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Rockrose Development has landed a $97.7 million debt package to refinance its 42-story luxury residential tower in Battery Park City, property records show. Wells Fargo supplied the loan on the developer’s Tribeca Pointe property, which Rockrose built in 1999, according to property records made public Tuesday. Located at 399 Chambers Street next door to Stuyvesant High School, and also known as 41 River Terrace, Tribeca Pointe features 340 apartments with 70 of the units designated as affordable housing. The Battery Park City Authority reached an agreement with Rockrose last year to preserve the 70 affordable units through 2069 for households making at or below 50 percent of the area median income. Apartments at Tribeca Point include a mixture of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. The Gruzen Samton Steinglass-designed property’s amenities consist of a roof deck, a fitness center, a solarium, a children’s playroom, laundry facilities and a 24-hour attended lobby. Market-rate apartments available now at Tribeca Pointe range from $4,542 for a studio to $8,388 for two bedrooms, according to Rockrose’s website. Officials at Rockrose and Wells Fargo did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Tell us about a deal that did NOT go through this year and why it didn’t happen?
Some sellers just see rent increases this year and set unrealistic price expectations, not
considering inflation’s impact on construction costs, operating expenses, financing rates and
other factors. We’ve avoided a few acquisitions when sellers have not been flexible with their
pricing.
Have you refinanced anything in 2022? How difficult/easy was it?
Shifting dynamics in the capital markets have been challenging in 2022, but, thanks to our long
history and relationships, top-tier lenders have remained eager to lend to us.
There’s a lot of Class B and C office in NYC. If you could lay your hands on them at a
really great price, what would you do with them?
It’s too easy to say these commercial buildings should be converted to residential to solve the
city’s housing shortage. When conversions were successful in the past, such as in Lower
Manhattan, tax abatements were associated with them. There is not much political appetite for
new financial incentives for development right now.
What market outside of NYC do you like and why?
Rockrose has stayed committed to developing housing in NYC for the past 50 years, but for the
first time in our history we are exploring markets outside of New York state. Money can travel,
and there are several attractive markets outside of New York.
There’s a midterm election this year. How closely are you following, and do you think the
national political climate will have an effect in New York?
The future of housing development in New York is extremely dependent on state actions, so I’ve
been focused more closely on the state elections.
How many days per week are you in the office?
Usually four or five days per week.
How many days per week are your tenants in the office?
Most are in the office at least three days a week, but we continue to see more people returning
since Labor Day.
NYC apartment rents have reached never seen levels. How much further can it go? How
does the housing squeeze play out?
The underlying issue is a supply problem. Until New York focuses on incentives to produce new
housing, I don’t see rents going down significantly. Unfortunately, the electeds in New York are
currently doing the opposite, removing incentives for developers to build new housing.
ESG: fad or fixture?
Interest in ESG will diminish over time but won’t completely go away.

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The Battery Park City Authority has reached an agreement with Rockrose Development, run by the Elghanayan family, to preserve the 70 affordable housing units in Tribeca Pointe, at 41 River Terrace, through mid-2069. Before the agreement, the apartments had been set to lose that designation by 2029.

The units are meant for households earning below 40% or 50% of the area median income, which is below $47,720 or $59,650 for a family of four.

“This agreement reflects our commitment to preserving affordable housing in Battery Park City while advancing our sustainability goals,” said Battery Park City Authority President and CEO B.J. Jones. “It is an important step in our continued efforts to sustain a vibrant and inclusive community.”

Paul Januszewski, vice president of Rockrose, also expressed his happiness with the deal.

Battery Park City buildings are privately owned and operated, but they are on land owned by the Battery Park City Authority. Property owners pay the organization an annual ground rent to use the land.

The agreement between the Battery Park City Authority and Rockrose also sets a schedule of predictable ground rent increases over time, linked to how the building is performing and changes in Battery Park City property values. It ensures that the building will receive ongoing capital investments as well.

Rockrose finished work on Tribeca Pointe in 1999, and the building includes 340 units overall. Rents at recently leased market-rate apartments have ranged from $3,400 per month for a 630-square-foot studio to $8,100 per month for a 1,215-square-foot two-bedroom, according to StreetEasy.

