MULTIFAMILY MONDAY: When $520M Looks Small

November 28, 2011 | 7:00 am ET Staff Reporter

The Gotham Org is running base to base with its $520M West Side development, which may be better than a home run in a downturn (it's called "small ball" for the baseball-challenged). Development EVPMelissa Pianko, a speaker at Bisnow’s New York Post Recession Projects event Dec. 8, tells us building rental apartments is a long-term play that allows more resistance to economic changes.

Melissa joined Gotham chairman & CEO Joel Picket, Mayor Mike, and prez David Picket for this month’s groundbreaking of the firm’s development (West 44th to 45th from Tenth to Eleventh). Why has Gotham been much more aggressive on the rental side? Condo buildings are like daredevil stunts: they can flop if the timing doesn’t work, she says; although units priced at the high and low ends of the market are holding pricing, the middle market is a bit more challenged. And lenders want to really be sure about sponsorship and basis before proceeding. (Gotham was able to secure a syndicate of lenders led by Wells Fargo, which will help finance the project along with tax-exempt bonds issued by the NYS Housing Finance Agency.)

Here’s what the SLCE-designed development will look like when it’s completed in 2014. (And we hope the traffic will be that good, too.) The centerpiece will be a 31-story tower with 550 luxury apartments. Three mid-rise buildings will join it, adding 432 middle-income and250 affordable housing units. And a new public elementary schoolfor 630 students will be built adjacent to the development. Want to learn how projects like this are getting done? Join us and Melissa, Bentall Kennedy's Martin Standiford, Greenberg Traurig’s Rob Ivanhoe, Gibson Dunn’s Andy Lance, and LePatner & Associates’Barry LePatner Dec. 8 at The NYC Bar Association. More speakersto be announced! Sign up here.

MULTIFAMILY MONDAY: When $520M Looks Small

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