Carlyle Group Inks 150K-SF Deal at SL Green’s 245 Park Avenue

Global investment firm the Carlyle Group has leased more than 202,000 square feet across two Park Avenue buildings, Commercial Observer has learned. 

In the largest deal, Carlyle, which had up to $477 billion in assets under management as of late 2025, signed a 10-year deal for 150,036 square feet at SL Green Realty’s 245 Park Avenue, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. In a March 3 press release detailing recent leases, SL Green identified Carlyle only as “a large global investment firm.”

Meanwhile, Carlyle is adding another 52,121 square feet at Irvine Company‘s 200 Park Avenue, also known as the MetLife Building, sources confirmed. At 200 Park, Carlyle will share the other portion of the fourth floor with insurance firm MetLife, which in December 2023 renewed 400,000 square feet for 11 years in its namesake tower.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Bruce Mosler, Harry Blair, Ron LoRusso, Justin Royce and Pierce Hance represented SL Green in the 245 Park Avenue deal, while CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe, Howard Fiddle, Peter Turchin, Evan Haskell and Brett Shannon represented Irvine Companies in the 200 Park Avenue deal.

Carlyle was represented in its new transactions by a JLL team of Joe Messina, Evan Margolin, Jessica Berkey, Andrew Lutzer, Gregory Lubar and Steve Spartin, Jr.

The two deals total 202,157 square feet and come in addition to Carlyle’s 194,702-square-foot office at SL Green’s One Vanderbilt, where it occupies the 34th through 38th floors along with the 32nd floor. Carlyle took over the 32nd floor space from Greenberg Traurig after the law firm gave up its rights to the floor in 2021.

“This is pure growth for Carlyle,” sources said. “Right now, they aren’t giving up anything at One Vandy.”

The asking rent at 245 Park Avenue was $175 per square foot. The asking rent at 200 Park Avenue was $100 per square foot, while the length of Carlyle’s lease at that building was unknown.

SL Green also recently signed a lease expansion with another One Vanderbilt tenant, law firm McDermott Will & Schulte. The firm signed a 16-year expansion lease for 29,734 square feet on the entire 48th floor of the office tower, increasing its occupancy to approximately 200,000 square feet.

McDermott has occupied the 44th through 46th floors, as well as the 67th floor, since a lease signed in 2018. For the new transaction, SL Green was represented by its in-house leasing team and McDermott repped itself.

In a busy month for SL Green, the landlord also cut a deal with investment advisory firm Cliffwater at 245 Park Avenue for the entire 37,987-square-foot 27th floor at an asking rent of $175 per square foot. That investment firm is currently at 477 Madison Avenue, where it signed a deal with RFR for 12,310 square feet on the 16th floor in 2022.

Cliffwater was repped in their deal by Ben Shapiro, Matt Lorberbaum and Neil Goldmacher at Newmark.

Compared to asking rents at One Vanderbilt, which can be over $300 per square foot, the new deals at the Park Avenue buildings are a bargain. Both 245 Park Avenue and 200 Park Avenue have extensive amenities — including golf and Formula One simulators — that may be open to Carlyle’s other employees.   

Other tenants in 200 Park Avenue include law firm Winston & Strawn, which renewed its 237,815-square-foot lease in December 2024, and restaurant group La Pecora Bianca, which signed an 11,300-square-foot deal in October 2024 for an Italian eatery called Giulietta on the ground floor.

Meanwhile, CBRE also has 180,000 square feet of office space at the property, which it now both manages and leases on behalf of the Irvine Companies. 

Representatives for Carlyle, SL Green, JLL, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Newmark and Greenberg Traurig declined to comment or did not immediately return requests for comment on the transactions.