Lawrence Ruben/Vornado team is chosen for bus terminal site.

The development on top of the New York Bus Terminal at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue was awarded last week to the Skidmore Owings Merrill-designed Lawrence Ruben/Vornado proposed office tower, beating two other finalists.

The approximately 1 million FAR office tower will have an additional 80,000 square feet of retail within the Bus Terminal, which will be redesigned to provide better passenger circulation.

The team is being advised by Cushman & Wakefield and the developers offered a $110 million package for the 99-year lease, which still must be finalized, although the Port Authority of NY-NJ wants to move this forward in an "expeditious" fashion.

David Childs and Gary Heaney of SOM get credit for the design of the $500 million project, which will have a separate entrance for the 35-office tower on 42nd Street. That will lead directly to escalators designed to whisk visitors to an upper level lobby, similar to those used by many of the Park Avenue corporations.

The curtain wall building appears to be a series of vertical plates sandwiched to create visual interest - and numerous corner offices. It is stepped back from the landmarked blue terra cotta McGraw Hill Building next door, but its base portion will have floorplates of some 65,000 square feet, making them attractive for even a NASDAQ operation.

"There is no place else with a floorplate like this," said Jonathan Mayblum, executive vice president of the Lawrence Ruben Company. "We'll have the largest floors, and tenants like financial institutions like these."

How did Vornado and Ruben link up? "It seemed like an appropriate partner," said Mayblum.

"It's a sizeable transaction and we both have deep expertise in leasing and management," added Susan Fine, the firm's senior vice president, who previously worked for the MTA on the retail redevelopment of Grand Central Terminal. "It's the same kind of thing: transportation, retail and office."

The developers also feel the building will be attractive to the large entertainment conglomerates that have always grouped in the Times square and Sixth Avenue area, drawn first by the Broadway and recording industries, and later the multi-national publishers and cable programmers.

Also, with Skadden Arps and Ernst & Young firmly planted at 4 and 5 Times square respectively, and PricewaterHouse Coopers and NASDAQ still homeless, the stretch for Corporate America to locate above the Bus Terminal is certainly within reach.

Portions of the Bus Terminal will be modernized, and the tower is "extremely elegant and modern, with classic and strong corporate towers," said Mayblum.

The Cushman & Wakefield team includes Charles Borrok, Paul Glickman, Josh Kurloff and Bruce E. Mosler. "It's a fabulous project," Mosler said. "The timing couldn't be better and the product couldn't be better."

He agreed the 65,000 square-foot plates will be very appealing to both financial institutions and entertainment firms. "The truth is, it's good for any company looking for efficiencies. The floors can even be a little bigger on the bottom, and then the next traunch steps back to approximately 30,000 square feet," he explained. "There's flexibility of design right now," Mosler added, since only the general shape and design have been decided, but no working drawings are complete. "For a particular user, we can be flexible."

Fine said the building will provide "a marquee on the skyline," with panoramic views and the ability to brand the building with corporate logos and signage on both top and bottom. The 80,000 square feet of retail, with "the highest foot traffic in the area," also presents an opportunity for a variety of tenants that could allow "for a dynamic teaming of the office and retail."

Mayblum says its been the effort put forth by the state and the city in revitalizing the neighborhood that has allowed the developers to make a $500 million capital commitment. "We feel very confident of the success of the project."

The Lawrence Ruben Company owns the 600 Madison leasehold, 1700 Broadway and One Dag. They have a large presence in both Boston and in Washington, DC with 601 Pennsylvania Avenue and a new development with Goldman Sachs at 555 11th Street, which is substantially pre-leased to Latham & Watkins and eight movie theaters that are located below grade.

Vornado is the New Jersey-based real estate trust that purchased the Mendik Company and owns millions of square feet in the Penn Station and Madison square Garden area, along with 640 Fifth Avenue in Rockefeller Center, 595 Madison at the toniest corner of 57th Street, the Chicago Merchandise Mart and millions of square feet of refrigeration capacity around the country.

Mayblum expects retail rents will be similar to what Tishman's E-Walk is achieving diagonally across the street, while office rents will be comparable to Boston Properties 5 Times square in the center of the World's Crossroads.

"We needed to be awarded the project to take it to the next step," explained Mosler of the push to now market the project. "This is the gateway to Times square, and it's the best site, given what you can build. The strength of the development team gives confidence that this will be built, while all the things you can do, including signage, will give a corporate client unique visibility and branding."