Kaye Scholer Close to Signing Large 8th Avenue Office Deal
By Daniel Geiger September 19, 2012 5:59 pm
reprintsLaw firm Kaye Scholer is near completing a deal to take around 250,000 square feet at 250 West 55th Street, several sources say.
The large lease would fill about half of the roughly one million square foot office tower, which owner Boston Properties (BXP) is in the process of building on Eighth Avenue.
Another large law firm, Morrison Foerster, has already committed to floors 17 through 24 at 250 West 55th Street, roughly 200,000 square feet of space. According to sources, Kaye Scholer would take space lower in the property, leaving only the upper half of the 38-story tower, where Boston Properties is said to be charging premium rents in the upper $90s per square foot and beyond.
The firm will relocate to the property from 425 Park Avenue, which is set to be demolished and redeveloped into a modern office tower in the coming years by landlord L&L Holding Company.
Several law firms have committed to the emerging Eighth Avenue office corridor, including Proskauer Rose, which had originally looked at 250 West 55th Street, but eventually opted for a nearly 500,000-square-foot deal at 11 Times Square instead. As The Commercial Observer first reported, tech giant Microsoft is in the process of doing a large deal at 11 Times Square as well.
Sources say that Microsoft is pushing for – and getting – discount rents in the deal, rates that these knowledgeable leasing executives put in the $60s per square foot with generous landlord contributions and periods of free rent.
