UN shops for broker as clock ticks on renovation.

With the clock ticking until the $1.2 billion renovation of the UN's east side headquarters begins in 2007, the agency is shopping for a real estate service to help it solve its temporary space crisis.

In the wake of the state senate's cold shoulder to plans to build a temporary office tower next door, John Clarkson, program director of capital master planning for the UN, said one possible scenario could be for the UN to rent a chunk or chunks of space in proximity to its current eastside location while the renovation is underway.

Originally, the UN planned to build an adjacent 35-story office tower that would serve as temporary relocation space while the construction on the Secretariat building was underway. According to that plan, when work on the Secretariat building was finished, the tower would then be implemented as consolidation space for the UN's many offices throughout the city.

But the plan--which would require the UN to build on at least some portion of neighboring Robert Moses Park--was temporarily nixed by members of the senate as the UN came under fire in the wake of the food for oil scandal.

Now that the UN can't depend on a new neighboring development to address its space needs, UN officials are considering other options to allow the Secretariat's planned refurbishment to go ahead as scheduled.

"I wasn't either for or against a UN plan for consolidation space, but I did support the refurbishment of the Secretariat building because it could be a target for terrorism and needs extensive safety and security measures installed," said Assemblyman Steve Sanders, who along with the mayor's office, drafted a bill that would allow the UN to submit to public review and the city council, plans for the proposed 35-story tower.

"In the post 9/11 world, we need to get real about what kind of features a building like the Secretariat needs and I can't stress enough how important it is that that building gets that refurbishment as soon as possible."

Although the plan to build the UNDC 5--what the UN is calling its proposed 35-story tower--is stalled in the state senate, former New York State senator Roy Goodman, now the president of the United Nations Development Corporation which will oversee the development, is confident that the building will eventually be approved and built.

"I've been talking with the senators and we're making progress," Goodman said. "A big objection to this development is that it will consume space in Robert Moses Park, which is an area the surrounding community understandably cherishes. We've already shown that only a very small portion--an asphalt strip--of the park will be taken and we're going to replace that with twice as much park space located right on the water.

"While the building won't be in time to serve as swing space, we are eventually hoping to have it as new space in which to consolidate the UN's many offices scattered throughout the city."