When you’re hot, you’re hot — and right now, no 1960s-vintage office tower is hotter than 280 Park Ave.
More than 400,000 square feet were leased last year; the owners of the Four Seasons restaurant are “trading paper” with the landlord for a possible relocation there; and another financial firm has just inked a big office lease.
Growing investment bank PJT Partners, gearing up for a major expansion and eventual spin-off to Blackstone Group shareholders, has signed for 100,000 square feet at Vornado and SL Green’s 1.4 million-square-foot tower, which has enjoyed a $150 million ongoing capital improvements program.
The PJT signing comes on the heels of Fiduciary Trust International and parent firm Franklin Templeton’s lease for 126,000 square feet, which we first reported in January.
Only about 200,000 square feet now remain available at 280 Park, where old lease expirations had emptied 650,000 feet between 2011 and 2013.
Currently, PJT — run by former Morgan Stanley powerhouse Paul J. Taubman — has a mere 13,000 square feet at 40 W. 57th St., where it’s lain low as a boutique advisory firm.
The new PJT will include dealmakers brought in by Taubman since he left Morgan Stanley in 2012 as well as three Blackstone advisory units, according to regulatory filings.
Terms of the PJT lease were not disclosed.
Asking rents at 280 Park range from $100 a square foot in lower floors to $150 a square foot in the tower portion.
The landlord is repped by CBRE’s Peter Turchin, Mary Ann Tighe, Eric Deutsch, Sam Seiler and Gregg Rothkin. In 2014, the powerhouse team leased around 400,000 square feet there to a number of firms new to the address, such as Mount Kellet Capital and Taconic Capital, or firms expanding there, including Blue Mountain Capital and Promontory Financial.
Studley’s Evan Margolin repped PJT Partners.
Vornado and SL Green bought 280 Park Ave. for just under $500 million in 2011. Like some other office towers on Third, Park and Sixth avenues built between the 1950s and ’70s, it faced current or upcoming large vacancies. Meanwhile, many firms were choosing new construction or “edgier” older properties south of 42nd Street.
But the joint venture’s investment demonstrates how capital upgrades can bolster the fortunes of Midcentury towers such as 280 Park Ave., an unusual property consisting of east and west towers of 31 and 48 stories, linked by a 17-story middle building.
Thanks to New York Magazine’s Andrew Rice for citing my recent tweet which asked whether the WTC Hub’s Santiago Calatrava “wings” were already rusting. And although Calatrava ridiculed the very idea in Rice’s story about the project, his own rep responded to my questions last month, “Here’s the reason why it’s rusted, per the architecture firm.”
I took the rep’s word that “local corrosion” would disappear once paint was applied, which will happen “once all welding is done” — so I didn’t pursue it.
But the Calatrasaurus has never looked rustier than it did Monday afternoon. Let’s hope it’s just a case where things must get worse before they get better.
Now that Starbucks’ conquest of the city is complete, it seems to be trying to bring its recently acquired Teavana Fine Teas + Tea Bar division to most every block as well. The Seattle-based coffee giant has converted a sublease to a 10-year direct lease at 1378 Madison Ave. at 96th Street, and taken over an adjacent wine bar to house a new Teavana outlet. The 1,585-square-foot space includes 100 feet of sidewalk frontage.
The landlord was repped by Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo and Joseph Aquino, who have handled many nearby retail deals. Starbucks was repped by SCG Retail.
The rent was $350 per square foot.
Manhattan-based residential brokerage Charles Rutenberg has joined forces with the Wounded Warrior Project. The firm, founded by US Army veterans Richard Friedman and Larry Krug, is sponsoring a training program for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sponsorship will cover tuition for a full course at a licensed real estate school in the city and also offer job opportunities to vets who pass state exams.
Charles Rutenberg president Stefani Markowitz noted, “My belief is that we wouldn’t be able to look at real estate, much less buy and sell it, without these heroes protecting our country.”
She added, “This is an especially great industry for people who understand discipline and motivation, such as those who have served in the armed forces.”