The Little Building That Couldn’t No More: 172K Feet at 100 Church

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100 church street option 2 The Little Building That Couldn’t No More: 172K Feet at 100 Church

100 Church Street

Proving there really is life after death for Manhattan office buildings, Healthfirst has signed a 172,000-square-foot lease for 20 years at 100 Church Street, once said to be the emptiest building in Manhattan.

The New York Post‘s Steve Cuozzo reports that the nonprofit managed-care provider will move from 25 Broadway Street to 100 Church, making it the first major new tenant in more than five years. The asking rent was $40 a square foot.

SL Green has been sitting on nearly 500,000 square feet of unused space since it took over the foreclosed building with a $145 million mortgage from the Sapir Organization in January. Nothing less than “some leasing magic” could salvage it, Michael Knott, an analyst at Green Street Advisors, told The Wall Street Journal.

That wasn’t the least of its problems. The lobby boasts one of the world’s largest collections of Swarovski chandeliers resembling crystal heads of Medusa. SL Green executive VP Ed Piccinich told The Observer in March, “We are definitely getting rid of those chandeliers!” We can’t imagine why.

For SL Green, which also signed a nearly 22,000-square-foot lease with the Farber Center for Radiation Oncology in May, it’s still one big step forward, several more to go. The firm has undergone “an extensive marketing effort to re-introduce the building to the marketplace,” Steve Durels, an executive vice president at SL Green, said in a press release. “Healthfirst’s long-term commitment for its new headquarters is a great validation of our re-positioning program,” 

According to the Post, SL Green is in serious talks to fill up the remaining 330,000 square feet of space. Asking rents in the building are around $36 a square foot, according to MrOfficeSpace.com.

Derek Trulson, Bill Peters and Daoud Awad from Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant. SL Green was represented by Newmark Knight Frank‘s Brian Waterman, James Kuhn, John Fanuzzi, Hal Stein and Lance Korman.