University of Oxford Tops Off String of Leases at 500 Fifth Avenue
By Al Barbarino April 11, 2013 7:45 am
reprintsCushman & Wakefield (CWK) represented ownership at 500 Fifth Avenue in a 10,346-square-foot lease renewal to The University of Oxford, completing a string of five recent leases at the building.
The Oxford lease and four other recent leases arranged at the 680,000-square-foot Class-A skyscraper total roughly 20,000 square feet and are reflective of the building’s flexibility, which attracts a range of tenant types and a blend of the old with the new, brokers said.
“They all have a different story,” said C&W’s Harry Blair, who represented 500 Fifth Avenue Inc. with Sean Kearns in the transactions. “500 Fifth Avenue offers tenants a prestigious Midtown Manhattan address combined with high-quality space with plenty of natural light and spectacular views of Bryant Park.”
The building is located on the fringes of Bryant Park, which Mr. Blair called “a 24/7 amenity,” near Grand Central Station, Penn Station, The Port Authority and major subway lines, make the building attractive to a range of tenants.
While he called Oxford “one of our highest quality tenants,” he pointed to the other leases as representative of its attractiveness for younger companies, citing the repositioning of the building, which began in 2007, as a big reason for its renaissance. The renovation included a lobby upgrade and retail repositioning, where Zara currently resides (in addition to its upper floor office space).
The recent leases, in addition to Oxford, include Argus Media, Inc., which expanded in the building for a total of 4,538 square feet, showing that C&W and the ownership have the “flexibility to help younger tenants grow,” Mr. Blair said.
“Argus is a good story because it’s an existing tenant that’s expanding,” he said.
Among those other building newcomers is New Vision Communications Corp., which signed a new lease for 2,050 square feet; China XD Plastics Company Limited, which signed a new lease for 1,441 square feet; and Forward Insight Commodities, LLC, which took a 1,224-square-foot sublease.
The recent leases bring the building up to roughly 92 percent occupancy, though the 19th, 31st and partial space on other floors remains vacant.
Paul Ippolito and Michael Morris of Newmark (NMRK) Grubb Knight Frank represented The University of Oxford. They did not retrun calls seeking comment in time for publication.
Other notable tenants at 500 Fifth Avenue include Brown University and Cathay Pacific Airlines.