The post APARTMENTS IN BATTERY PARK CITY LUXURY TOWER TO STAY AFFORDABLE THROUGH MID-2069 appeared first on Rockrose.

The developer purchased the remaining stake in 11 East 26th Street in a deal valued at $145 million, Rockrose’s Ted Traum told The Real Deal. The firm held a nearly 50 percent stake in the office building after acquiring a 14 percent interest in April and another 5 percent in November.

The latest deal values the pre-war building at $275 million.

The company bought a 7.5 percent interest in the property in 2018 for $8.3 million. Adams & Company, the property’s managing agent and the seller in the latest deal, first bought into the building in 1968.

“Rockrose had a vision for the building that was the highest and best use for the building, so we did an off-market deal,” said David Levy, principal of Adams & Company.

Rockrose plans to reposition the 21-story, 260,000-square-foot office building, as well as 15 East 26th Street, a property next door that it owns. The two buildings will share an expansive new lobby facing Madison Square Park, along with a fitness center, rooftop deck and other amenities.

The developer has tapped Thomas Vecchione of boutique firm Vocon to design the revamped office complex.

Traum said the acquisition signals the company’s “tremendous confidence” in the health of the city and the future of the office market, even as vacancy rates remain high and companies delay bringing their employees back to the office. The design of the office spaces will reflect the need for employees to work collaboratively but comfortably, as well as tenants’ heightened focus on amenities. He expects construction to start later this year.

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The store – the third in a chain, and the second in Queens – opened Saturday on the ground floor of the Hayden residential building—a 51-story complex in Court Square.

The 43-21 Hunter St. location is now offering customers a range of bubble teas that are made using ingredients that are sourced from Taiwan.

The shop makes the bubble teas from scratch by blending a tea base with milk and then adding chewy tapioca balls, which are often referred to as “pearls.” The store also sells a range of fruit teas and lemonade.

Nigel Huang, who is the owner and a franchisee, said bubble tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s and has become particularly popular among young adults of Asian descent.

“People really enjoy it because it has a sweet taste,” Huang said. “The tea mixed with the milk and tapioca is amazing.”

Huang, 27, is an architect by profession and got the idea to open the bubble tea shop around two years ago while he was designing a space for a separate bubble tea shop in Manhattan. He said the owner of that shop made him aware of the burgeoning bubble tea market.

Huang, a Court Square resident who was born in China, said at the time he noticed there was a lack of bubble tea shops in the neighborhood. He said he wanted to capitalize on a gap in the market and decided to open the shop to meet the demand of Court Square’s Asian population. He said that bubble tea is also catching on with people of all ethnicities.

The new shop is his first business venture and he said that opening in the midst of the pandemic has not posed a problem.

“If you really want something you must go for it,” he said, adding that “with risk comes opportunity.”

The 1,000 square foot space has gray and white-colored walls with high ceilings and exposed ductwork that is painted blue.

Huang said that he has created an open space so that people can move around and talk to one another. The shop can seat 18 people at full capacity.

Huang said that business is thriving and he has been flocked with customers. On opening day, he said, there was a line that reached the end of the block.

He said that the shop’s bestselling item so far has been the “house special milk tea” which contains “four seasons” tea, tapioca, oats and milk. The “taro latte” –  which is made using mashed taro and milk – is another favorite along with the “strawberry four seasons milk tea” which includes strawberry jam.

Huang said that customers can choose from up to six different tea flavors – all of which are sourced from Taiwan. All of the shop’s sugars also come from Taiwan while the fresh produce – like fruit, rice, beans and milk – are locally sourced. The shop only uses lactose-free milk and non-dairy creamers in its teas, Huang said.

The teas can be served hot or cold and customers can customize the temperature before ordering, Huang said.

“We are trying to provide the neighborhood with good quality tea and a nice space for young people to come and hang out,” Huang said.

The shop is open Mondays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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Recent photos show the significant progress on the project since our last update in December, when the reinforced concrete superstructure had passed the halfway mark. Now, the glass curtain wall has been installed up to a similar mark on the unconventional massing.

The bifurcated building massing features a number of idiosyncratic features, with several elevations sloped in different directions. The most notable use of this design aspect is seen on the centerline of the wide western elevation.

