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Finance Real estate


THE NYC ‘OFFICE APOCALYPSE’ HAS A DEVELOPER MULLING TENNIS COURTS WHERE IT HAD
PLANNED A 61-FLOOR SKYSCRAPER


A NEW OFFICE TOWER WAS SUPPOSED TO REPLACE HOTEL PENNSYLVANIA IN MANHATTAN, BUT
VORNADO REALTY IS LOOKING FOR OTHER IDEAS.

BY
Nacha Cattan
 AND 
Bloomberg
February 15, 2024 5:14 PM EST

The Hotel Pennsylvania demolition underway in April last year in midtown
Manhattan. Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

Vornado Realty Trust is considering tennis courts for the US Open as a temporary
replacement for a skyscraper near Madison Square Garden, as the real estate
developer copes with what its chief executive called an “office apocalypse.”

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Vornado Realty Trust is considering tennis courts for the US Open as a temporary
replacement for a skyscraper near Madison Square Garden, as the real estate
developer copes with what its chief executive called an “office apocalypse.”



The area where the 61-floor office tower in Manhattan was planned could also
become the site of basketball courts, New York Fashion Week or even a giant
billboard that’s 150 feet (46 meters) tall by 197 feet wide, according to an
online promotional brochure.



The new office tower was set to replace Hotel Pennsylvania, which was shut
during the pandemic and demolished. But Vornado put the tower plan on hold along
with parts of the massive redevelopment plan to remake Penn Station last year
after high interest rates and the shift to working from home triggered a
crisis in the commercial real estate market.

Read More: Billionaire Steven Roth’s Manhattan Bet Battered by Office Woes

A Vornado spokesperson said the renderings in the presentation were for
“conceptual purposes.”



“We are currently considering a number of potential interim options for the
Hotel Pennsylvania site,” the spokesperson said.

Crain’s New York previously reported on the brochure.

There’s a “total blacklisting of office in the capital markets,” Chief Executive
Officer Steven Roth said on an earnings call earlier this week, leading to an
“office apocalypse” in the central business district. He said the site where the
tower was planned, known as PENN 15, is now fully flattened.



If Vornado’s new plans are in line with existing permits known as a general
project plan, they could move quickly, said Casey Berkovitz, press secretary at
the Department of City Planning. “It makes sense that in the short term they’d
want to do something to the space,” he said.

The brochure states that the flattened space offers a “diverse range of
scenarios for brand activations and events,” including “basketball activation
with NCAA-sized courts, a tennis brand, a large covered tent setup or an outdoor
concert venue.

— With assistance from Katherine Chiglinsky





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