Leeds Equity Partners Gets Good Deal in Midtown East Lease Due to Trump Effect
By Lauren Elkies Schram February 14, 2017 12:36 pm
reprints
Private equity firm Leeds Equity Advisors has taken 12,856 square feet on a part of the 41st floor at the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio’s 590 Madison Avenue, which adjoins Trump Tower, Commercial Observer has learned.
Landlord representative Jeffrey Sussman of Edward J. Minskoff Equities said the deal at the building between East 56th and East 57th Streets is for just over four years and the asking rent on that floor is $152 per square foot. According to one source, Leeds is paying a lot less than that.
“They are paying a lower rent than perhaps they would have paid if Hillary Clinton won,” the source said. “What’s noteworthy is the building adjoins Trump Tower and it went from being a super hot building to ‘gosh, do we want to be in a building like that because of security?’ ”
In April, Leeds will move into the space, which is leased to Cemex, a global building materials company, and Cemex is moving to a much smaller 5,903 square feet on the 27th floor, Sussman said. The asking rent on that floor is $122 per square foot, he said. (Edward J. Minskoff Equities has been the leasing and managing agent for the building since 1994.)
“It was a complicated deal where Leeds took Cemex’s position and gave Leed a direct lease,” one source said, noting that Cemex 27th-floor lease was a direct deal. Sussman declined to comment on the logistics.
Leeds will be relocating from 350 Park Avenue between East 51st and East 52nd Streets. The 43-story, 1-million-square-foot former IBM Building at 590 Madison Avenue was erected in 1983.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Mark Weiss represented Leeds in negotiations. He didn’t respond to a request for comment via a spokesman. Fred Smith from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented Cemex. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.
