LeFrak Leases 39K SF of Office Space to Nobu, Financial Firms at 40 West 57th Street
By Rebecca Baird-Remba December 19, 2017 2:39 pm
reprints
Private wealth management firm Tocqueville Asset Management and Nobu Restaurant Group recently finalized leases at LeFrak’s 40 West 57th Street, as part of a trio of new deals in the building totalling 39,335 square feet, according to landlord broker CBRE (CBRE).
Tocqueville signed a 10-year agreement to renew its 25,000 square feet on the entire 19th floor of the 36-story office tower between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas. Asking rent for the space was “closer to $100 [per square foot] than it is to $200,” said CBRE’s Howard Fiddle, who represented LeFrak in the deal. The 29-year-old investment management company has been in the building for “at least 15 years,” according to Fiddle.
Nobu Restaurant Group, the multinational chain of Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurants run by chef Nobu Matsuhisa and film star Robert De Niro, also decided to move its headquarters into the 1970s skyscraper. Last month the chain leased 8,800 square feet on part of the third floor for just under 10 years. It has operated Nobu 57, a two-level, 13,000-square-foot restaurant, in the bottom of the building since 2004, according to The New York Times. The 30-year-old hospitality group will move from 4,800 square feet at 3 East 57th Street, where it has subleased since 2011.
Finally, Duquesne Fund Services, a firm that offers tech and back office services for hedge funds and family offices, recently inked a seven-year lease for 5,535 square feet on part of the third floor. The company is an affiliate of Duquesne Family Office, the investment management firm founded in 2010 by billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller. While Duquesne Fund Services is a new business, Duquesne Family Office (and its predecessor, Duquesne Capital Management) has occupied 35,739 square feet on the building’s 24th and 25th floors via a 10-year lease since 2008.
Fiddle and CBRE’s Evan Fiddle (Howard’s son), Benjamin Joseph, Gregg Rothkin and Arkady Smolyansky, along with LeFrak’s Mary Lou Berk, represented the landlord in all three transactions. On the tenant side, Newmark (NMRK) Knight Frank’s Daniel Madison and James Saunders represented Tocqueville in its office renewal. (A spokesman for NKF didn’t return a request for comment.) And John Nugent and Craig Reicher, also of CBRE, handled the deal for Duquesne Fund Services. Nobu didn’t have a broker in the deal.
