NEW YORK CITY — Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP) is restarting development of at 250 West 55th Street, a 1 million-square-foot, LEED Gold pre-certified office building in Midtown Manhattan. Construction of the 39-story office tower commenced in late 2007 but was suspended in late 2009 after the completion of excavation and foundations and construction of the building to grade level.
At the time, Boston Properties had also fabricated all of the structural steel to complete the tower, which was stored along with portions of the curtain wall parts. Enrolled in the New York City Department of Buildings' “Stalled Sites Program,” 250 West 55th Street's full building permit and other approvals remain in effect.
Designed by architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, the center core building features a two-story podium with a landscaped “green” roof on the third floor, and floor-to-floor heights of 14 feet. Turner Construction Company was recently selected as the construction manager for the project.
The incremental cost to complete the project, excluding capitalized interest, is expected to be approximately $400 million. Including that investment and capitalized interest, the total project cost upon completion is expected to be approximately $1.05 billion. As a result of resuming of the development, Boston Properties has begun interest capitalization on its existing investment of approximately $480 million, and will capitalize the remaining project costs as incurred.
“We believe, upon its completion, 250 West 55th Street will be considered among the elite office buildings in Manhattan,” said Mortimer B. Zuckerman, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, in a statement. “Our decision to proceed with construction reflects the city's improving overall economy and the office market in particular.”
On May 24, Boston Properties signed a lease with the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP to take approximately 180,000 square feet in the building. Morrison & Foerster LLP was represented by Paul Myers, John Maher and Tom Shirocky of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), and Boston Properties was represented by John Powers and Peter Turchin, also of CBRE.
Construction on the project is scheduled to resume as early as Fall 2011, and Morrison & Foerster expects to move into the completed building in Spring 2014.
— Dan Marcec