Extell Development Corporation    NEWS RELEASE    NEW 3 MILLION SF MIXED-USED DEVELOPMENT APPROVED FOR UPPER WEST SIDE —– INCLUDES RESIDENTIAL, K-8 SCHOOL, HOTEL, RETAIL, OFFICE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, CINEMA AND PARKING —– 900 CONSTRUCTION JOBS, 1,400 PERMANENT JOBS AND MILLIONS IN NEW TAX REVENUE (New York, NY: Monday, December 20, 2010)  Extell Development Company announced that its proposed three million square foot Riverside Center development was approved today by the New York City Council in a unanimous vote. The project reaches from West 59th Street to West 61st Street and spans West End Avenue to Riverside Blvd.  Riverside Center is part of the Riverside South development purchased and developed by Extell and The Carlyle Group in 2005. “Riverside Center is a terrific project with many benefits to the neighborhood and the City. This approval is the result of many people working together to find solutions. We appreciate the efforts of Speaker Christine Quinn, Councilmember Gale Brewer, the Community Board #7 leadership, Committee Chair Leroy Comrie and Sub-Committee Chair Mark Weprin. Also, Councilmember Inez Dickens, whose district includes parts of the Community Board, devoted herself to helping the parties reach agreement and to making sure community concerns will be addressed in the project,” said Gary Barnett, President of Extell Development Corporation. Riverside Center, which will replace a blighted, eight-acre parking lot, completes the Riverside South development with world class architecture master planned and designed by Atelier Christian de Portzamparc. Overview of new Riverside Center development: · 2,500 apartments · 250-room hotel · 140,000 sf of retail and service space · 104,000 sf of office space · K-8 public school (Extell pays for construction of the core and shell for the full 100,000 square foot school, with the School Construction Authority finishing at least 85,000 square feet of it) · Cinema · Parking for 1,500 cars · Affordable housing (500,000 sf – 20% of the project’s residential floor area) · 2.76 acre public park and playground designed by Mathews Nielsen · Extell will add $17.5 million to the City’s $2.5 million to finish the renovation and modernization of Riverside Park South and also to renovate the West 59th Street Recreation Center The project will: · generate 900 jobs during construction · create 1,400 permanent full and part-time jobs after completion · provide millions of dollars of new tax revenue for the City Extell Development Company is a nationally acclaimed developer of commercial, residential, retail, hospitality and mixed-used properties and is today one of New York City’s most active real estate developers. Many of its projects feature designs by world class architects, and are distinguished by their first class finishes and amenities.

But in NYC, you may be sitting with parents like Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Kelly Ripa, Michael J. Fox, and George Stephanopoulos. And yes we are sitting with all of them 🙂

If you ever need to find me in the middle of the day, the first place you should look is 5 Napkin Burger on 84th and Broadway. It is like my 2nd Manhattan office and the owners and managers are fantastic. Burgers are a bit too rich for me (I like one every once in a while) but they have an awesome beet based veggie burger, a great blackened shrimp salad and delicious pork taquitos.

Stop by and say hello sometime.

Right at this moment, Sarah Gore and her crew from LXTV's OpenHouseNYC are filming both their January 2nd and 9th episodes from our magnificent 1235 Park Avenue Penthouse!