American Eagle Outfitters Inks 338K-SF Deal at 63 Madison Avenue

Manhattan’s office market just got a major boost, thanks to two deals American Eagle Outfitters inked at 63 Madison Avenue.

The clothing retailer signed on for 338,085 square feet to relocate its headquarters to the 15-story office tower between East 27th and East 28th streets, landlord George Comfort & Sons announced. 

That includes a 20-year direct lease for 174,791 square feet across the entire seventh and 11th floors and the building’s concourse. American Eagle also signed a sublease with CBS for 162,291 square feet on the eighth through 10th floors, which it will eventually convert to a direct deal, according to George Comfort & Sons.

Asking rents in the building range from the high-$70s to high-$80s per square foot, according to the landlord.

The deal was first reported by Bloomberg. When the lease and sublease are taken together, it’s the largest office deal signed in the city so far in 2024.

American Eagle owns several brands, including Aerie, unsubscribed and Todd Snyder, and currently has its headquarters on six floors of 401 Fifth Avenue. Its new deal allows it to “centralize and streamline” its footprint, according to George Comfort & Sons. 

Landlords George Comfort & Sons, Jamestown and Loeb Partners Realty were represented in-house by George Comfort’s Peter Duncan, Matthew Coudert and Alex Bermingham. Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)’s Mark Boisi brokered the sublease for CBS. Boisi did not respond to a request for comment.

Duncan said in a statement, the Madison Avenue building’s design and location make it an “ideal environment” for American Eagle.

Savills’ Mitti Liebersohn, David Goldstein, Anna Erickson, Nate Brzozowski and William Demuth arranged the deals for American Eagle. A spokesperson for Savills declined to comment.

CBS renewed its office spanning three floors of the property in 2019, as Commercial Observer previously reported. It’s unclear why the broadcaster decided to shed its entire Midtown south space. 

CBS lists 555 West 57th Street as its main address on its website. The building on Manhattan’s Far ‘Westside has housed the company’s studios for three decades. It also has a 48,000-square-foot space at 1700 Broadway.

The network merged with Viacom in 2019 to form Paramount Global, and soon sold the CBS Building at 51 West 52nd Street, which had been CBS’s headquarters, to Black Rock in 2021 for $760 million. 

An even bigger shakeup at CBS may be coming after Paramount CEO Bob Bakish stepped down Monday morning amid talks to merge with Skydance Media, the company announced in an earnings call.

A spokesperson for CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.