11 Times Square

As part of gbNYC's rolling transformation from one platform to another -- WordPress to Drupal, for all you curious nerdz -- we've been having to do a lot of re-tagging of old posts. The reasons for this are both complicated and uninteresting, but it's working: our Google rating is back, for one thing, and things are starting to make sense more generally. There has been an unexpectedly poignant side benefit to all this re-tagging, though, as your author (and super-intern Vik Gupta) have worked our way back to 2007-vintage posts about burgeoning new green developments that were supposedly thisclose to becoming the next big green thing. Vornado's LEED-CS Gold building a 20 Times Square is locking up an anchor tenant! Except... no, it's not, and construction has been halted. CBRE is confident that its LEED Gold 11 Times Square tower is going to do fine, even with an anticipated dip in the market! Except... it isn't.

The Real Deal is reporting that SJP Properties' head Steve Pozycki told a luncheon crowd at the Cornell Club earlier today that the firm "would like a $100 per square foot rent but we would be real happy with a high $70 rent" at its 40-story, LEED Gold-hopeful 11 Times Square project, whose quest for tenants at premium rents has been a topic we've followed closely here at gbNYC. As recently as this past December, SJP was holding fast at an asking rent of $100 per square foot for the speculative office tower and, despite coming close to deals for anchor space on a number of occasions, it has still failed to ink a single tenant to a lease. Although SJP has consistently refused to back off its asking rents over the past year, even as the economy has deteriorated, the project is obviously a victim of the horrendous commercial office market; Newmark Knight Frank recently reported that asking rents in Midtown are down 31 percent over March of 2008.

Another commercial office project in Midtown that's seeking LEED certification may be in trouble. After last week's news that Boston Properties had suspended work at its LEED Gold hopeful 250 West 55th Street after potential anchor tenant Proskauer Rose balked at further lease negotiations, Macklowe Properties now may face the same scenario after rumors surfaced earlier today that the sole tenant it had inked at its LEED Gold hopeful 510 Madison Avenue may be close to exercising an escape clause in its lease. Crain's reported today that investment firm Jay Goldman & Co., which signed a 10-year lease for 11,500 square feet across the 30-story tower's 19th floor at $150 per square foot in December of 2007, is close to backing out of the deal thanks to a number of opt-out clauses in its lease with Macklowe. According to Newmark Knight Frank principal William Cohen, who handles leasing at Jay Goldman's current home at the Carnegie Hall Tower at 152 West 57th Street, "[i]t is all set for them to stay [at 152 West 57th Street]. Our arrangement is done."

Steve Cuozzo reported earlier this week that although asking rents are holding (for the time being) at $100 per square foot, tenants continue to tour SJP Properties’ LEED Gold hopeful 11 Times Square at the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. According to Cuozzo, German bank WestLB considered space at the tower before deciding on LEED Gold-certified 7 World Trade Center at a decidedly cheaper rent (between $75 and $85 per square foot). Japanese bank Mizuho is currently looking for a block of 250,000 to 300,000 square feet with CB Richard Ellis, and Cuozzo reports that it has visited the building as well. The National Basketball Association and Newmark Knight Frank are also interested and, according to Cuozzo, went so far as to draw up architectural plans for space, where it would relocate from 645 Madison Avenue.