Hugo Boss is trying on 1 World Trade Center for size, even as a media company’s breakthrough move to 4 World Trade Center appears all but sewn up.
The fashion giant is in “serious” talks with the Port Authority and the Durst Organization for 100,000 square feet of office space at 1 WTC, sources told Realty Check.
Hugo Boss is now headquartered at the Starrett-Lehigh Building on far West 26th Street.
The Boss talks are just one of the major ongoing lease developments at the WTC. Technology company Percolate, a provider of online “content marketing software,” is also in talks for 50,000 square feet at 1 WTC — a negotiation believed to be farther along than for Hugo Boss.
Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz declined to comment on either possible deal.
Meanwhile, in a major breakthrough for Larry Silverstein, online software developer MediaMath is wrapping up the fine points of a lease for 120,000 square feet at 4 WTC.
A signed deal, which sources said was now near certain, would make the firm the 2.3 million square-foot tower’s first private-sector tenant.
MediaMath is currently at 1440 Broadway. Its talks for 4 WTC were first reported last week by Crain’s online. Now, “There’s a lease out, and they’re just going over fine points,” one plugged-in downtown source told us.
Reps for Silverstein and for CBRE, 4 WTC’s leasing agent, declined to comment.
Meanwhile, at 1 WTC, the Percolate deal is said to be “very far along.” The company is now based on Grand Street but needs expansion space.
Hugo Boss CEO Claus-Dietrich Lahrs is said by sources to be considering options that include renewing at Starrett-Lehigh or a move to 1 WTC, among other downtown options.
The three WTC deals, if completed, are of immense psychological importance. Critics of a proposal for the PA to give Silverstein a loan guarantee for 3 WTC cite a recent pause in WTC leasing as threatening a “glut.”
But the prospective leases demonstrate that the complex has been gaining traction behind the scenes — hardly unusual for negotiations conducted in secret.
Leasing has stalled at 1 WTC since mid-2012, when Condé Nast added 140,000 square feet to its original 1.05 million square-foot commitment and the US General Services Administration signed for 270,104 square feet. Including a deal for China’s Beijing Vantone, the tower’s 3 million square feet are currently about 55 percent leased.
At 4 WTC, the Port Authority itself and the City of New York signed for a combined 1.2 million square feet of the just-completed, 2.3 million square-foot project a few years ago. But until now, a more prestigious, private-sector tenant has eluded Silverstein.
Now, MediaMath appears ready to break the ice.
We also reported last week that three big firms — Time Inc., Bank of NY Mellon and Hudson’s Bay Co. — were in advanced talks for more than 1 million square feet at Brookfield Place just west of the WTC.
RFR’s $65 million capital improvements plan at 285 Madison Ave. has begun to pay off. Greylock Capital Management, an investment management firm specializing the global credit markets, is the 535,000 square-foot, brick-and-limestone tower’s first new tenant, signing for 11,400 square feet.
The asking rent for the 10-year lease for the entire 24th floor, which boasts a private outdoor terrace, was about $87 per square foot.
A CBRE team led by Mary Ann Tighe acted for RFR, while a different CBRE team repped Greylock Capital, which will move from Park Avenue.
RFR, led by founder Aby Rosen, bought 285 Madison at East 40th Street with GreenOak Real Estate Advisors in 2012, when it was vacant after Y&R moved out.
“It’s exciting to see the market begin to embrace the amazing modern work environment we have created within this historic shell,” Rosen said. The building’s repositioning created flexible floor plans and private tenant amenities in addition to upgrading the lobby, elevators and systems.
Reflecting Harlem’s skyrocketing values, the six-story building at 145 E. 125th St., aka 2071-2083 Lexington Ave., has gone on the market for $29 million.
The 6-story property is owned by the Kessner family, which bought it 10 years ago for just $3.9 million. It has 6,000 square feet of retail space, including a McDonald’s outlet, and 30,000 square feet of vacant office space on higher floors.
Eastern Consolidated’s Adelaide Polsinelli, who’s sifting offers with her firm’s Marcia Yawitz, notes that the “125th Street corridor has become a kind of main-and-main” now lined with national retailers.
In recent years, the likes of Gap, H&M and Old Navy have joined such landmarks at the Apollo Theater and the Studio Museum in Harlem as well as older neighborhood merchants.
There’s even a Whole Foods going up at Lenox Avenue between 124th and 125th streets.
Polsinelli said the 145 E. 125th location was a “beautiful iconic corner” well served by subway and bus lines. “The vacant floors are the real play,” she said, adding that what’s now a ground-floor check-cashing spot next to McDonald’s could become a footprint for second-floor retail use when its lease is up within two years — ideal for a gym or for a school or educational facility.
The site is across from where Gary Barnett’s Extell is paying $39 million for a PathMark site to be redeveloped.