Monument to cost rises over Copacabana
The old Copacabana nightclub in New York, across from the Javits Convention Center, will come down in favor of a 1 million square foot, 45-50 story tall medical device market.
The World Product Centre is the brainchild of Israel Green, and will be built by Extell Development, best known for residential towers. Green is taking about 70% of the new tower, with Extell managing the rest.
As a real estate deal, it may work, especially since it won't be occupied until 2012. As a marketplace, though, it looks like tricky business.
I lived through the hype of tech marketplaces in the early 1980s, which produced buildings like the Inforum in Atlanta. Turned out tech buyers weren't like clothing or gift merchants.
Are medical device buyers? Will doctors "go to market" in New York to check out the latest-and-greatest? Is it vital that such companies have a physical presence in New York, close to their investment bankers? How many middlemen can afford the rent?
And when all those bills are paid, what happens to the prices of the resulting products? Can anyone afford anything sold at the World Product Centre?