Yesterday, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for Empire Outlets, a 340,000-square-foot complex on the North Shore of Staten Island that will feature 100 designer outlet retailers and a wide variety of restaurants and cafes. Plans also call for a 190-room hotel that will provide extraordinary views of the Manhattan skyline. Completion of Empire Outlets is slated for 2016.
Hartman Simons is thrilled to have provided legal services for this exciting project. In today’s Four on Friday, we present a variety of items – a link to a Q&A, a photo and videos – concerning Empire Outlets. Here goes:
Key excerpt:
HS: Talk about the importance of the project, especially with it coming in the wake of [2012’s] Hurricane Sandy.
Pitera: The development of Empire Outlets and the adjacent New York Wheel [a 630-foot observation wheel] are key components in the revitalization of Staten Island’s North Shore waterfront. Many people refer to it as the single most important project since the construction of The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn. The Staten Island Ferry, which delivers millions of people every year to our shore and is consistently one of the top tourist attractions in New York City, is located steps away from our site. For generations, these tourists have gone right back to Manhattan without spending any time or money in our beautiful borough.
We look at this as the key to the activation of our waterfront, and it paves the way for the expansion of hundreds of already existing local businesses and the foundation for the establishment of even more. The anticipation for both residential and commercial product in the immediate vicinity is absolutely astounding. We predict record absorption rates and waiting lists.
2) Photo of Hartman Simons attorneys Lori Kilberg and Benno Rothschild at Thursday’s groundbreaking:
3) Video from Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony:
4) Video summarizing the Empire Outlets project: