BULLISH IN THE FUTURE
Beautification to charge ahead downtown
WHAT
to do with Wall Street — not the markets, the street.
The iconic corner of Wall and Broad streets is a jumble of barricades, poor lighting and uneven sidewalk and street surfaces. A redesign proposed by the Downtown Alliance would beautify the tourist-packed intersection as well as an entire eight-block area around the NYSE. The plan calls for curbless, handsomely resurfaced streets, replacement of ugly security features with attractive bollards and seating areas with planted beds. Alliance president Jessica Lappin called the proposal a “vision for improving the Stock Exchange district,” a “road map” for changes that would require cooperation among federal and city agencies, the NYPD and property owners.
Six months after we first reported on negotiations, a major downtown lease was signed, sealed and delivered over the weekend — giving developer Larry Sil
verstein even more reason to celebrate the planned opening of Three World Trade Center on June 11.
As reported Monday on nypost.com, global consulting giant McKinsey & Co. has signed a lease for 186,000 square feet at Three World Trade. The firm’s deal for floors 60 to 64 includes a 5,000-squarefoot, south-facing outdoor terrace on the 60th floor.
Silverstein still has plenty of floors to fill at the Rich
ard Rogers- designed building, but things are clearly moving along. Some 900,000 of its total 2.5 million square feet are now spoken for.
The largest tenant so far is media giant GroupM, which signed for 700,000 square feet. Sources said GroupM is expected to start moving in by July and McKinsey in early in 2019.
Asking rents in the tower have been reported to be in the $80s per square foot.
Next up, perhaps, for Silverstein: an anchor tenant to get Bjarke Ingels- designed Two World Trade Center off the ground. Deutsche Bank, which is leaving 60 Wall St., chose Time Warner Center uptown instead, but other companies are said to have their eyes on the WTC prize, too
McKinsey was repped by CBRE’s Paul Myers, John Nugent, Jason Gorman and Munish Viralam. Silverstein was repped inhouse by Jeremy Moss along with a CBRE team that included Mary Ann Tighe, Stephen B. Siegel, Ken Meyerson, Evan Haskell, Adam Foster, Steve Eynon, Robert Hill
and David Caperna.
Major law firm Blank Rome is leaving Tishman Speyer’s Chrysler Building for a bit more elbow room and the much spiffier surroundings at Rockefeller Group’s 1271 Sixth Ave., the former home of Time Inc.
The just-signed lease is for 138,000 square feet on floors 15 to 17 plus part of 14. The firm, which has 129,000 square feet at Chrysler, is expected to move in 2019.
Blank Rome has more than 600 lawyers and executives at 123 locations. Its future home at 1271 Sixth is undergoing a $600 million “redevelopment” overseen by architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, including a new glass curtain wall, public plaza and restoration of its landmarked lobby.
Asking rents in the tower run from $90 to $125 per square foot.
Time Inc.’s move-out last year left the building’s office floors entirely vacant. Since then, around 1.1 million of its 1.9 million square feet of offices have been leased to new tenants including MLB, Mizuho Americas and law firm Latham & Watkins.
“We continue to benefit from our reinvestment in 1271 Sixth,” said Rockefeller Group SVP and head of leasing Ed Guiltinan.
Blank Rome. managing partner and chairman Alan
J. Hoffman notedd that his firm first established a New York presence in 2000 when it combined with Tenzer Greenblatt. “Our New York office has experienced sustained growth” since then, he added.
Talks with Rockefeller Group were first reported in The Real Deal in December.
In another nice Sixth Avenue “get,” Syska Hennessy Group has inked a deal for 55,000 square feet at SL Green’s 1185 Sixth. The global technology-engineering firm will move from 1515 Broadway. Syska Hennessy will have the entire fourth and fifth floors at 1185 Sixth, which is undergoing major capital improvements including lobby and outdoor plaza upgrades.p “The investment we’re making at 1185 Sixth is part of our strategy to upgrade our buildings on an ongoing basis, to ensure our tenants continue to enjoy industryleading amenities and work environments,” said SL Green’s executive vice president and leasing director Steven Durels. The asking rent was $75 per square foot. JLL’s Peter Riguardi, Cynthia Wasserberger and Hayley Shoener repped the tenant. Howard Tenenbaum and Gary Rosen repped SL Green in-house.