On The Scene: New Marriott ExecuStay Units One Step Closer As Building Tops Off

NEW YORK— With warm breezes blowing through its structural skeleton, topping off ceremonies were held here last night on Manhattan’s East Side for the 32-story building that will provide another foothold in the Big Apple marketplace for Marriott International’s ExecuStay corporate housing division. Located at 554 Third Ave., The Aurora, a mixed-use building co-developed by Pine Equity N.Y., Inc. and Townhouse Management Co., will encompass 126 luxury studio and one-bedroom units occupying floors two through 25, which will be operated through ExecuStay by Marriott via a 15-year lease. The ceremony took place high above 37th St. and the nearby entrance to the Midtown Tunnel. Nearly 75 people got a sense of the panoramic view from the 31st floor that future residents will experience if they purchase one of the five-bedroom, floor-through units that will make up the residential component. In this case, however, guests had sightlines unimpeded by windows and walls that have yet to be added to the still-under-construction building. Floors 26 through 32 will be separate from the ExecuStay apartments. Commenting on its positioning, Gregory Laubach, svp/acquisitions and business development for Marriott ExecuStay, said, “By virtue of it being so close to the tunnel, there’s instant visibility. When we came into New York to try and identify long-term leases we decided to divide the city up somewhat and this is a prime location.” The ExecuStay division has approximately 6,000 corporate apartments in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., with some 400-500 units in New York City. The bulk of these exist in the new project and the Chelsea, a 204-unit apartment building at 160 West 24th St. renovated last year by Townhouse, which has delivered 195 units since July 2001. When it opens in winter 2003, The Aurora will be the first ground-up construction for the three-year-old ExecuStay brand. And while financing new construction— particularly connected to lodging— is often difficult, in this instance the strength of the Marriott name helped carry the project, according to Townhouse Management President Mitchel Maidman. “When you have a tenant like Marriott on the terms of this lease, getting construction financing was easy in comparison to other projects,” he said. Laubach said the division intends to look further uptown for appropriate unit sites, but has nothing on the radar right now. “We want to get this up and running,” said Joe Porpiglia, svp/market operations, noting “one of our clients has already signed a one-year deal. We have almost 25-30 units leased for a year.” Laubach added it’s a “good mix of studios and ones that have pre-leased.” According to Doug Baarman, vp/sales, the one-bedroom units will be $5,500 monthly; studios are priced at $4,900. Porpiglia said the building would be turned over to ExecuStay in November. “We’ll begin the process— although the winter months are a little slower— and we’ll try to get as many clients as we can in during those months. But when we hit spring, we expect to fill up the building.”