Steve Cuozzo

Steve Cuozzo

Real Estate

Skadden asking about possible 2020 move

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which shares the Durst Organization’s game-changing 4 Times Square with Condé Nast, has its eye on newer pastures when its lease expires in 2020.

It sounds like a long way off — but planning takes that long when a company is weighing a move to new towers that won’t be finished for several years.

Skadden Arps, we’re told, has sent out a request for proposals for around 450,000 square feet to Larry Silverstein and Brookfield Properties, among others.

Silverstein, of course, is developing three World Trade Center towers, including the completed 4 WTC, which is still seeking its first private-sector tenant.

Brookfield is itching to start building at Manhattan West, its five-acre site between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the West 30s.

An exit by Skadden Arps would mark a turning of the page in its neighborhood’s commercial history.

Although 4 Times Square is often called the “Condé Nast building,” it’s been as much the “Skadden Arps building” since Douglas Durst in 1999 opened the tower, which first established the “new Times Square” as a prime office district.

Of course, Skadden Arps, which also has space at 1440 Broadway, might well be using the RFP to wrest more favorable renewal terms from Durst.

The powerful corporate law firm will soon be 4 Times Square’s only office tenant, once Condé Nast moves to the Port Authority’s and Durst’s 1 WTC early next year.

Asked to comment on Skadden’s RFP, Durst rep Jordan Barowitz said, “They are doing their due diligence, and if they are interested in new construction they have to begin that process now.”

Reps for both Brookfield and Silverstein declined to comment.

Skadden Arps’ broker, Jones Lang LaSalle New York president Peter Riguardi, was traveling and could not be reached by press time.


Fifth Avenue’s prime retail stretch is changing so fast, shoppers might want to consult Google Maps from week to week.

The latest whirl of the wheel is bringing Blancpain, a luxury division of Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group, to the 2,500 square-foot, former Gant space in Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Ave., sources said. The Gant store closed a few days ago.

The tower’s retail portion is owned by a partnership of the Chera family’s Crown Acquisitions and Olympic Tower Associates, a firm controlled by a foundation established by the family of Aristotle Onassis.

Terms could not be learned, but ground-floor retail asking rents on the avenue between 49th and 58th streets run to $3,000 per square foot. The mind-boggling number is somewhat misleading, however, as most large new stores have relatively little space at sidewalk level; for example, only 6 percent of Uniqlo’s 100,000 square feet at 666 Fifth are on the ground.

Blancpain’s arrival represents the latest blast of the retail whirlwind sweeping the avenue’s prime half-mile.

Just nine months ago, a huge new Dolce & Gabbana store replaced Escada at 717 Fifth. Now, Cushman & Wakefield retail wizard Bradley Mendelson walked us through the latest and imminent comings and goings. From north to south:

–  Cartier is building a new emporium in the former CBS studio at the GM Building between 58th and 59th streets, while the luxury jeweler extensively renovates its mansion flagship at 653 Fifth at 52nd Street.

–  Cartier will soon close 653 for the work, but it isn’t leaving: “They signed a 25-year renewal” on the space, Mendelson said, which is also owned by the Onassis estate and Chera.

– Also in the GM Building, FAO Schwarz’s lease is up in 2017. But it’s already on the market: The high-end toy chain has tapped CBRE to sublease its 60,000 square feet. CBRE’s Susan Kurland, who’s FAO Schwarz’s broker, was traveling and could not be reached.

–  Ralph Lauren is moving into the long-vacant Disney space at Coca-Cola-owned 711 Fifth, where investment bank Allen & Co. is a main office tenant. “Coca-Cola got it when they bought Columbia Pictures, and then they sold Columbia and kept the building,” Mendelson recalled.

–  Valentino is establishing a lavish new home in 20,000 square feet of the former Takashimaya space at Thor Equities’ 693 Fifth between 54th and 55th streets.

–  H&M will soon move from Vornado’s 640 Fifth to 589 Fifth, two blocks south; The Post’s Lois Weiss reported that Nike, now on East 57th Street, has its eye on the space H&M will leave behind, where Vornado chief Steven Roth is asking $3,500 per square foot at sidewalk level.

–  At 608 Fifth, Topshop is replacing Lacoste at Vornado’s 608 Fifth. The landmarked Sephora space at Thor’s 597 Fifth, the former Scribner Building, is on the market: Sephora’s lease expires this year and Thor is offering all 18,000 square feet.


At Related Cos.’ Hudson Yards, a mere 300,000 square feet of space remain available at the so-called south tower, which has 1.7 million square feet — most of it already sold or leased to Coach Inc., L’Oréal and German tech firm SAP.

And at the 2.6 million square-foot north tower, future home to Time Warner, 900,000 feet remain up for grabs after the media company finalizes a deal for 1.5 million square feet and Related’s decision to take 200,000 feet for its own use.

CBRE’s Robert Alexander, the office leasing agent, also notes that although he’s not involved in the project’s retail side, “active negotiations are going on for all 800,000 square feet” of the store and restaurant space.


SL Green CEO Marc Holliday is giving a big boost to his alma mater Lehigh University’s Integrated Real Estate at Lehigh (ire@l) program, the only such program in the US which lets undergrads majoring in any field to minor in real estate.

He and his wife Sheree’s Holliday Foundation is providing a $5 million gift — $3.5 million to endow a new professorial position to direct the program, plus $1.5 million as a matching gift challenge to support a new ire@l operating endowment fund.

Cushman & Wakefield executive vice-chairman Tara Stacom, who was a driving force behind the initiative, said, “This commitment will allow Lehigh to immeasurably add to the real estate talent pool and we are deeply grateful for Marc’s foresight and support.”