Spring has sprung and the Helmsley Building has sprouted a creeping Ivy and a couple of new laurels.
Cornell University has taken a 10,550-square-foot chunk of 230 Park Avenue. The Ithaca-based university, which was already subleasing an 8,800-square-foot space in the building, will use its big-city spread to manage its endowment fund. The asking rent for the new space was in the high-$50s.
“Who wouldn’t have Cornell in their building?” Monday Properties‘ Brian Robin told The Observer. “Small tenants just don’t have a lot of options,” he added. “Especially when you start approaching the characteristics that everyone would want: quality construction and good quality design.”
Cornell was one of the first tenants to look at the prebuilt space, and it didn’t take long after it had hit the market for the university to decide it wanted to take it. “We walked through with brokers,” Mr. Robin said, “and they knew right off the bat that it’s a good deal.”
Already a bit of a teacher’s pet this year, with LEED Gold certification and a flurry of leasing activity, 230 Park just bagged a couple of more awards. The building recently became one of 11 in the city to receive the BOMA 360 Performance Building for superior management. The Society of American Registered Architects NY Chapter will also honor it with the 2010 Design Award for work on the glittering Gilded Age lobby.
Cornell was represented by Gere Ricker of MB Real Estate; the landlord was represented in-house by Jordan Berger.
lkusisto@observer.com
