527 Madison Lands Lone Pine, Axium and AustralianSuper
By Lois Weiss May 29, 2020 1:06 pm
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Three new full-floor leases with financial firms have been signed at 527 Madison Avenue, a 26-story office tower owned by Mitsui Fudosan America that sits on southeast corner of East 54th Street in Manhattan’s Plaza District.
Two new companies relocating and expanding at the building include Lone Pine Capital and Axium Infrastructure while this will be the first U.S. office for AustralianSuper, that country’s largest pension fund.
In the largest transaction, Lone Pine Capital will expand and move later this year to the entire 16th floor encompassing 8,102 square feet.
Greenwich, Connecticut-based Lone Pine was represented in the deal by the Newmark (NMRK) Knight Frank team of Josh Friedman, Cooper Weisman, James Ritman and Janey Steinmetz. The company is overseeing its own built-out.
The hedge fund invests heavily in the tech sector and has supported early funding rounds for start-ups like Outreach and Away while having made early bets on Chewy, Uber and Snap – plus now staples Amazon, Microsoft and PayPal. Founder Stephen Mandel, Jr. was previously one of the “Tiger Cubs” at Julian Robertson’s hedge fund Tiger Management but left in 2019.
Axium Infrastructure signed a lease for the entire 21st floor of 7,263 square feet where it will relocate and expand from 410 Park Avenue.
Jeffrey Kilimnick and Anthony Manginelli of CBRE (CBRE) represented Axium Infrastructure which is an independent portfolio management firm investing in core infrastructure assets.
For its first U.S. office, AustralianSuper leased the entire 20th floor of 7,400 square feet. The pension fund was represented by Paul Amrich, Neil King and Georgina Cook of CBRE. In making plans to open, the not-for-profit fund had promoted Susan Alexander to work in New York and become AustralianSuper’s US region head. The fund was expected to hire 30 people in the city over the next few years while expanding its overseas investments.
The building was represented in all the deals by its exclusive leasing agents Jim Frederick and Gordon Hough of Cushman & Wakefield (CWK).
The 30-year old trophy tower has also undergone a recent multi-million-dollar renovation. Its new gray and cream polished marble lobby designed by MdeAS features rotating art exhibitions and has a quiet entry on East 54th Street that makes drop-offs easy – plus there is a 50-car garage in the building.
Mitsui Fudosan America has also upgraded elevators and overhauled each floor, hallway and bathrooms as it was vacated. A new outdoor terrace on the tenth floor was also created as an amenity for all the tenants.
AustralianSuper’s space was built out in early March by MFA and is expected to move in this summer. MFA is also building out Axium’s space, with occupancy expected later this year.
“Lone Pine Capital, Axium and AustralianSuper are terrific additions to a roster of leading tenants that includes Japan’s Shoku Chukin Bank, global investment firm SkyBridge Capital and fintech platform CAIS,” said Frederick in a statement. “Mitsui Fudosan America has perfected the art of creating first-class office environments for tenants who require a high degree of security, privacy and amenities.”
The 240,000-square-foot property has just one, 3,623-square-foot pre-built office available on the 12th floor.
