Townhouse management breaks ground on third ave. building.

Two New York developers, Townhouse Management Company and Pine Equity NY, officially broke ground recently on a 30-story, 144 apartment, mixed-use building at 554-556 Third Ave. at 37th Street that will open in late this year as a dedicated corporate apartment community leased by ExecuStay, the corporate-housing services division of Marriott International, Inc. This is the first residential community in the U.S. built specifically for ExecuStay, and marks the company's strategy to consolidate inventory in centralized, high-demand markets.

ExecuStay will provide 126 studio and one-bedroom corporate apartments through a 15-year lease agreement with Townhouse Management and Pine Equity NY whose joint venture will remain as the building owners. The remaining 18 units - two-bedroom apartments will be marketed by Townhouse Management on behalf of the joint venture. Building services will include a doorman, concierge, business center and fitness center.

The project is a joint venture of Townhouse Management Company and Pine Equity NY with Townhouse Management providing most of the equity and bearing responsibility for construction and management, according to Mitchel A. Maidman, president of Townhouse Management Company. Pine Equity NY, a real estate company with a specialty in corporate leasing, will manage the leasing arrangements with ExecuStay, Maidman said.

Greg Laubach, vice president of ExecuStay by Marriott, said, "ExecuStay typically provides corporate apartments through long-term lease agreements with existing residential communities, allowing travelers to be where they need to be in any given market. In high-density, centralized urban markets such as Manhattan, however, consolidation makes sense for the traveler and for us."