"We are close to a year extension," he told me, adding that the lease will hopefully be signed after the holidays.
One year, of course, is only a short-term solution. The Renatus Group, the building's new owners and a real estate development company, have had plans to redevelop and possibly demolish the building.
Neighbors have told me that only two holdout rent-regulated tenants remain upstairs. As we've seen before, it's often the holdouts who keep old buildings standing--and their ground-floor commercial tenants in place.
We'll watch this one carefully over the next year. The city can't afford to lose Peter McManus.
2 comments:
Good. Two holdouts is actually a lot of them. I still remember the little walkup building on the northwest corner of 50th and Eighth - an exception on the enormous parking lot block that had been old Madison Square Garden. If one tenant could hold out so tenaciously, two or three ought to do even better. As we know, the whole block (what there was of it) was razed and turned into one of the biggest skyscraper and development projects in the city's history - Worldwide Plaza.
Interest rates are rising. The construction frenzy may level off a bit. Also - this story hasn't even really broken yet. It'll be a popular topic.
Apparently the developers think NYC "can afford to" lose Peter McManus.
Of course more-than-likely none of them ever ate at his cafe either.
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