Trial Firm McKool Smith Seals Deal for 64K SF at 1 Manhattan West
By Lauren Elkies Schram July 11, 2017 6:30 am
reprints
Heavy-hitting U.S. trial firm McKool Smith has finalized a deal to relocate its New York City office to 64,120 square feet at 1 Manhattan West, Commercial Observer has learned.
The transaction gives McKool Smith the 50th and 51st floors in Brookfield Property Partners’ 67-story, 2.1-million-square-foot office tower, which is under construction at 10th Avenue and West 33rd Street, the landlord informed CO. The building will be delivered at the end of 2019, the same year its current space expires at One Bryant Park.
The lease is for 15 years, Brookfield indicated. The asking rent was $108 per square foot, according to The Real Deal, which reported in May that the patent-litigation firm was in late-stage talks to lease two floors in the tower, and the taking rent exceeded $100 per foot. A Brookfield spokesman confirmed the asking rent.
Ric Clark, the senior managing partner and chairman of Brookfield Property Partners, said in a statement: “Leading companies continue to be drawn to Manhattan West.”
McKool Smith will join anchor tenant Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as well as the National Hockey League.
“This year marks the 10th anniversary since we opened our New York office in 2007,” Mike McKool, a founder and chairman of McKool Smith, said in prepared remarks. “New York is a very important market for the firm and our clients, and our move to 1 Manhattan West demonstrates our continued commitment to strengthening and expanding our capabilities in the region. We are very excited about the new space.”
McKool Smith was represented by John Amend and JW Amend of The Amend Group and Cushman & Wakefield’s Josh Kuriloff and Drew Braver. Brookfield was represented by C&W’s Bruce Mosler, Rob Lowe, Ethan Silverstein and Matthias Li, and in-house by Jeremiah Larkin, Duncan McCuaig and Alex Liscio. The Amend Group brokers didn’t respond to a request for comment, and nor did spokesmen for C&W or McKool Smith.
One Manhattan West is a part of the new eight-acre site Brookfield is developing in the Hudson Yards district. As CO reported in early March, Brookfield launched leasing at The Eugene, a 62-story residential tower at Manhattan West. It is the first new building to open at the mixed-use project.
