BY SAM SPOKONY | The developer who proposed a new luxury building on a parking lot in a landmarked Tribeca district is delaying his purchase of that site, according to the lot’s current owner.
DDG, led by Joe McMillan, publicly pitched its plan for an eight-story building at the 100 Franklin St. site last fall — drawing ire from local preservationists — and in November the developer went before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to seek approval to build on the landmarked lot. The commission’s decision is still pending.
It was previously thought that DDG’s purchase of the lot — unconfirmed rumors put the sale price around $9.5 million — would be completed by the end of 2013, although McMillan had been extremely tight-lipped about the deal.
“I don’t want a bunch of people coming to my office to protest on the closing date,” McMillan, the firm’s C.E.O., told Downtown Express after presenting the plans at a Community Board 1 meeting in November.
But Peter Matera, the current owner of the 100 Franklin St. lot, said this week that not only was the deal not completed before the end of the year, but that DDG recently asked him for more time before setting a closing date.
“They didn’t express any interest in walking away from the deal, as far as I know, but they wanted to delay the closing date for a few more weeks,” Matera said in a Jan. 6 phone interview.
He explained that DDG didn’t tell him why they are continuing to push back the purchase date.
The developer declined to comment on the deal.
Meanwhile, DDG is currently facing problems with its plans to build a 12-story residential building at 12-14 Warren St.
The Real Deal recently reported that the developer filed a Dec. 24 lawsuit against the condominium board of the neighboring residential building at 16 Warren St. — known as Tribeca Townhomes — because they reportedly failed to honor a $1.1 million agreement to give DDG access to the adjacent development site.
DDG had previously acquired the air rights to 12-14 Warren St. from Tribeca Townhomes, and had reportedly been in talks to access the site for more than a year before the last-minute refusal.
