Cohen & Steers Re-Ups for 87,000 Square Feet at 280 Park Avenue
By Daniel Edward Rosen July 6, 2012 8:30 am
reprintsCohen & Steers, a investment portfolio management firm that invests in global real estate securities and large cap value stocks, among other securities, has renewed its lease for 87,000 square feet for three floors at 280 Park Avenue, The Commercial Observer has learned.
The firm, which is currently on the 10th, 19th and 20th floors in the building, has extended its lease for 10 years, according to a person familiar with the deal. Asking rent for the building is in the low $100s-a-square-foot.
SL Green (SLG) Realty Corp and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) partnered together in 2011 to assume $400 million in debt for the 31-story office building. Representatives for both firms worked on the deal in-house.
Cohen & Steers had been subleasing 46,031 square feet of space on the 10th floor of 280 Park Avenue from Credit Suisse (CS) First Boston since January 12, 2005, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission records. That space is set to expire in February 2014, which Cohen & Steers will then lease the 10th floor directly from SL Green and Vornado.
Vornado and SL Green assumed control of the building from Investcorp and Broadway Partners, both of whom paid $1.278 billion in 2007, one of the highest amounts paid for an office building that year.
Since then, both real estate investment trusts have embarked on an ambitious capital improvement plan.
“We are doing a whole transformation,” said a person close to both companies. “We are gutting the whole building and starting over.” The building will be outfitted with a new lobby and plaza, among other improvements. KPF Architects is overseeing the $100 million renovation for the building.
drosen@observer.com
