In what might be a bellwether for the prime Sixth Avenue office corridor, Berenberg Capital Markets has extended its lease at Mitsui Fudosan America’s 1251 Sixth Ave., and expanded on the tower’s top two floors.
The firm, a tenant of the building since 2017, added 30,700 square feet on the 53d floor of the office tower located between West 49th and 50th streets, bringing its space there to 62,400 square feet.
The 15-year leases wouldn’t make a huge splash in pre-pandemic times. But in 2021, with availability at an all-time high, any growth is noteworthy.
The German investment bank’s managing partner, Hendrik Riehmer, said that thanks to demand, “we were able to expand our business faster than planned, especially in equity research, sales and trading and equity capital markets.”
The deals were brokered by JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Alexander Chudnoff and Benjamin Bass for Berenberg and by Newmark’s David Falk and Peter Shimkin for Mitsui Fudosan America.
“Think of it — a major tenant doubling its space during the pandemic,” Bass said.
It allows the firm to “accommodate its fantastic growth in the city and its ability to continue to recruit top talent and maintain an ideal corporate culture.”
Terms were not released. Midtown sources said the expansion lease was done in the $90s per square foot.
The 2.4-million-square-foot tower is more than 98 percent leased.
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Who would start construction on a new, a 100-percent speculative office tower now, when Manhattan vacancy is at a historic high and only 20 percent of offices are actually occupied? Hudson Square Properties, that’s who — a joint venture of Trinity Wall Street, Hines and Norges Bank.
On Wednesday, the partners will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for 555 Greenwich St., a 16-story, 270,000-square-foot project that aims to be the city’s “greenest and healthiest” location for tenants yet to be signed.
The building, designed by COOKFOX Architects, will connect “seamlessly,” its Web site says, with adjacent 345 Hudson St., part of Hudson Square Properties’ neighborhood campus.
The facade will boast setbacks with outdoor terraces and floor-to-ceiling windows.
No one on the development team would discuss the project, but our sources said the building might be finished as early as the fourth quarter of 2022. By then, the leasing market will hopefully be picking up steam.
The tower will be Hudson Square Properties’ 12th building in the area, which has become a hub for creative industry and tech tenants.
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Brookfield’s 8-acre, mixed-use site between Ninth and 10th avenues and West 31st and 33rd streets has shed most of its plywood barriers. Several gracious public promenades have opened there, one boasting a charming, lemon-themed arcade called Citrovia.
And on Sept. 28, the complex will have a grand public opening after years of expectations.
While it was under construction, Manhattan West was the missing link between Related’s Hudson Yards to the west and the Farley Post Office building, now home to Moynihan Station and soon also to Facebook, to the east.
But most of its public attractions are finally expected to open by the September launch.
They include a 1.6-acre public plaza, a luxurious Pendry Hotel, restaurants — including restaurateur Danny Meyer’s fine-dining Ci Siamo — a Citizens Food Hall with more than a half-dozen eateries and a relocated NHL store. An NHL-themed ice rink will bow a few months later.
Meanwhile, the office tower 1 Manhattan West has welcomed major tenants EY, Skadden, Accenture and the NHL. Its sister tower, 2 Manhattan West, will be home to Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
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The launch next month of Casa Cipriani, a hotel and private club, caps a 12-year saga to develop something — anything — atop the landmarked Battery Maritime Building at 10 South St., at Manhattan’s East River foot.
Casa Cipriani’s nearly 200,000 square feet will boast 47 deluxe hotel suites, a club with lavish wellness and dining facilities, and a private-events ballroom in a newly constructed, glass-and-steel structure on the roof of the Beaux Arts-style Governors Island ferry terminal.
The city’s Economic Development Corp. first tried to lure developers in 2009.
A partnership of Centaur Properties, Midtown Equities and Cipriani finally took control and put $100 million into the project after a parade of other investors backed out.
It’s a pity that Casa Cipriani won’t have more public access than the hotel suites. But it’s more than welcome nonetheless in a downtown area that needs all the new life it can get.