Related Companies to Construct Gigantic Supertall Skyscraper on Madison AvenueRelated Companies to Construct Gigantic Supertall Skyscraper on Madison Avenue Related Companies, led by CEO Jeff Blau, has unveiled plans to erect a remarkable 1,200-foot supertall skyscraper at 625 Madison Avenue. This towering structure, situated beside the former Lavo restaurant, will house luxurious apartments, retail stores, and potentially a hotel. Despite Related’s previous aspirations for a new building, its colossal scale remained undisclosed until now. The company recently finalized the purchase of the SL Green site for $632 million, paving the way for construction. Blau emphasized that the skyscraper can be built without altering zoning plans or urban land use regulations. He addressed the recent departure of Related founder Stephen M. Ross to establish a separate development company in South Florida. However, Blau remains confident and views it as a “formality.” Ambitious Projects on Related’s Horizon In addition to the Madison Avenue skyscraper, Related has a host of ambitious projects in the pipeline. At Hudson Yards, the company plans to construct a $12 billion, 2.8 million-square-foot Wynn casino resort featuring a casino, hotel, restaurants, office space, affordable housing, a public school, and a park. The casino development faces competition from other proposals, such as SL Green’s Caesars-branded casino in Times Square. However, Blau remains optimistic and anticipates the selection of one of these proposals by the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board by 2025. Related is also involved in a housing complex in Willets Point, Queens, and a major affordable housing project in West Chelsea. The latter venture, in partnership with Essence Development, aims to create 3,000 new units without displacing current residents. Related’s Real Estate Portfolio Related Companies owns a substantial $60 billion real estate portfolio in the United States. While renowned for large-scale office development in New York City, it also boasts the largest private ownership of affordable housing in the country.
Related Companies plans to build a 1,200-foot supertall skyscraper on Madison Avenue, Related CEO Jeff Blau revealed to Realty Check.
The cloudbuster, featuring luxury apartments, shops and possibly a hotel, will rise at 625 Madison Ave., a property next to 39 E. 58.e St., former restaurant Lavo.
Although Related’s desire for a new building has been reported before, its sheer size was unknown until now.
Related recently closed on the purchase of the SL Green site for $632 million, Blau said. The deal was announced by SL Green in December, but the closing has not yet been posted on the city’s Finance Department website.
Following the new project, co-founder Stephen M. Ross left Related to start a new development company in South Florida. Getty Images
The new super-tall tower can be built “completely according to the law,” Blau said. By that he apparently meant that no zoning plan changes or revision of urban land use are necessary.
Blau spoke to The Post following the historically significant, but not entirely surprising, departure last week of Related founder and chairman Stephen M. Ross to form a new development company in South Florida.
While it appears to put Blau on the political hot seat as Related takes on the challenge of getting state approval for a casino license at Hudson Yards, Blau characterized it as essentially a “formality.” Ross, 84, moved largely to West Palm Beach a few years ago. Related has since been run by his close friend Blau, company President Bruce Beal Jr. and COO Kenneth Wong.
The new Florida company, called Related Ross, is a “completely separate entity” from Related Companies, Blau clarified.
The plan includes the construction of a 275,000-square-foot Wynn casino resort. Thanks to Related Cos. and Wynn Resorts
He didn’t have any images of the plan for 625 Madison to share yet.
“We have nine months of demolition work ahead of us first,” he said.
Blau recalled emotionally: “I spent my first 15 years with Stephen in that building,” which was once the headquarters of Ronald Perelman’s Revlon. It was also the setting for the very first Realty Check column — a 1999 interview with Ross there, as demolition was underway on the New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle, the future home of Related’s Time Warner Center.
Of course, the most ambitious item on Related’s Big Apple agenda is the proposal to build a 2.8 million-square-foot Wynn casino resort on the undeveloped western side of Hudson Yards.
The company plans to completely transform the Western Yard. Thanks to Related Cos. and Wynn Resorts
Blau couldn’t contain his excitement about Related’s $12 billion plan to finally build the entire western garden.
“It certainly doesn’t get any bigger than this,” Blau said. As The Post first reported last summer, the skyscraper would include a 250,000-square-foot casino, a 1,700-room hotel and 20 restaurants.
The West Garden plan also includes a 2 million-square-foot office tower, a 1 million-square-foot apartment tower with 324 affordable housing units, a new public school and a 15-acre public park — “larger than Bryant Park,” Blau said.
Other development companies are also trying to establish casinos in the city. Thanks to Related Cos. and Wynn Resorts
But the decision rests with the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board, which expects to choose the best from about 10 submissions for a New York City casino license by the end of 2025.
State officials are eager to see Related’s entire 26-acre Hudson Yards site completed. But other casino partnership proposals also promise broad benefits for the neighborhood.
SL Green, for example, is touting its dream of a Caesars-branded casino at 1515 Broadway as necessary to halt Times Square’s recent decline. Soloviev Group/Mohegan at the UN and Steve Cohen/Hard Rock International at Citi Field, among others, have their own selling points.
Formal bids are not due until June 2025. The state legislature wants to move that deadline to next month, but Gov. Kathy Hochul has not yet signed the bill into law.
Jeff Blau speaks onstage during the Hudson River Park Friends 2022 Gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers. Getty Images for Hudson River Park Friends
Blau said: “We would prefer submissions to happen sooner. We would like to get it out there and work with the community to address any concerns. But of course we will do what is necessary.”
He played down recent concerns from Friends of the High Line about the height of a podium on which the casino/hotel tower would stand. Related has met with the group 10 times in the past year, he said, and made changes to the design.
Related is also busy with a new housing complex at Willets Point in Queens and a major project with Essence Development of NYCHA’s Fulton Elliott-Chelsea Houses in West Chelsea. The latter will create 3,000 new affordable apartments as part of a plan that “will displace no one,” according to Blau.
Related owns about $60 billion in real estate in the U.S. Although New Yorkers associate it primarily with large-scale office development, it is also the largest private owner of affordable housing in the country.
