Empire State Realty Trust Inks 72K SF of Leases in Midtown East, Garment District
By Rebecca Baird-Remba October 27, 2021 3:08 pm
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Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) has signed three new tenants totalling 72,000 square feet across three different properties in the Garment District and Midtown East, Commercial Observer has learned.
In the largest deal, insurance provider Argo Group leased 30,000 square feet for seven years at 501 Seventh Avenue, between West 37th and West 38th streets. Asking rent for the full-floor space was $57 a square foot. The company, which is headquartered in Bermuda, currently has a New York City office at 413 West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District.
Owen Hane and Kevin Duffy of JLL represented Argo Group in the transaction. Keith Cody and Ryan Kass handled it in-house for ESRT, along with Ron Lo Russo, Patrick Murphy, Pierce Hance, Heather Thomas and Will Yeatman of Cushman & Wakefield.
“Argo Group employees will have peace of mind in a healthy building equipped with MERV 13 filters, active bi-polar ionization, and increased ventilation,” said Thomas Durels, executive vice president for real estate at ESRT.
Other tenants in the 18-story, 461,000-square-foot building near Pennsylvania Station include Captivate and PVH.
Sports marketing company Playfly Sports leased 29,500 square feet for seven years to open its first New York offices at 1333 Broadway, between West 35th and West 36th streets in the Garment District, according to ESRT. Asking rent in the full-floor deal was $66 a square foot.
The building “will serve as our Manhattan hub for outstanding talent, innovation, and creative services in the heart of the world’s largest client and advertising agency marketplace,” said Craig Sloan, the COO at Philadelphia-based Playfly Sports.
Michael Mathias and Richard Johns of Savills handled the deal for the tenant. Kass, Cody and Shanae Ursini of ESRT represented the landlord in-house, along with Lo Russo, Robert Lowe, Anthony LoPresti, Dan Organ and Maria Travlos of C&W.
Finally, in a third transaction, law firm Davidson, Dawson & Clark renewed its 12,715-square-foot space for 11 years at One Grand Central Place, otherwise known as 60 East 42nd Street. Asking rent for the space was $73 a square foot.
Norman Bobrow and David Badner of Norman Bobrow & Co. represented the law firm. Kass handled the landlord side of the deal in-house, along with Erik Harris, Neil Rubin, Scott Klau and William Cohen of Newmark.
Spokespeople for JLL, Savills and Norman Bobrow didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rebecca Baird-Remba can be reached at rbairdremba@commercialobserver.com.
