AOL Logs on Another Floor at Vornado’s 770 Broadway
By Terence Cullen February 17, 2016 2:30 pm
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AOL has expanded to a third floor at 770 Broadway in Noho, landlord Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) announced during a quarterly earnings call this morning.
Now owned by Verizon, the Internet company is in “growth mode” said, David Greenbaum, the head of Vornado’s New York division, during the call. Looking to capitalize on its current holdings in Midtown South, AOL was able to expand to a full floor at the 1.2-million-square-foot building, he added. The company now leases a total of 308,000 square feet at 770 Broadway between East Eighth Street and Wanamaker Place.
AOL is taking space formerly occupied by construction company Structure Tone, which moved to 82,000 square feet at Vornado’s 330 West 34th Street, as Commercial Observer reported last week. Structure Tone previously had the entire ninth floor, or 75,000 square feet, of the 15-story 770 Broadway, according to CoStar Group.
CoStar lists that AOL’s current lease expires in 2023. While the asking rent in the deal wasn’t immediately available, Mr. Greenbaum said the average rent at 770 Broadway, along with several other Vornado properties in Manhattan, is about $108 per square foot.
JLL represented AOL in its first lease at the building in 2007, as well as its expansion in 2009. A spokesman for the brokerage did not immediately return a request for comment about whether its brokers were involved in the deal.
AOL’s expansion is one of two major tech deals at the century-old building. Vornado also announced in the call that social media giant Facebook is growing by another 80,000 square feet at 770 Broadway for a total of more than 355,000 square feet. J.Crew leases 374,885 square feet in the building, according to CoStar, and K-Mart leases the retail portion at the base of the property.
Vornado has also completed a $700 million refinance of the Noho structure, which was last renovated in 2000. The latest financing netted Vornado a $330 million profit.
