Related, Boston Properties to build new tower.

Stephen Ross, chairman of The Related Companies, revealed that his firm is partnering with Boston Properties in the development of an 800,000 s/f office tower in Manhattan.

Ross only spoke briefly about the project while participating on the Real Estate Board of New York's Commercial Crossfire panel comprised of prominent figures in the Manhattan real estate industry, including Boston Properties' senior vice president and New York regional manager, Robert Selsam.

When asked to further describe the plans for the building, Selsam said that he had no knowledge of the project.

"You mean, I know about the project but you don't?" Ross said, chuckling.

Ross then began to speak, but was immediately cut off by Selsam, who leaned in and urged him not to comment.

"I was told that I can't speak about the project," Ross said after the panel.

The site of the development will likely be on the block east of Eighth Avenue between 54th Street and 55th Street.

In its September 13 issue, Real Estate Weekly reported that Boston Properties had purchased a parking lot and adjacent building on the southeast corner of 55th Street and Eighth Avenue from real estate investor and hotelier, Robert Gladstone, who himself had acquired the site only months before for $170 million from the Hearst Corporation. Gladstone received around $200 million to flip the property according to a source.

What that source told us then now seems to be confirmed by Ross's comments; that the partnership between Related and Boston Properties will mount an assemblage of the remaining collection of small properties on the block to clear way for their tower.

Eighth Avenue, from the mid 50s to Columbus Circle, has become a burgeoning westward extension of the midtown office district since Ross developed the Time Warner Center in partnership with Apollo Realty Partners. The Hearst Corporation, which has long had its headquarters on Eighth Avenue, had tried to assemble properties there with the hope of building a skyscraper on the same site Related and Boston Properties are now trying to develop. The company sold of much of its holdings to Gladstone however when it built a stunning new headquarters designed by Sir Norman Foster two blocks north on 56th Street and Eighth Avenue.

Mighty Map, an online map and database of New York City properties, indicates that Hearst still owns a building on 54th Street between Eighth Avenue and Broadway.

Ross mentioned later during the REBNY panel that because of all the potential new construction on the far West Side and the millions of square feet of office space slated for the World Trade Center site, developers likely would not build solely on speculation and only with an anchor tenant in place. He wouldn't comment however if his and Selsam's had secured such a space commitment.

Again, speaking on a topic related but not specific to his development plans, Ross indicated that new office construction in Manhattan would likely have to fetch rents of at least $90 per s/f, a rate that is becoming increasingly attainable in midtown where vacancy continues to dip.

Boston Properties is likely flush with cash it can allocate towards development projects after the sale of 280 Park Avenue in recent months to the Dubai investment firm Istithmar for $1.2 billion. Boston Properties is also in the process of selling 5 Times Square, a building that some industry experts have speculated could fetch more than $1.25 billion.