FASHION designer Giorgio Armani has signed a lease for a massive store of more than 40,000 feet at 717 Fifth Ave., the former site of the Hugo Boss store on the southeast corner of 56th Street.
Along with its world-class shopping, our spies say the retailer plans a “total experience” that will include a restaurant club when it opens a full year from now.
We hear the 15-year Armani deal – worth $250 million – was orchestrated by retail maestro Jeff Sutton, who owns the lower portion of the tower. Above the fourth floor, the Class A offices are owned by Macklowe Properties and the Blackstone Group.
Neither Sutton, Armani, nor his design house’s broker, Laura Pomerantz of PBS Real Estate, returned calls for comment.
Pomerantz was the broker for Abercrombie & Fitch in its deal at 720 Fifth on the northwest corner of Fifth and 56th Street, another building owned by Sutton. Meanwhile, the northeast corner, which was dumped by Asprey, is undergoing extensive renovations for Gucci at Trump Tower.
*
The Brill Building’s owners are singing in the spring sunshine now that the onetime home of American music is being sold for just over $150 million to Invesco Real Estate of Dallas.
The 11-story building at 1619 Broadway on the corner of West 49th Street was purchased last November for $92 million by Westbrook Partners and a Murray Hill Properties fund run by Norman Sturner. The seller at the time, Allan Rose, then spent $1.25 billion to buy the nearby 5 Times Square trophy building.
The Brill Building is still home to entertainment folks.
Sound One and Lorne Michael’s production company, Broadway Entertainment, take up 80 percent of the office portion, with songwriters such as Paul Simon still occupying small offices. Colony Records holds down the major retail.
The 177,000-foot Art Deco Class B office building has high ceilings along with a penthouse and rooftop terrace with spectacular views of Times Square. Some 50,000 feet in air rights are included.
Sturner tells us that it was not for sale but when he suddenly got three unsolicited offers, they hired Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured to take it public.
“There were 119 inquiries and it became a New York feeding frenzy,” Sturner said. “We narrowed it to three or four people and [to avoid selling within one year] told them to come in hard with a closing in November. I just couldn’t walk away from the profit.”
Sturner is closing on the purchase of 1180 Sixth Ave. in two weeks and is now scouting for a replacement purchase for the Brill.
*
The proposed development activity around Madison Square Garden will enhance the value of 14 Penn Plaza, which just hit the market and could fetch as much as $400 million.
We hear sellers Andrew S. Borrok and Charles R. Borrok have hired Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets team – the Fabulous Foursome of Jon Caplan, Scott Latham, Richard Baxter and Ron Cohen – to market the 560,000-foot building located at 225 W. 34th St.
According to CoStar Group data, Conway’s Stores hold about 22,000 feet of the valuable retail, while Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers is one of the major tenants in the multi-tenanted B Class office property.
No one returned calls for comment.
*
The floodgates have opened for Court Square Place as its first, full-floor lease is officially inked.
Transit Technologies has leased the 14th floor, or 15,380 feet, where it will relocate from 195 Broadway in Manhattan.
The seven-story base of the new, 17-story building in Long Island City is also occupied by its owner/developer, the United Nation’s Federal Credit Union.
Jodi Pulice and Greg Smith of JRT Realty along with brokers including John Powers from their strategic alliance partner, Cushman & Wakefield, are the exclusive leasing and managing agents of the 274,000-foot building, which is one block from Citicorp Tower at 24-01 44th Rd.
“We are turning away tenants of 30,000 to 80,000 feet every day,” said Smith. “We have leases out for the remainder of the space.”
The asking rent was $42 a foot and comes along with many government incentives and a panoramic view of Manhattan.
*
A portfolio of 24 properties in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx is up for grabs and includes 894 apartments in corner elevator buildings with 89 retail stores, five professional offices and three cellphone antenna arrays. The count includes unsold shares for 19 co-op units in Queens. The price being whispered around town is $225 million.
Eastern Consolidated chief Peter Hauspurg and Marcia Rose Yawitz are representing the local seller, Intervest Development Corp.
*
Former President Bill Clinton will be speaking to more than 1,000 industry professionals today at Cushman & Wakefield’s annual Forum at the Hilton.
Meanwhile, downtown resident and actor Natalie Portman helped with award presentations at the annual Lower Manhattan Cultural Council shindig on the 52nd floor of 7 World Trade Center earlier this month.
Building owner Larry Silverstein and his wife, Klara, along with filmmaker Michel Gondry, were also honored. David Byrne held court in a white suit with purple accents and sat next to model Arden Wohl, who came with “Capote” director Bennett Miller.
Portman brought along Nathan Bogle, a former model who sold his Rag & Bone jean line last fall.
