The Chelsea Market will be getting taller, and for that we have Google to thank. Jamestown Properties was the big winner in Google's $1.9 billion purchase of 111 Eighth Avenue in December, and now the firm is using some of the profits to buy out its partners at the nearby Chelsea Market for more than $225 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. Jamestown's plan for the historic Nabisco Warehouse?which takes up the entire block between Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 15th and 16th Streets?is to add another 300,000 square feet of space on top, which would either become more offices or a hotel.
Before Chelsea Market was known for its media tenants and ground-floor gourmet retail promenade, it was home to hookers and the occasional gangland-style execution. Following the successful transformation of the building (rents have quadrupled since the late '90s) and the Meatpacking District to its south into glitzy attractions, Jamestown is ready to cash in even more by building the eight-story complex up to its full potential. The land-use review process will kick off in the spring. Better off as offices, or as more competition for the Standard, Gansevoort, Maritime and Soho House?
· A Market on the Rise [WSJ]
· Chelsea Market [Official Site]
[Photo via the New York Times.]
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