Holwell Shuster Subleases 60K SF at 425 Lexington Avenue From Fellow Law Firm
By Rey Mashayekhi June 14, 2017 5:42 pm
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Holwell Shuster & Goldberg is subleasing nearly 60,000 square feet of office space at 425 Lexington Avenue in Midtown East from fellow law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, in a move that will double Holwell Shuster’s existing office footprint.
The 16-year deal will see Holwell Shuster take 59,750 square feet, comprising the entire 12th through 14th floors of the 31-story, 750,000-square-foot building between East 43rd and East 44th Streets, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.
The law firm—which was founded in 2012 and specializes in commercial litigation—will double its existing, roughly 30,000 square feet of space at 750 Seventh Avenue when it relocates at the end of the year, according to a press release from Savills Studley.
Rents were not disclosed. Savills Studley’s Craig Lemle and Nick Zarnin represented Holwell Shuster, while a CBRE (CBRE) team of Lewis Miller, Gregg Rothkin, Peter Turchin, Ramneek Rikhy, James Ackerson and Ken Rapp represented Simpson Thacher.
The New York Post first reported news of the deal.
According to the Savills Studley release, the brokerage sought to “take advantage of the tremendous amount of consolidation occurring within the law firm community” in identifying space for Holwell Shuster. The law firm was subsequently able to secure the sublease at 425 Lexington Avenue at “a favorable rent with a substantial concession package.”
“While the majority of the legal industry is downsizing, [Holwell Shuster] stands as a rare example of growth,” Lemle said in a statement. “Many law firms are consolidating their real estate footprints to smaller, more efficient layouts in an effort to reduce costs, and this particular consolidation presented an incredible opportunity.”
A CBRE spokeswoman declined to comment.
The J.P Morgan Asset Management-owned 425 Lexington Avenue is 100 percent leased to Simpson Thacher and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce—both of which originally signed on at at the 30-year-old building upon its completion in 1987.
The space taken by Holwell Shuster constituted the only availability at the office tower since it was built, according to the Savills Studley release. After subleasing the space to the law firm, Simpson Thacher will still occupy roughly 490,000 square feet at the property, the Post reported.
