SoHo developer has cast-iron solutions.

This article reports that one of the few developers in Manhattan, New York City, willing to build a speculative office building is also willing to pay top dollar for a SoHo site that needs a special permit to allow for the residential tower that he wants to build. Axel Stawski recently closed on an empty lot at 27 Wooster Street, at Grand Street, for $325 a square foot, or about $15 million. Because of its location in the SoHo cast-iron district, he must undergo a 14-to 18-month process with the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to change the zoning from manufacturing to residential.