Midtown makeover
Dursts look for ground lease of vintage tower
T HE first
trophy tower of the year is coming on the market as a creative opportunity that can be entirely transformed.
The 40-story 825 Third Ave., developed in 1969 by the Durst family, isn’t being sold.
Instead, the family is ready to sign a new, long-term agreement with either a tenant or another developer for a ground lease. Darcy Stacom of CBRE has been hired to pitch the property, which will be entirely vacant in May 2019. The building was initially leased by Random House and for the past 25 years by Advance Publications, so the remaining tenants are all sub-tenants.
“It was a very good deal for the Dursts, and they are looking to do it again,” said the family’s head of leasing,
Tom Bow, of the long-term deals. “Last time it was occupied by a tenant; this time it is likely somebody who will be putting capital into the building.”
Unlike most sales of ground leases, this one likely won’t come with an upfront payment. The family is interested in a steady income from a reliable company with the capital and wherewithal to undertake an entire modernization plan and rec- ognize there will be a large upfront cost to do so.
This work could also include a complete restacking such as what L&L Holding has done at both 425 Park and 390 Madison.
The Class A building was designed by Emery Roth & Sons and developed by the Dursts on the east side of Third Avenue between East 50th and 51st streets. There are several small commercial buildings that will also be delivered vacant and can be absorbed into any restacking.
The current floors in the side core building are just under 12,000 square feet. The black glass curtain wall also hides a continuous wall of large windows.
JPMorgan Chase is back in the leasing action and starting to beef up with a branch in Brooklyn.
The bank has just leased an 8,000-square-foot branch at 180 Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg.
The two-story space has 4,000 square feet on the ground and another 4,000 square feet in the lower level, where it expects to open by Dec. 31.
The bank is following the money to a growing neighborhood of residences, hotels and businesses, including the nearby Whole Foods, for a second location there.
A new 4,500-square-foott retail building along North 7th Street was developed by Jo
seph Sitt’s Thor Equities. Another space that goes from the ground to the second floor and includes a 2,500-squarefoot rooftop terrace is still available.
Chase is scheduled to open on the ground and lower levels in the third quarter of 2018. The rent was $600 per square foot — a borough record set by an owner known for pushing neighborhood pricing envelopes for the best locations.
Dean Rosenzweig and Jeremy Scholder of CBRE represented Chase. Sam Sabin and Sam Polese of Thor Equities represented Thor in-house. Transition from liquor to legal: A legal-services tech company has subleased a slice of liquor company Pernod Ricard USA’s offices at 250 Park Ave.
Complete Discovery Source signed a five-year, 18,803-square-foot sublease for a furnished portion of the 18th floor, where it will relocate its headquarters from 345 Park Ave. this month. Arthur Spitalnick of the Kaufman Organization represented CDS. Its software is used in litigation discovery. Alex Leopold, Gregory Frisoli and David Falk of Newmark Knight Frank represented the French-based spirits and wine company. Along with the remainder of the 18th floor, Pernod Ricard also occupies the connected 16th and 17th floors, and its lease includes expansion rights. Its recent openplan installation by the Spector Group includes reclaimed wood ceilings and acoustical fittings for conference rooms and phone room privacy along with a bar area for sampling the company’s products.