Green Building

Two of Manhattan's highest profile LEED projects took blows on the chin last week. After announcing in July that it would likely reduce the tower's size by nearly a third, Vornado's plans for Harlem's first office tower in thirty years appear to be on the ropes. Despite generous tax incentives from both the city and state, Vornado has had difficulty obtaining financing for the Swanke Hayden Connell-designed Harlem Tower, even after planning to invest nearly 30 percent ($127.5 million) of the project's total cost. Instead, the developer recently sought an additional $15 per square foot from planned anchor tenant MLB Network ($2 million annually) and, alternatively, also proposed building a five-story building exclusively for the network. The Times reports that both strokes "infuriated" MLB executives, who "wanted to be in a marquee tower on 125th Street." MLB Network now appears to be staying put in Secaucus through 2011, where it has been leasing temporary space at MSNBC's former studios.