Cogent Signs On For 4,500 s/f at 599 Lex

Earlier this year, Istithmar, the Dubai investment firm that infamously invested in several large real estate deals that went bust during the economic downturn, took a roughly 4,300-square-foot unit on the floor. Atreaus Capital, a hedge fund that had previously incubated at the British bank Barclays, also signed on for nearly 4,600 square feet.

All of the deal were done for rents in the $80s per square foot. A pre-built unit on the floor’s northwest corner that is 4,200 square feet remains vacant.

599 Lexington Avenue, a one million-square-foot office tower, has little vacancy and is known as one of east-Midtown’s premium addresses. Still, the landlord’s decision to cut the building’s 38th floor into smaller units was a strategy that helped fill the space at strong rents during a period when mid-size office units have had difficulty commanding premium pricing because of a slowdown in activity.

Small tenants are an abundant segment of the city’s leasing market and often pay a premium for space, especially units that are ready for occupancy.

Boston Properties also tapped a team from CBRE led by executives Ben Friedland, Sacha Zarba and Steve Winter, a group that has experience leasing high end space, to market the floor. 599 Lexington and its neighbor 601 Lexington Avenue, which is also owned by Boston Properties, are regarded as among Lexington Avenue’s most prestigious office towers and command the highest rents on that avenue.

The top floor at 599 Lexington Avenue, 47, and also the 45th floor, which are each a little over 8,000 square feet in size are among the few remaining vacancies at the property and are also being handled by the CBRE team. Boston Properties is asking about $105 per square foot for the two spaces.