A tower in FiDi with panoramic views of New York Harbor has new owners who are hoping to get it new leases for life.
Norman Sturner’s MHP Real Estate Services and Clarion Partners closed on the building last week but have been planning a $28 million resurrection since the fall.
The partnership paid $470 million for the 41-story, Class A office tower with more than 1.2 million square feet.
But 800,000 square feet of it is vacant in an area with a low 9.2 percent vacancy rate and rising rents.
“From the sixth floor you can look down at the Seaport,” said Sturner last year, after the contract for the off-market deal was signed. “It’s a modern office building with spectacular views and amenities.”
Cushman & Wakefield’s Executive Vice Chairman, Tara Stacom, and the company’s Vice Chairman Rob Lowe, who had been handling leasing and repositioning for the sellers, a joint venture of SL Green Realty Corp. and Joseph Moinian, have also been retained to lease the building in conjunction with MHP to maintain the marketing velocity.
Expected rents range from the high $40s a foot upwards into the $70 per foot, and perhaps even more at the top, where there are unique, double-height floors.
Renovations will be made to its 25,000-square-foot public plaza and lobby along with tenant amenities on the second and third floors. These include a 250-seat cafeteria, 150-seat conference facility and a new fitness facility. Infrastructure upgrades are also planned.
The very top of the building has a luxurious private executive dining room. It is currently available to be rented to a major tenant, said Rufrano, and plans will be “market dependent.”
The Continental Center was developed by Continental Casualty in 1980 from plans by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. The glass building was renovated in 2000, and since last year, has LEED certification.
It was purchased by Paramont Group in 2000 and in 2009 sold to Joseph Moinian for $355 million. SL Green became Monian’s partner in this tower after teaming up with him to buy 3 Columbus Center and helping to obtain a $280 million financing from CIBC and Bank of China.
Hurricane Sandy caused a momentary blip and some mechanical reinstallations and upgrades that will be continued by the new ownership. The full-block building also now has a quickly deployable AquaFence. “It would completely surround the building,” said Rufrano.
Its largest current tenant is the law firm Stroock, Stroock & Lavan, with over 225,000 square feet near the top of the tower.
Clarion Partners’ proprietary research last year projected office rents in the area would grow an average of 4.5 percent in each of the next five years.
“Research points to the improvement of the amenity structure and amenity base, the transit and the Howard Hughes investment in the Seaport that will push rents forward,” said Rufrano. “We haven’t seen that change [since last fall] and we’ve seen a lot of demand.”
