Post-Modern

Some of those rumored green shoots in the local commercial leasing market appear to be sprouting in green buildings. Last week, Lukoil Pan Americas - the American subsidiary of the Russian oil and gas giant - signed an 11-year, 20,400-square-foot lease at the Blackstone Group's 1095 Sixth Avenue for $85 per square foot. You'll recall that the tower recently underwent a 2-year, $408.9 million renovation; designed by Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects and Gensler, the project included replacing the building's entire marble exterior with an energy-efficient glass curtain wall.

Managed by Jones Lang LaSalle, the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company recently earned LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (EBOM) Silver for its 35-story headquarters building located at 320 Park Avenue. Mutual of America actually retained JLL last January with the specific directive to assist it in developing a plan of attack for earning LEED certification for the building. The 750,000-square-foot, Class A tower at East 51st Street was given a major overhaul back in 1995 that transformed a Bauhaus box into a post-modern high-rise; current renovations that supported the LEED-EBOM application include a 10 percent reduction in potable water consumption, a variety of energy efficiency initiatives, advanced commissioning, and a green office supply purchasing program. 320 Park Avenue is one of only five Manhattan office properties that earned EPA's Energy Star label for 2008; it's also the sixth time that the building has earned the award (2002 and 2004-2007).

The owner of an Indian restaurant on West 54th Street called Purnima has filed a lawsuit against Boston Properties (and its contractor, Bovis Lend Lease) in connection with excavation and foundation work for the (currently suspended) LEED Gold-hopeful 250 West 55th Street project. We’ve followed 250 West 55th Street closely here at gbNYC and thought we’d note the lawsuit, which is seeking $600,000.00 in damages for, among other things, interior and exterior building cracking caused by the adjacent construction. The suit was filed a couple of weeks ago; Purnima is now closed and looking for new space somewhere else in Midtown. According to the Observer, DOB issued three stop work orders for the project; two in December and one in late January on the basis of adjacent “building shaking, vibrating, and [compromised] structual stability.” As an interesting footnote, Purnima was given a makeover by Gordon Ramsey on an episode of the Kitchen Nightmare program on FOX back in 2007.

Larry Silverstein has leased the last available prebuilt space at his 7 World Trade Center. As you'll recall, the tower was the first commercial office building in New York City to earn LEED Gold certification. Equity and derivatives traders Volant Trading, which was formerly located at 99 Wall Street, plans to move into building in March. The firm is quadrupling its existing space by taking 7800 square feet at 7 WTC, or approximately one fifth of the tower's 33rd floor. Volant signed a seven-year deal at $75 per square foot. CB Richard Ellis's Rob Wizenberg, who represented Volant in the negotiations, noted that the firm "wanted absolutely top-quality space. The layout was perfect and they love being downtown."