Adding texture to the all-glass façade are thin blue panels forming an oversized rectangular grid that follows the slanted edges.

We caught a glimpse of a section of the construction crane being disassembled and lowered to ground level. The rest of the crane should quickly come down and be fully removed in the coming weeks.

The podium is substantially finished in its final exterior surface, and the only section remaining to be enclosed is the upper portion of the tower.

One level of mechanical grilles can be spotted around the midway point of the slender southern side.

The following photos show the staggering amount of new construction that has transformed this part of New York City in just the past year alone. Other nearby skyscrapers such as 450 Eleventh Avenue, 550 Tenth Avenue, The Spiral at 66 Hudson Boulevard, 50 Hudson Yards, and 601 West 29th Street have extended the Midtown skyline further north from Related Companies’ first phase of Hudson Yards.

555 West 38th Street is planned to complete construction in the fall of 2022.

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The developer is planning a 19-story residential building at 43-14 Queens Street, according to a permit application filed with the Department of Buildings. The building will have just over 300 apartments, along with approximately 4,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. SLCE Architects is listed as the architect of record.

The developer paid $13 million for adjacent lots (the other is at 43-14 Queens Street) in late November. A parking garage and industrial building occupy the two lots, according to Crain’s, which first reported the news.

Rockrose, led by father-and-son team Henry and Justin Elghanayan, is one of the most active developers in Long Island City, with four massive rental buildings completed and several other projects in the works. Two of its rental properties — Eagle Lofts, at 43-22 Queens Street, and Hayden at 43-25 Hunter Street — are among the tallest buildings in the borough.

It’s also planning what it said is a smaller phase of Eagle Lofts, with about 200 apartments at 27-34 Jackson Avenue, and a 123-unit building at 43-12 Hunter Street. An affordable housing lottery for the latter opened in October.

While the Manhattan and Brooklyn rental markets have slowly begun to recover from the pandemic-driven downturn of early 2020, Queens has been lagging. According to the latest rental market report from Douglas Elliman, inventory in northwest Queens — which includes Long Island City — remains high, and median rents are low.

Even with those renter-friendly conditions, the number of new leases signed was down 21.5 percent from the same time last year.

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The company, which already has multiple luxury high-rise buildings in the area, has filed plans with the city for another project at 43-14 Queens St. The development will span almost 200,000 square feet, with 301 residential units, and it will stand 19 stories and 229 feet tall. It will include about 4,000 square feet of commercial space as well.

Rockrose just purchased 43-14 Queens St. and 43-12 Queens St. in November for $13 million, property records show. The adjacent sites are currently home to an industrial building and a parking facility, according to the city.

This project will be a second phase of Rockrose’s 790-unit Eagle Lofts building, which is located right by its new site at 43-22 Queens St., according to Rockrose Vice President Paul Januszewski.

Rockrose is run by the father and son team of Henry and Justin Elghanayan, and its other residential properties in Long Island City include Linc LIC at 43-10 Crescent St. and Hayden at 43-25 Hunter St.

The company also purchased 27-34 Jackson Ave. for $26 million in February, shortly before the pandemic upended the city’s real estate market.

Although the pandemic has hit New York apartments hard across the board, Long Island City has been feeling its impact especially strongly. Rents are dropping at their highest rate in more than four years, and the market share of landlords offering concessions to tenants has hit a record high, according to Douglas Elliman’s November report on the city’s rental market.

However, northwest Queens still has not seen the corresponding increase in leases that has started to occur in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There were just 183 new leases signed in the neighborhood in November, compared to 233 in November 2019, the 16th month in a row that leases have dropped year over year, according to the report.

Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel and author of the Elliman reports, has attributed the area’s struggles in part to the decline in commuting, as being one subway stop away from Midtown becomes less important when so many people are working remotely.

A recent report from the Real Estate Board of New York found that developers filed plans for 1,187 new buildings during the first three quarters of the year, the lowest number since the Great Recession’s aftermath. Projects in Queens made up the greatest percentage of total square feet during the third quarter at 38.6%, and the largest project in the borough was a mixed-use building in Jamaica that spanned roughly 500,000 square feet.

This story has been updated to include information from Rockrose Development. An earlier version also incorrectly stated the total square feet and amount of commercial space in the project.

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