Apollo Global Negotiating 100K-SF Lease for Four Floors at 590 Madison

Apollo Global Management (APO) is negotiating to bring its Bryant Park employees nearer its 9 West 57th Street mothership with a new deal for four floors at 590 Madison Avenue totaling just under 100,000 square feet, Commercial Observer has learned.

The group is now at Salesforce Tower at 1095 Avenue of the Americas — also known as 3 Bryant Park — where Apollo’s been subleasing 71,291 square feet from MetLife since 2018.

Before then, the asset manager was at 730 Fifth Avenue in the Crown Building, which was being emptied for the Aman residential condominium makeover, providing Apollo with a hefty $20.3 million buyout, public records show. 

Apollo’s broker, Stephen Siegel of CBRE (CBRE), told the New York Post at the time, “The [buyout] number is confidential, but it was significant enough to pay for the 3 Bryant Park move.”

 Simultaneously, Siegel also represented Apollo in its 15-year expansion at 9 West 57th from 135,000 to 175,000 square feet in 2018. He and his team, which includes Michael Geoghegan and Michael Wellen, are now repping Apollo for the lease at the 42-story 590 Madison. Another CBRE team led by Siegel and Evan Haskell is representing owner the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio) along with Jeffrey Sussman, who is in-house at managing agent Edward J. Minskoff Equities. 

The lease is still being negotiated and may not be finalized.

A spokeswoman for Apollo said this was “not accurate,” while the other parties either declined comment or did not return requests for comment. 

The move by IBM out of its 1 million-square-foot namesake tower at Madison and East 57th Street to SL Green Realty’s One Madison Avenue at East 23rd Street presented the opening to bring Apollo’s workforce closer together. LVMH has already leased 150,000 square feet in 590 Madison, but sources say the fashion conglomerate is so far not leasing the Bonham’s Auction retail space, which will be available when Bonham’s moves to 111 West 57th Street.

590 Madison currently has 187,877 square feet available on the full ninth through 16th floors with another roughly 60,000 square feet in several upper floors.

The IBM Building was the tech giant’s headquarters from the time the tower opened in 1983. In a sale-leaseback, the building was sold to Edward J. Minskoff and STRS Ohio in 1994. In 2015, the system bought Minskoff’s stake but his company continues to manage the property. A former IBM cafeteria on the third floor is also being turned into the Madison Club amenity floor for all tenants.  

There is a fitness center with a yoga studio, locker rooms and showers, a multi-sport simulator, a quiet study, a boardroom and conference space as well as a secure bike room and garage.   

Its glass public atrium and café on East 56th Street connects both to Trump Tower and the former Nike Building, which LVMH now leases for Louis Vuitton. 

A portion of the land under that building is also owned by STRS Ohio, which is once again exploring a sale of the entire tower through Will Silverman and Gary Phillips of Eastdil that had an expected price tag of $1.1 billion. Market sources say that pricing was ambitious and may end up closer to $800 million to $900 million but other sources, closer to the offering and the up tick in leasing, said the trophy tower will absolutely trade for over $1 billion. Additionally, STERS Ohio may pool some assets for a larger portfolio sale.     

When the owner sought a buyer some 10 years ago, the mortgage was doubled instead. It’s now a part of a commercial mortgage-backed securities loan for $650 million originated through Goldman Sachs that matures in October, but the new deals will likely make it easier to sell or refinance for a larger amount.