RXR Taking Back Final 226K SF of Tommy Hilfiger Space at Starrett-Lehigh Building
By Lauren Elkies Schram January 16, 2018 2:48 pm
reprints
The owner of the Starrett-Lehigh Building is taking back the last of the Tommy Hilfiger-leased space in the building—over 200,000 square feet spread across a number of floors—putting an end to the fashion company’s commitment at the Far West Side property, Commercial Observer has learned.
RXR Realty will terminate Tommy Hilfiger’s original lease—which had a little time remaining—and “go out and re-tenant the space,” a source with knowledge of the situation said, at higher rents. The 226,048-square-foot space spans parts of floors four to six and 17 in the 19-story building at 601 West 26th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. The square footage on floors four, five and six is “reasonably contiguous,” the source noted, which would allow a tenant to connect floors via an internal staircase.
PVH’s Tommy Hilfiger leased nearly 300,000 square feet in the 2.3-million-square-foot Starrett-Lehigh Building starting in 2004. Last year, the company decided to move to RFR Realty’s 285 Madison Avenue between East 40th and East 41st Streets.
As part of the relocation, RFR “took over the the responsibility for paying the rent,” at the Starrett-Lehigh Building, the source said. So with RXR taking back the space, RFR will now be off the hook.
RFR had tapped JLL (JLL)’s Alexander Chudnoff, Daniel Turkewitz, Benjamin Bass and Mitchell Konsker to sublease the space, according to CoStar Group. JLL negotiated some subleases such as one for payroll services platform Justworks and another for “period-proof” underwear company Thinx.
A representative for RXR and a spokeswoman for RFR declined to comment. A spokesman for JLL didn’t immediately respond with a comment.
With additional reporting provided by Liam La Guerre.
