Although the publicly traded Howard Hughes Corp. is testing the waters for a possible corporate sale, the offering is unlikely to have any impact on its nearly finished South Street Seaport redevelopment.
The $751 million project is on track to be completed well before any possible sale of the larger real estate company. And as summer kicks into high gear, there’s more construction going on at the East River shoreline complex than the area’s many visitors can keep track of.
Howard Hughes tristate president Saul Scherl told The Post, “Here at the Seaport District it will remain business as usual as we continue to revitalize this iconic historic neighborhood.”
The most prominent sight in what’s now called the Seaport District project is reconstruction of the Tin Building — the decayed landmarked structure that previously hugged the FDR Drive overpass. It’s being painstakingly rebuilt 33 feet east of its original location and closer to the western end of the new Pier 17.
What’s now a rising steel skeleton will house a huge 50,000-square-foot seafood hall run by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose new restaurant, The Fulton, opened a few weeks ago on the pier.
HHC says the market will open in late 2020. The Tin Building move, which entails numerous preservation and environmental complexities, has been overseen by multiple city, state and federal agencies. It’s meant to serve two purposes: to move the market out of the floodplain and to create breathing room between the structure and the elevated highway.
In addition to a “summer by the sea” program of public events, live music and art installations — and the return of the Heineken Riverdeck open-air café — HHC reports several major permanent new Seaport milestones.
Two eagerly awaited restaurants will soon join Vongerichten’s on Pier 17 — David Chang’s Bar Wayo (imminently) to be followed soon by California eatery Malibu Farm later this summer.
Those restaurants, and another by Andrew Carmellini to come later, will bring the pier closer to full life. Despite having a mostly sold-out open-air summer concert series on the 1.5-acre rooftop and large new ESPN studios inside, the structure’s lower levels have looked walled-in as construction proceeded on the restaurants.
The whole Seaport complex, including parts on Fulton and Water streets, is approaching full occupancy after several earlier delays.
The iPic cinema complex inside the Fulton Market building is the chain’s highest-grossing location. A long-awaited, 7,000-square-foot McNally Jackson Books, which will have a cocktail bar, will open in August at 4 Fulton St.
Alexis Bittar jewelry is scheduled to open on July 18, and several more boutiques will follow.
The Seaport might or might not be part of any HHC change of ownership. Chief Executive David Weinreb last week confirmed that the publicly traded company was exploring a possible sale, among other options, to maximize shareholder value. HHC hired Centerview Partners to review strategic options.
The step was triggered by the HHC board, which noted that the share price lagged the value of company holdings.
The stock closed at $127.27 a share on Monday, compared with its peak price of $160 in August 2014. It was trading in the low $90s before the sale possibility was reported last week.
Last week, HHC nailed down a $250 million construction loan from Civitas Alternative Investments to finish the Seaport job.