NEW YORK CITY-Property Group Partners and longtime Meatpacking District landlord Romanoff Equities said Monday they've entered a joint venture to develop a 10-story mixed-use property in the neighborhood. Groundbreaking for the 120,000-square-foot office/retail project at 860 Washington St. is scheduled for the third quarter, with delivery on the building anticipated by 2015, according to a release.

The JV marks PGP's return to the Manhattan CRE market; it exited this past spring when it sold 148 Lafayette St. to Epic. “We're very pleased to have partnered with Romanoff Equities, which has obtained essential approvals and permits allowing Property Group Partners to bring this project to reality,” PGP president Jeffrey Sussman says in a release.

Monday's announcement coincides with a Wall Street Journal report noting that developers with new construction in the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea are seeking rents north of $100 per square foot. The Albanese Organization and a JV of Taconic Investment Partners and Thor Equities are reportedly in that number, and Sussman told the WSJ, “I would not be surprised if businesses that we would never think of wanting to be in that neighborhood might want to be there—from stodgy old good American companies to law firms.”

A spokesman for PGP declined to comment on the WSJ report. The deal for the PGP/Romanoff project was facilitated by an Eastdil Secured team of Douglas Harmon, Adam Spies and Josh King. Architecture firm James Carpenter Design Associates is designing 860 Washington, which will go up on what is now a vacant lot.