Roosevelt Island is a much friendlier and more enjoyable place than it was before.
The biggest reason is the massive 20-year effort known as Riverwalk, which has brought more than 4,000 new residents to eight new buildings on the north side of the bridge.
The nearly $1 billion complex, developed by a joint venture between Related Companies and Hudson Companies, partners since 1997, will be completed this month when Riverwalk Heights, the ninth and final tower, opens to residents.
The entire development will include more than 2,100 apartments, 40% of which are designated “affordable.”
The new tower at 430 Main St., designed by Handel Architects, will include 357 units, 104 of which are earmarked for employees of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which purchased the complex's first building from the developer and also has employees in several other buildings.
Amenities in the new tower will include a 5,000-square-foot panoramic rooftop terrace with amenities such as a dining room, a projection room and a fitness center.
Related/Hudson also manages 83,000 square feet of retail space across 25 stores on Main Street, leasing it to much-needed services including Duane Reade, Starbucks and several cafes.
The Riverwalk brought much-needed new housing to the island north of the 59th Street Bridge and the streetcar line, and similarly, the Cornell Tech Complex brought science and services to the vacant land between the bridge and Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park at the southern end.
“I was a young man when I started on Roosevelt Island,” said Associated Chairman Bruce Beale with a laugh. That was 27 years ago.
The first apartments opened in 2003. Since then, the partners have persevered and the project has grown “through different real estate cycles, financial crises and the COVID pandemic,” Beal said.
Hudson President David Kramer recalled when the Roosevelt Island Management Company brought the two companies together to complete the island's master plan, saying, “We didn't know each other very well. They felt that our background was primarily in affordable housing and Related was known for luxury housing. They suggested we work together, and it's been a pretty successful journey.”
“I was a little worried at first,” Kramer said. “Will this turn into a quagmire? At the time, there was very little market-rate housing on Roosevelt Island, and the buildings were in the Brutalist style that was popular in the 1970s. Will people want to come and live here?”
The answer was a resounding yes. “It’s been a great partnership for 27 years,” Beal said.
New marriages at the “Wedding Cake” tower
Communications and marketing firm Orchestra owns eight companies scattered around Manhattan, and the company plans to consolidate them all into one location by early 2025: the entire 26th floor of L&L Holding Company's landmark “wedding cake” tower at 195 Broadway in the heart of downtown.
The 42,000-square-foot lease will bring all of Orchestra's components together in one location: BerlinRosen, BrightMode Talent, Derris, Glen Echo Media Group, Inkhouse, Message Lab, M18 and Onward.
These companies cover industries such as consumer, technology, climate, education, healthcare, real estate and travel.
“The Orchestra needed a well-equipped space with best-in-class infrastructure and a turnkey solution to integrate their entire network,” said CBRE Tri-State CEO Mary Ann Tye, who represented the tenant along with Ariel Ball and Zach Price.
L&L's in-house representatives are Jonathan Tootell, Tanya Grimaldo and Giannina Brancato. Office tenants in the building include Omnicon, HarperCollins, Payoneer, Gucci and restaurant Nobu.
Water Club Sink
The Water Club, a symbol of the city's glory in good times and its resilience in bad times, has officially closed its doors. Buzzy O'Keefe's East River Barge restaurant handed back its keys to the city last month, according to the New York Business Journal.
In June, we wrote that the once-popular dining and celebration venue was at risk of closing after it closed its doors and stopped taking reservations.
The Economic Development Corporation is currently assessing the physical condition of the venue before deciding what to do next, the site reports. O'Keeffe's beloved Brooklyn River Café remains open.
