Rob Speyer

If there is anything to be learned from the moves and actions of the Speyer family over the past few years, it is that its members have a penchant for high-profile trophy properties; they have no qualms about aggressively engaging in mega-deals for the city’s largest sales; they can win out in tough contests; and they sell buildings for tremendous returns.

The Tishman Speyer kingdom, already extending to more than a dozen U.S. cities and three continents, will now raise a flag on the far West Side of Manhattan. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday declared the longtime New York real estate firm the developer and owner-to-be of its 26-acre rail yards, Manhattan’s largest chunk of undeveloped real estate, bounded by 11th and 12th avenues, and 30th and 33rd streets. [See our coverage from Wednesday here, here, here, and here.]

Now the fate of the West Side rests in large part in the Speyers' hands, as officials and real estate executives say the successful creation of a new business district a few avenues west of America’s largest central business district depends on the development of the rail yards, long eyed as the site for something other than open air.  read more »

Maybe it’s best to keep the champagne on ice just for a few more days.

There’s a bit more work to be done on the deal between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Tishman Speyer over the West Side rail yards, as the MTA did not give, as it once planned to, a “conditional letter of designation” to Tishman today for the deal. With some final details yet to be ironed out, that designation comes in the next 14 days, to be followed by a contract within 120 days after that.  read more »

It's quite a real estate empire the Speyers now have. When they get done building 10 million square feet of office space and 3 million square feet of residential on the West Side rail yards, they can add that to the following massive trophies:

Stuyvesant Town and Cooper Village, the Manhattan apartment complexes Tishman Speyer and junior partners acquired in late 2006 for the record price of $5.4 billion. The complexes have 110 buildings total with over 11,200 apartments, many of which are moving toward market-rate.  read more »

• 0 comments

Real estate tycoon Jerry Speyer seems to be tiring of Con Ed bills, as he plans to unveil a small farm of 363 solar panels at the Tishman Speyer-owned Rockefeller Center tomorrow.

The complex, Tishman Speyer claims, will be Manahttan’s largest privately owned generation station for solar energy, according to a press advisory.

Joining Jerry for the announcement will be his son Rob, and Mayor Bloomberg.

The Speyers are pulling out all the stops to lease Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartments at market-rate rents.

The leasing office there is offering a free, all-inclusive trip to Cabo San Lucas to the broker who closes the most deals at the mega-complex, according to a report from brokerage The Real Estate Group. The five runners-up each win an iPhone.

On the heels of their $22 billion buy of Archstone-Smith, Jerry and Rob Speyer have made another blockbuster deal. Tishman Speyer has purchased several floors at 30 Rockefeller Plaza back from NBC for $222 million.

Jerry and Rob, the father-and-son duo that run Tishman Speyer, own the iconic 70-story 30 Rock, in addition to all 12 buildings at Rockefeller Center. NBC bought the 1.6 million square feet it occupies at 30 Rock from the Speyers in 1996.  read more »