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Millennium Partners and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Win Bid to Build Luxury Hotel 
at Battery Park City
 
NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 1999 -  Millennium Partners, the NY-based developer of Lincoln Square and other major projects, has been selected by the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to build a new mixed-use development on one of lower Manhattan's most spectacular sites at Battery Park City.

The development will consist of the first five-star hotel to be built in lower Manhattan; The Ritz-Carlton Downtown, New York. The hotel will provide services to the luxurious, view-oriented condominiums that will be situated on the upper levels of the building. An outdoor restaurant on the 14th floor will offer spectacular views of upper Manhattan and New York harbor. A permanent home for New York's widely acclaimed Skyscraper Museum completes the development.

The $175 million, 500,000-square-foot mixed-use complex is designed to be both an internationally recognizable landmark at the southern tip of Manhattan, as well as a harmonious part of the Battery Park City landscape. Designed by Polshek and Partners in collaboration with Gary Edward Handel + Associates, the building, bounded by First Place, Little West Street and Battery Place, overlooks the harbor, providing many guests and residents with views of The Statue of Liberty. Construction is expected to begin in 1999 and be completed in the fourth quarter of 2001.

Following the decision by the BPCA Board, John LaMura, president of the Battery Park City Authority, said, "I am very pleased that Millennium Partners and The Ritz-Carlton will be a vital and exciting part of Battery Park City's future. The 21st century is almost here, and this striking new five-star hotel and condo complex, and its unique site, will welcome the new millennium in style."

"Battery Park City and the Millennium concept are a great fit," said Christopher M. Jeffries, Millennium president and founding principal. "Battery Park City is growing into one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in Manhattan. By providing the amenities of a five-star hotel, a museum that is the epitome of New York City, luxury condominiums and upscale restaurants, The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton Downtown, New York brings a new level of luxury and convenience to Battery Park City."

"We are pleased to be opening our doors in New York City again," said Horst Schulze, president and chief operating officer, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. "This location is ideal for our business travelers and the area's emerging leisure market."

The prototype of Millennium Partners' mixed-use developments is Lincoln Square, located adjacent to Lincoln Center on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Completed in 1996, Lincoln Square totals more than 1.7 million square feet and houses outstanding facilities such as the Reebok Sports Club/NY, Sony Theatres/Imax Lincoln Square and multilevel Barnes and Noble and Tower Record stores. Millennium's collection of 600 luxury condominiums and its own brand of extended stay hotel, The Philips Club, have also earned the three building Lincoln Square project an international reputation for quality.

Illustrating its support for landmark urban architecture, Millennium Partners is donating the space for The Skyscraper Museum at Battery Park City. Founded in 1996, the not-for-profit museum is devoted to the study of high-rise buildings -- past, present and future. More than 20,000 people visited the museum in its first six months of operation.

"The donation of space by Millennium Partners ensures that The Skyscraper Museum will become a permanent part of New York's cultural landscape and another magnet for tourism in lower Manhattan, which, after all, is the birthplace of the skyscraper," said Carol Willis, founder and director, The Skyscraper Museum.

Millennium Partners and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. are also expanding their partnership in the development of a hotel/residential project in Washington, D.C.

Millennium Partners' current New York development, Brooklyn Commons, is a multiplex-anchored family entertainment center being developed in partnership with Loews Cineplex Entertainment, Inc. Nationally, Millennium Partners has 13 major projects, totaling more than 13 million square feet, in various stages of planning and construction in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta.

Millennium Partners, headquartered in New York City, has assembled some of the world's leading retailers, sports and entertainment companies, and financial institutions to create intelligent, large-scale urban developments that respond to a resurgent demand for dynamic city living. Millennium Partners has attracted prominent institutions and individuals as financial partners, including Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Fund; financier George Soros and his Quantum Realty Fund Limited; Citicorp Real Estate, Inc. and a consortium of German financial institutions led by ERGO Versicherungsgruppe AG.

###
 
Contact:
Erika Freed, 212-715-1538, 
or Ken Garcia, 212-583-2722, 
both for Millennium Partners
 --
 
Also See: Millennium Partners to Build Ritz-Carlton Hotel as Anchor of Washington, D.C. Luxury Residential Development / June 1998 
Millennium Partners Breaks Ground to Develop Four Seasons Hotel and Tower, San Francisco / June / 1998 

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