Real Estate

Playing Polo at Hudson Yds.

Ralph Lauren Corp. just might be trying on Hudson Yards for size.

The publicly traded lifestyle and fashion brand has talked to Related Cos. officials about possibly moving to the second office building planned at Hudson Yards, sources said — a step that would get the 26-acre site’s so-called North Tower off the ground.

We’re not saying letter-of-intent or close to it. Which big company planning to grow hasn’t at least glanced at Hudson Yards? Sometimes, talks are just talks and looks are just looks.

But they weren’t much more than that when we first reported on Nov. 30, 2010, that Coach Inc. was huddling with Stephen M. Ross’s Related about moving to Hudson Yards.

Coach has since bought and leased much of the 47-story 1.7 million square-foot South Tower at the rail yard site’s 10th Avenue at 30th Street corner.

Preliminary construction is under way and two other tenants, L’Oréal and tech company SAP, are negotiating for leases as well.

Although few are aware, Ralph Lauren — which is “galloping at a faster clip” than when its namesake founder “first entered the arena 45 years ago,” according to Hoover’s rating service — has around 800,000 square feet of Manhattan office space.

The lion’s share is at its headquarters at 650 Madison Ave., but the company has offices at several other locations.

And although its lease at 650 Madison doesn’t expire until 2022, a source noted that a second Hudson Yards tower couldn’t be finished until 2016 at the earliest.

“They seem to have stars in their eyes about a KPF-designed ‘Ralph Lauren Tower’ where they could consolidate and grow,” said an insider. “Remember, Tiffany had years to go on their office lease when they decided to move to 200 Fifth Ave.”

A rep for Related said, “We have tremendous interest in the North Tower but decline to comment on specific tenants.”

Several brokers who might know exactly what’s going on didn’t respond to e-mails.

Meanwhile, Related is likely to formally close late this month or early next month on the various deals entailed in building the South Tower above street level, including deals with the MTA, which owns the rail yard; financial partner Oxford Properties; and the tenants.

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The 12-story apartment building at 2410-2418 Broadway at West 89th Street has sold for $47 million in a transaction the seller and buyer rushed to complete by Dec. 31.

The elevator building was owned by the same Helmsley-formed partnership for 70 years and included 14 members at the time of the sale. It has 46 “extremely large” apartments, according to brokers, and 5,000 square feet of retail space mostly on the Broadway side.

The sale was co-brokered for the seller, M.E. & A. Realty Co., by Amit Doshi of Besen & Associates and Eastern Consolidated’s Alan P. Miller, Aliza Avital and Patricia M. Garcia, the latter two of whom have since left that firm. The brokers also brought in the buyer, real estate investor Robert Gilardian.

Doshi said the building was “widely marketed” and the winning bid reflected a “local investor who understood the dynamics of the tenancy as well as the property’s upside potential.”

Avital said 61 percent of 46 apartments are rent-regulated. Some 3,500 square feet of unused air rights can be used to enhance the penthouse with roof access and Central Park views.

Garcia noted that a portion of the retail space has received offers of $250 per square foot.

The sale price is regarded as a coup given that the cap rate was below 2. “But it isn’t about the short-term return but exploiting the building’s potential over time,” a source said. “Gilardian will have to put some money in.”

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Boutique law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg has left 335 Madison Ave. for downtown. The commercial litigation specialists subleased 35,681 square feet from Sedgwick LLP at 125 Broad St.

Studley’s L. Craig Lemle and Nick Zarnin represented the tenant and Studley’s Greg Taubin repped Sedgwick in the sublease with landlord Sullivan & Cromwell, which owns the upper portion of the 40-story tower.

Holwell clearly has expansion in mind: Its New York practice now has 14 attorneys but its new home can accommodate 50.

Terms were not available. The firm moved in last week following 125 Broad’s temporary closing because of Hurricane Sandy damage.