Aby Rosen is done with the Chrysler Building, but not with its little sister — the triangular-topped Trylons next door at 145-155 E. 42nd Street. Rosen’s RFR owns the now-vacant property outright, unlike the leasehold he previously held at the office tower.
Rosen, who’s rebounding since Chrysler landowner Cooper Union booted him, has big plans for the low-rise, Philip Johnson-designed retail parcel wedged between the landmark tower and 666 Third Avenue at the corner.
“This is a wonderful opportunity,” Rosen said. “We always had the idea to redevelop it.”
Rosen and an Austrian partner bought Chrysler and the next-door Trylons in 2019 for just $150 million. But the price wasn’t as lowball as it seemed, because the ground rent had risen from $7.5 million to $32.5 million a year, and was due to rise further to $41 million in 2028.
However, Rosen was able to buy the Trylons from Cooper Union outright without the costly nuisance of a ground lease.
He said the 13,000 square-foot lot can support 100,000 square feet of floor space as-of-right once the old structure is demolished, and could be built much larger and taller.
The latter would require air rights purchases and obtaining a greater density allowance under recent East Midtown rezoning, for which the project would undergo the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
The Trylons were commissioned by former Chrysler Building owner Tishman Speyer. Johnson’s design, unveiled in 2001, consists of three sharp-edged glass triangles between two boxy, banal retail structures. Although intended as an homage to Chrysler’s Art Deco lines, the Trylons were not regarded as among Johnson’s best work. Most of the space was home to Capital Grille steakhouse.
“Between you and me, it’s rather ugly,” Rosen said.
Rosen intends to lease the parcel, not sell it. His options are open depending on market demand. The new building could be as relatively small as 100,000 square feet, for which he’d ask $10 million in annual rent on a triple-net-lease basis (tenant pays rent, utilities and operating/maintenance costs).
“It can be experiential retail, an auto dealership, or designed for a technology brand,” Rosen said. “We’re already talking to three large car companies that are drooling over it.”
But he’s open as well to a “build-to-suit” option for a much larger building depending on a tenant’s needs.
He said an office or hotel tower, or a project combining uses, could be as large as 600,000 square feet and rise “up to the level of the Chrysler gargoyles” at the tower’s 52nd floor.
“Realistically, we’re looking at a a forty-story building,” he explained. Because the site is so small, a tall tower “becomes a needle above that, which we have no interest in.”
There’s no immediate rush. Rosen said it might take two years to select a tenant and to design the new building. RFR only began showing flyers to large retailers a week ago. Wider marketing will begin this week through its retail subsidiary MONA.
Rosen, meanwhile, is rebounding from the crushing Chrysler Building setback. He said he wouldn’t appeal a court ruling in favor of Cooper Union, which yanked his leasehold when he fell $21 million behind in ground rent.
Although RFR remains under pressure at several properties following an aggressive borrowing spree over the past few years, it successfully refinanced three major properties — the landmarked Seagram Building, 475 Fifth Avenue and 17 State Street downtown — all since the start of the year.
“Sometimes you have to move on,” Rosen said. “We’re cleaning up the mess and gone back to loving what we do after some rough years.”
Naftali Group signed its first big retail tenant at Williamsburg Wharf, the developer’s 3.75-acre residential complex on the East River waterfront.
Famed chef Eyal Shani’s Good People Group is to launch a 4,000 square-foot restaurant later this year on the Kent Avenue side.
Jerusalem-born Shani’s other places here include HaSalon on Tenth Avenue (where his controversial $24 tomato made a splash in 2019), Shmone on West Eighth Street and Port Sa’id on Hudson Street. The Williamsburg Wharf venue will be an unspecified new concept.
Naftali Group’s other Big Apple projects include 200 East 83d Street and the Benson, both condo towers, in Manhattan.
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