Well, Kim Jong-un has certainly made his move for attention-grabbing story of 2014. But let's hold off on deciding and instead reflect on some of the most buzzworthy stories from 2013 in the 22 markets in which Bisnow publishes:
NEW YORK: One World Trade Center Opens
Conde Nast, anchor tenant of the 3M SF 1 WTC, has started interior buildout of its almost 1.2M SF of space, Durst's Rob Becker (whom we snapped at a Bisnow event in December) tells us. It'll get about six floors every two weeks and be undertaking interior construction in all its space (20th to the 44th floors) by mid-February. That caps a monumental 2013 for the 104-story tower. (Keep reading for the condensed version.)
In April, the Port Authority announced that Legends Hospitality will lease the 100th, 101st, and 102nd floors for 15 years for $875M and will open One World Observatory (we snapped the view) in 2015. In May, it reached 1,776 feet as the last piece of the 40-ton, 408-foot spire went into place. And in November, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat certified 1 WTC as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
DC: Trumps Turn Post Office Into Hotel
Donald and Ivanka Trump (as if you needed IDs) took a break from The Apprentice and made a big splash in DC in 2013. Their Trump Org inked a 60-year lease with GSA to redevelop DC's Old Post Office in to a brand-new, 270-room luxury hotel. We snapped the two at an event last April, where Donald boasted "the potential to be the greatest hotel in the country, if not the world." Construction on the 114-year-old property will start this spring, with delivery expected for late 2015. (Great delivery speed for a hotel, not for a post office.)
LA: Buy-Bye MPG, Hello Brookfield
Brookfield Office Properties rang in the New Year as Downtown LA's biggest office landlord, having completed its acquisition of troubled MPG Office Trust in October. The tender-offer deal gave DTLA Holdings, a new fund controlled by Brookfield, ownership of seven Class-A skyscrapers totaling 8.3M SF, including MPG’s Gas Company Tower (above). Other assets include the twin-towered Wells Fargo Center, 777 Tower, Bank of America Plaza, 601 S Figueroa, and Ernst & Young Tower.
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