A long-stalled Upper East Side development site once envisioned as the home of a 1,000-foot-plus skyscraper is back up for grabs \u2014 this time with a $360 million price tag.<\/p>\n
The six-parcel assemblage at 143-161 E. 60th St., directly across from the Bloomingdale\u2019s<\/a> flagship and steps from Lexington Avenue, last traded<\/a> for $300 million in 2015. <\/p>\n Now, more than a decade later, the seller is seeking $60 million more for the roughly 20,000-square-foot site, which offers about 283,000 square feet of development potential.<\/p>\n Bloomingdale\u2019s flagship sits directly across from the $360 million development site. vacant \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n And unlike the last time the property changed hands, the old buildings that stood on the lot are now gone, leaving developers with a cleared site and a rare chance to make their mark on the Manhattan skyline.<\/p>\n The property\u2019s zoning allows for residential or commercial development and, crucially, has previously been marketed as allowing a tower without a height limit \u2014 opening the door for a future developer to once again shoot for the sky.<\/p>\n Manhattan\u2019s skyline could get another 1,000-foot-plus addition if the long-stalled East 60th Street site is finally developed. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n But buying the dirt could be just the beginning of the bill.<\/p>\n Listing broker Marlon Schwarcz estimates that developing a high-end project on the site could require roughly $500 million on top of the land acquisition.<\/p>\n \u201cUsually, you look at 2 times from whatever the acquisition price is\u201d as a typical indication of the capital needed for a project, Schwarcz said. \u201cNow, for the ultra-luxury, you go 3 times the original acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n At the $360 million asking price, that could put the overall investment needed for an ultra-luxury project in the neighborhood of $1 billion.<\/p>\n At the other end of the spectrum, Schwarcz said the site could be developed as affordable housing, which he estimated could cost roughly $100 million to $300 million to build.<\/p>\n Some of New York\u2019s biggest builders are already circling.<\/p>\n Schwarcz said he has received offers from major developers, including players with projects on nearby Billionaires\u2019 Row<\/a>.<\/p>\n Billionaires\u2019 Row developers are among those eyeing the $360 million Upper East Side site, according to the listing broker. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t say the names,\u201d he said. \u201cBut what I can tell you, it\u2019s top 10 \u2014 often people that are doing projects on Billionaires\u2019 Row.\u201d<\/p>\n Offers began arriving roughly 30 days after the property hit the market, he said, and Schwarcz believes a deal could be reached within about 90 days.<\/p>\n A decade of sky-high ambitions<\/p>\n Chinese developer Kuafu Properties bought the six-property assemblage<\/a> from World Wide Group for $300 million in 2015, when its low-rise buildings included the longtime home of the beloved Subway Inn<\/a>, which had been forced to relocate as redevelopment plans took shape.<\/p>\n Kuafu, led by Shang Dai and Zengliang \u201cDenis\u201d Shan, had much bigger ambitions for the corner.<\/p>\n The developer commissioned prominent architecture firms to dream up competing visions for the site \u2014 several of which could have extended the supertall boom that transformed Billionaires\u2019 Row northeast toward Lenox Hill.<\/p>\n Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners devised a 62-story, 1,000-foot residential tower<\/a> in 2015, with a slender glass design rising above a retail base. Kohn Pedersen Fox later produced its own potential supertall concept<\/a> as part of a private design competition, envisioning an exceptionally slender tower broken up by a series of setbacks and cutouts.<\/p>\n Archilier Architecture proposed perhaps the most audacious version: a roughly 1,240-foot tower<\/a> with an inverted-taper design that widened as it rose, putting its largest floors \u2014 and prized Central Park views \u2014 near the top. At that height, it would have ranked among New York\u2019s tallest residential skyscrapers.<\/p>\n A 1,000-foot-plus tower on East 60th Street could bring Billionaires\u2019 Row-style heights to the Upper East Side. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n None made it off the drawing board.<\/p>\n The project then became tangled up in a shakeup at Kuafu. In 2016, the Real Deal reported<\/a> that Shan was leaving the development firm to launch his own venture, with the East 60th Street site among the projects going with him.<\/p>\n