WHEN CIT Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Peek officially opened the financial firm’s new headquarters at 505 Fifth Ave. last week, it capped a decade-long saga to reclaim the once-wretched northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street for modern commercial use.
CIT is the anchor tenant in Kipp-Stawski’s gleaming new, 28-story, 300,000 square-foot office tower. To mark the opening, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled an installation by light-and-space artist James Turrell that bathes the lobby in alternating shades of blue, green and red – one of Midtown’s coolest new entrances.
Although the office floors are fully leased, mystery clouds the project’s 24,750 square feet of prime retail space on one of the city’s most heavily trafficked corners, diagonally across from Bryant Park – a puzzle that recalls the site’s previous history of revolving-door owners and leasing teams.
Retail sources say Swedish sportswear chain H&M, which is fast expanding in Manhattan, has been in talks with developer Axel Stawski for the past year for the three-level space. H&M, represented by a CB Richard Ellis team led by Jedd Nero, has been negotiating with Stawski through his retail leasing agent, Robert K. Futterman.
So we were surprised to see Cushman & Wakefield’s Brad Mendelson listed as the agent for the space on the Mrofficespace.com data base. (Unusually for a prime, vacant store location, there’s no leasing agent sign in the window.)
In fact, a Cushman insider said the company had in fact been given the leasing assignment – while a Futterman source said that if that was true, it was news to them.
Does the confusion mean the H&M deal is dead? Is Stawski hedging his bets?
Everybody at Stawski, Cushman, CBRE and Futterman ducked when we called. Just get things settled, guys, so we can finally bury the ghost of the old vacant lot and flea market for good.
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Despite published reports elsewhere, Aon has not yet signed a lease for 250,000 square feet of additional space at 199 Water St., where it now has 200,000 feet.
After Aon lost 176 employees at the World Trade Center on 9/11, it moved to Park Avenue Plaza in Midtown and 199 Water St. The return of its workforce to downtown will be good news for the area, but it hasn’t quite happened yet.
Sources on both sides of the deal say a lease – actually a sublease from Wachovia – is “out,” but has yet to be completed or signed, although it could be done over the next few weeks. In any event, all credit is due Bloomberg for making it possible – his Economic Development Corp. tabled a possible move to 199 Water by the Controller’s Office, which would not have left any more room for Aon.
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Another week, another big Midtown renewal and expansion. The Capital Group Companies re-upped for 85,175 square feet at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, or 630 Fifth Ave. The deal includes 18,147 feet of expansion.
CB Richard Ellis’s Kenneth Rapp represented Capital Group, a consortium of investment management firms that also includes mutual fund giant American Funds. Landlord Tishman Speyer was self-repped by Ted Koltis and Peter Brindley.
Capital Group, which is on floors 34-36, is taking the extra space on the 31st floor. Terms were not available, but asking rents on many floors are in the high $60s.
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Now, about this Hawaiian Tropic Zone restaurant/lounge opening in September at 729 Seventh Ave. at 49th Street, where David Burke will serve as consulting chef:
It turns out the 16,000 square-foot, 290-seat jumbo, first reported on Page Six last winter, will be leased from a real estate holding company controlled by Dennis Riese.
Adam Hock, president of HT NYC, which is spending $11 million to build “The Hottest Place on Earth” on the former Houlihan’s site, declined to discuss rent. But he estimated the value of the Riese-owned retail condominium at around $30 million.
Hock has tapped designer Jeffrey Beers to create the three-level space, meant to simulate the “lush, hot and colorful” tropics. A centerpiece will be an 18-by-13-foot video wall where constantly changing images will “reflect variations on the tropic theme.”
Burke said, “It sounds theme-y, but it won’t be like the Hard Rock. The average check will be $60-$80 – it won’t be pineapple spare ribs.”
Hock has a global licensing arrangement with sun-lotion giant Hawaiian Tropic. Beauty-pageant winners chosen by the lotion line will serve as “table concierges” to take orders in the restaurant.