There’s a new top rent dog in town.
Boston Properties’ 767 Fifth Ave., aka the GM Building, has edged out Sheldon Solow’s 9 W. 57th St. by signing three deals with starting rents of more than $200 per square foot last year. One of those, Belfer Management, kicked off at $220 a square foot, while another four were more than $100, a new report reveals.
But that record could be shattered this year if hedge fund Citadel inks a $300-per-square-foot-plus pact for the top floor and more than 200,000 square feet of base space at L&L Holding’s upcoming 425 Park.
Citadel signed a short expansion for 119,911 square feet at 601 Lexington Ave. that also launches at more than $100 per square foot.
According to a new JLL report, an amazing 50 buildings are in the $100-per-square-foot club. That is up from 33 buildings in 2014, when Midtown South trophies first joined the lineup. Last year, 51 Astor Place, 860 Washington, 11 Madison and 770 Broadway all ticked off $100-plus deals.
“Despite the market being tepid, the owners remained bullish,” said Cynthia Wasserberger, managing director of JLL, who compiled the report with colleagues Jonathan Schifrin and Hayley Shoener.
But to get to these rents, they had to dole out large concessions or redevelop the buildings at considerable cost, Wasserberger said.
Despite the high tabs, she says, “They are very tenant favorable.”
Renovations also brought 437 Madison Ave., 400 Park Ave. and 10 E. 53rd St. to the coveted “country club” clique.
The report counted 138 done deals in 2015 with starting rents of $100 a square foot and up, a 42 percent increase from 97 counted in 2014. Of these, 78 were new and 60 renewals or expansions.
Overall, Vornado Realty Trust was the winner, with its properties racking up 25 percent of all the sky-high deals.
RFR’s Seagram Building at 375 Park Ave. chalked up the most, with 12 deals. Ten were signed at Oxford’s 450 Park, and eight at Vornado’s 640 Fifth. Half the buildings had only one, eight had two, and six, including Vornado’s 888 Seventh Ave., had five.
Don’t bring me down.
Last week, I said Blackstone could make about $625 million from selling 1 million square feet of air rights at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for roughly $500 per square foot. I was at least $1 billion short.
NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer said the two projects have an excess of 10.7 million square feet of transferable development rights.
Some 10 million feet is restricted to community facilities, including hospitals, universities and other deep-pocketed nonprofits. Even at a discounted $100 per square foot, that still comes to another $1 billon.
The Yard is opening its seventh location and its first downtown at 116 Nassau St. at the corner of Ann Street.
The co-working office space, which also holds events to support its community of professionals, will have 34,000 square feet on three floors.
Richard Beyda, co-founder of the Yard, said, “The events are curated. We don’t offer fluff, we offer genuine quality.”
David Kaplansky of Colliers International represented the tenant.
Gregory Gang, Catherine O’Toole and David Danick of Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance worked for the ownership, Abacus Federal Savings, which had an asking rent of $39 per square foot.
Evan Margolin of Savills Studley represented the Yard in an earlier deal at 106 W. 32nd St. Margolin also brought the Yard to 245 Fifth Ave. at West 28th Street in the Flatiron District. That Fifth Avenue location is slated to open Feb. 1 in 33,000 square feet and includes a tricked-out-with-tech public event space.
