Joele Frank Relocating to 22 Vanderbilt With 78K-SF Lease
By Mark Hallum March 20, 2023 12:00 pm
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Public relations firm Joele Frank is leaving its current digs at 622 Third Avenue in favor of 78,353 square feet at Milstein Properties’ 22 Vanderbilt, formerly known as 335 Madison Avenue.
The move represents an expansion of about 18,000 square feet for Joele Frank, which signed a 16-year lease with an asking rent of $95 per square foot, the New York Post first reported. Joele Frank plans to open its new office by the end of the year.
CBRE (CBRE)’s Paul Amrich, Neil King, Sacha Zarba, Jeff Fischer and Meghan Allen negotiated on behalf of Milstein Properties, while Joele Frank was represented by Newmark (NMRK)’s Andrew Sachs and Ben Shapiro.
CBRE did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Newmark declined to comment.
Milstein Properties acquired the building as the Biltmore Hotel in the early 1980s and transformed it into Bank of America’s New York City headquarters. Over time, Bank of America would relocate to One Bryant Park. Facebook, which also leased space in the property, also vacated after signing a 40,000 square foot lease in 2018.
Since 2018, Micheal Milstein, the son of Howard Milstein, has been overseeing a repositioning effort that may have cost the family firm about $250 million, Commercial Observer previously reported. The first repositioning effort saw the building branded as “The Company Building” before the 22 Vanderbilt name was adopted in late 2022.
Milstein Properties’ rebranding aimed to build off the leasing success of SL Green Realty’s nearby One Vanderbilt, a concept Milstein could possibly be expanding on at an event Wednesday called “Grand Central Reimagined” at which Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman Janno Lieber is expected to speak.
While just north of 43rd Street from One Vanderbilt, 22 Vanderbilt’s asking rents at $95 are a far cry from the upwards of $300 per square foot that SL Green is asking in its tower. While One Vanderbilt was completely leased before it opened in September 2020, 22 Vanderbilt remains at about 68 percent leased, according to the Post.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
