Berkley Insurance Reups 60K-SF Lease at 757 Third Avenue
By Mark Hallum July 14, 2022 4:20 pm
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Berkley Insurance is renewing its lease at 757 Third Avenue, the building it has called home since 2014, Commercial Observer has learned.
The eight-year lease for 60,000 square feet on the 10th and 11th floors of the building owned by BentallGreenOak comes as the landlord has made investments toward helping tenants — such as the W. R. Berkley Corporation-owned Berkley Insurance — retain employees as workplace demands change due to the ever-present threat of COVID-19.
“Since acquiring 757 Third Avenue in 2015, BentallGreenOak has invested significant capital to improve the building’s interiors, façade and amenity package,” Anil Erdem, managing director at BentallGreenOak, said in a statement. “We believe that our ongoing capital improvements … will continue to attract and retain tenants.”
Berkley first took 37,452 square feet at 757 Third in 2014 then expanded by 5,080 square feet the same year, as CO previously reported. It’s unclear when it upgraded to 60,000 square feet at the property.
JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Clark Finney, Simon Landmann and Lance Yasinsky represented BentallGreenOak in the transaction while Tim Gibson of Newmark handled it for the tenant. JLL did not disclose the asking rents, and Newmark did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This renewal is further confirmation of a strengthening office market bolstered by landlords’ commitment to the health and wellness of their tenants through expanded amenity offerings,” Finney said in a statement. “Berkley Insurance’s commitment demonstrates New York City’s continued appeal as a home for the world’s leading corporations.”
The data seems to reinforce this claim. A recent report from Placer.ai showed that in the first half of 2022 foot traffic in New York City office buildings was 76 percent higher than the same period last year. Meanwhile, a report from Colliers stated that leasing activity during the first half of 2022 totaled 14.95 million square feet, a 64 percent increase over the 9.11 million square feet leased in the first half of 2021.
However, occupancy in Manhattan’s office buildings in the first half of the year is still 30.5 percent below pre-pandemic levels, and the availability rate continues at a record high of 18.3 percent, Lee & Associates NYC detailed in a recent report.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
