All Posts Tagged With: "CB Richard Ellis"

Even as its neighbor on the north side of West 41st Street, 11 Times Square, struggles to land its first tenant, Forest City Ratner Companies has agreed to two new leases at the New York Times Building on 8th Avenue. The deals, which were inked with the Government of Flanders and Autonomy Inc., leave just one space of approximately 6500 square feet remaining in what was the speculative office portion of the building. The Government of Flanders took 7400 square feet on the tower’s 44th floor, where it will open an office of tourism and cultural house. Automony, Inc., which is the second largest software company in Europe, will lease 5375 square feet of space on the 38th floor. CB Richard Ellis represented Forest City in both deals, with NAI Global for Flanders.

We’ve written about 1095 Sixth Avenue previously; the tower, owned by the Blackstone Group, sits across 42nd Street from LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower and is undergoing a two-year, $408.9 million renovation. Designed by Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects and Gensler, the entire shell of what was once the Verizon Building is being replaced, effectively creating an entirely new structure; the tower’s marble exterior is being replaced with an energy-efficient glass curtain wall. Unlike the Bank of America project, and despite its green features, 1095 Sixth Avenue is not seeking a LEED rating. Tishman Construction is the construction manager on the project. While it’s hard to draw any real conclusions from the deal, it’s notable that Dabroes Management, a hedge fund, just signed a five-year lease for 12,200 square feet on 1095 Sixth Avenue’s 24th floor. Asking rents for the prebuilt space were $135 per square foot.

Skanska USA, the U.S. division of Swedish construction giant Skanska AB, is retrofitting the 32nd floor of the Empire State Building in pursuit of a LEED for Commercial Interiors Platinum rating from USGBC. Ranked by Engineering News-Record as America’s number 1 green contractor for 2007, Skanska USA’s area general manager Steve Pressler explained the firm’s philosophy behind the move in a press release, noting that Skanska’s “push for Platinum LEED certification not only aligns with our core business philosophies, but demonstrates to our current and existing clients our commitment to the green movement.” The construction giant signed a deal for a 15-year lease on the tower’s 32nd floor and will take 24,400 square feet upon moving from its current headquarters at 136 Madison Avenue.

Advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi recently renewed an 819,000-square-foot lease at Tishman Speyer’s 375 Hudson Street, which earned a 2007 Energy Star Award from EPA earlier this year. The 1.2 million-square-foot, 19-story building, which stands at the corner of West Houston Street, has been home to Saatchi since 1985, when rents in the Hudson Square submarket were approximately $20 per square foot. The firm was the first ad agency to relocate from Midtown down to Hudson Square, where according to Jones Lang LaSalle rents are currently averaging $59 per square foot. CB Richard Ellis represented Saatchi in the lease negotiations; asking rent details are not available. The New York Post’s Steve Cuozzo called the deal “welcome news in a market increasingly jittery over subprime fallout and the likelihood of space being dumped after inevitable layoffs.”

It’s hard to walk more than a few blocks in Midtown without passing a Subway, so even though an announcement that the chain has opened its first “Subway Eco-Store” (no word yet on whether Subway has applied to trademark the term) originates from Florida, the news has much broader implications for sandwich lovers everywhere. Subway [...]