-tall skyscraper with a hotel along with
the apartments. However, the project stalled during the economic
recession. The developer also faced scrutiny from neighbors due to the
tower's height on a small space.
It "would be one of the
tallest buildings in Manhattan on a lot barely the size of a McDonald's
franchise," the Historic Districts Council, an independent organization,
wrote on its website.
Hines won plan approval for a tower 200
feet shorter in 2009. At 1,050-feet tall, it will be the fifth tallest
building in New York City.
The project is one of the latest examples of development revivals as the economy stabilizes and investor interest grows.
Earlier
this year, New York developer Larry Silverstein received $930 million
from the U.K.-based investor Children's Investment Fund Management to
restart an 82-story Four Seasons Hotel and private residences downtown,
the
WSJ reports.
The Kwee family is one of Singapore's
largest property owners, with an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion,
according to Forbes magazine.
Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2014 with the first residents expected in late 2018, the company said.
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